The Revival and Closing of the Broadway Music and Their Examples

Shows on Broadway open and close every few months. While this may be normal, many theatergoers don’t understand while their favorite shows close. Broadway is a billion-dollar-a-year-industry (2016-2017 Broadway End-of-Season Statistics), so it only makes sense that the main reason that shows close is money. The issue of money can be broken down into other factors such as casting issues, racism, politics, bad reviews or bringing in big title shows. Some may say that the closing of a show comes down to limited engagement runs or a show being in the wrong theater or weak marketing campaigns, and while these points may be true, they can all be traced back to money. Financial issues are the clear cause of like Amélie, Groundhog Day, and Natasha, Pierre, and the Great Comet of 1812 spontaneously closing. While it is necessary for shows to close, it doesn’t make the actual closing any less shocking. But, understanding the financial causes behind shows closing can help soften the blow of a person’s favorite play or musical leaving Broadway. Thousands of shows have been on Broadway since its first play, The Recruiting Officer, premiered in 1732 (Broadway Shows by Year). When Broadway was first starting out, there were only a small number of shows every few years.

For example, in 1751 only one show played: Othello. Another show didn’t play until The Conscious Lovers premiered in 1753. As time progressed, more theaters were built and more shows were able to play at once and for longer periods of time. About 150 years later, in 1882, there were 16 shows playing. And 100 years after that, in 1982 there were almost 50 shows playing! All the shows didn’t play at the same time due to the limited amount of theaters, so shows had to close to make room for other shows that were making more money. A show staying open for a long period of time was and continues to be, a difficult task. For an industry that has been around for almost 300 years, it may be surprising that the longest-running show, Phantom of the Opera, has only been around for 29 years (10 Longest Running Broadway Shows). In the 2016-2017 Broadway season, there were 44 plays and musicals, some revivals, some newcomers, and some Broadway staples, but there are only 40 theaters. To allow for this many shows to be performed in one season, some shows had to close. Out of the 44 shows from the previous season, only nine are still playing and out of those nine, four have set closing dates (Playbill Staff).

One of the most confusing closings of the 2016-2017 Broadway seasons was Amélie. Amélie, a musical based on the film of the same name, follows Amélie as she brings happiness to residents of Paris with her random acts of kindness. While this musical didn’t seem to be anything revolutionary, it seemed to be fun, light, and marketable. Playing the title role of Amélie was Phillipa Soo, fresh out of her run from Hamilton, which created a buzz around the production. From the second it became announced that Phillipa would star, there were promotional images of her as Amélie everywhere. The production team behind this musical put a large money towards marketing, but their downfall came when the production actually started as they didn’t make much of the money back. The musical was scheduled for an open-ended run after premiering on April 3, 2017, but a month later it was announced that it would close on May 21.

Many people were confused by the sudden closing of the show, however, after digging, it is clear that Amélie just wasn’t bringing in the profits it needed to stay afloat. The biggest reason for the loss of profits seems the slew of bad reviews it received. While there are some nicer reviews, many reviewers described the musical as a “diet of forced preciousness” (Torre) and an “aggressively whimsical [fantasy] that you can only find insufferable” (Kelly). In one review, Marilyn Stasio said that “as Amelie, Phillipa Soo is no Audrey Tautou (star of the theatrical production). But the star is so bland here, she’s not even Phillipa Soo… In the end, it’s just wearying, looking for some logic in all this relentless whimsy.” These reviews sent Amélie down a bad financial path, but the final nail in the coffin was the musicals’ lack of Tony nominations.

Groundhog day had the most abrupt closings of the year. This musical, based off of the classic film of the same name, it follows Phil Connors as he relives the same day over and over again. This musical had an interesting beginning. On its run in London, it was extremely successful but when it started previews on Broadway, it was a little rocky. The musical uses many turntables, and during man previews, they didn’t work as planned. During the first preview, the turntables were malfunctioning so bad that gave a concert performance of the show because it would have been too dangerous to actually perform the musical (Clement). Additionally, during a dance number in the Critics’ Preview, Andy Karl (Phil) tore his ACL. With all the technical errors worked out, the show came out of previews and opened on April 17, 2017. Groundhog Day had amazing marketing, a phenomenal cast, and rave reviews. Chris Nashawaty said that the show had “dazzling energy, creativity, wit, and heart” and remarked that even though “it’s a show about déjà vu, I suspect will feel totally fresh and new every night.”

The week before Groundhog Day announced its closing, Bill Murray saw the show twice, giving it nothing but glowing reviews. According to Andy Karl, the cast was notified about the closing half an hour before they went on stage. “We were given no warning and it was completely out of the blue. The entire cast was blindsided,” Karl said (Bonello, Karl). Soon after the closing announcement, though, news came out saying that a theatrical production of the movie Mean Girls would be housed at the August Wilson Theater, where Groundhog Day was. This was the reason for the abrupt end of a show that had been doing phenomenal in sales; producers anticipated that Mean Girls, which had recently begun previews in DC, would sell more tickets. In the time between when the closing announcement, things between the Groundhog Day staff and the Mean Girls staff got messy. Raymond J. Lee said, “A lead production member from Mean Girls was sent to check out the theater to see what the set changes might be like. That’s all fine but when he passed me, he told me to move in a really nasty tone and said ‘Haven’t you heard? We’re taking your theater.’ It was nasty and completely unnecessary.” (Bonello, Lee). The drama that surrounded the transfer from Groundhog Day to Mean Girls was petty and caused the sales for both shows to decrease. The show came to a close after 32 previews and 176 performances on September 17, 2017. The most surprising closing of the season has to go to the musical Natasha, Pierre, and the Great Comet of 1812. This show was an electro-pop opera, composed by Dave Malloy, that brought to life a 70-page section of Leo Tolstoy’s War and Peace. Earning twelve Tony Awards nominations, the most of any show in the 2017 season, the announcement that the show would close on September 3 came as a massive shock. Before the shows’ closing became permanent, though, there was already a fair amount of controversy that surrounded it. On Broadway, the title role of Pierre was originally played Josh Groban, a famous musician, which brought in a decent amount of money for the show. When Josh stepped down, this role was offered to Okieriete 'Oak' Onaodowan, an African American actor who is very well known in the Broadway community for being in the original cast of Hamilton. Oak’s run as Pierre was supposed to begin on July 3, 2017, but ended up starting about a week later on July 11. The specific reasons as to why Oak’s run had a delayed start were kept tightly under wraps by the cast and production team, and while this seemed odd and upset some fans, no one thought too much about it (Blair).

The show’s real controversy began when it was announced that Oak’s run, formerly ending on August 15, 2017, was being cut by two weeks so that Mandy Patinkin could step in. This became both a casting and a racial issue immediately. Because Oak is a black actor and Mandy is a white actor, fans were quick to point out the racist implications of this casting decision. Once Mandy Patinkin became aware of this issue, he announced that he would be stepping down from the role. In his statement, he said, “My understanding of the show’s request that I step into the show is not as it has been portrayed and I would never accept a role knowing it would harm another actor. I hear what members of the community have said and I agree with them. I am a huge fan of Oak and I will, therefore, not be appearing in the show.” (Gans). Since Josh Groban left, sales had been down, and because it was an expensive show to produce, serious big names were needed to keep the show profitable. In a series of tweets by Dave Malloy, he explained and apologized for the controversy, saying, “Nothing but love and artistic awe for [Oak]. The show was in desperate shape; sales…were catastrophically low. It’s apparently a weird show. Turns out it needs a name to sell it. So sorry to have missed the racial optics of it.” (Malloy). In another statement from Dave, he says, “The show may have already been on its way out because of low sales. There’s no way to know what would have happened had Oak completed his scheduled run or if Mandy had taken over. Either way, mistakes were made that can’t be taken back.” (Bonello, Malloy). While bad casting decisions, politics, and racism came into play, these caused the show to lose great amounts of money, eventually causing Natasha, Pierre, and the Great Comet of 1812 to close on September 3, 2017. Some say that money isn’t the root of shows closing, and that it is factors like a show being in the wrong theater or having a limited engagement run. While these explanations are valid and make sense, everything still boils down to money. A show being in the wrong theater seems like a silly reason to close it, but a theater can make a big difference in the financial success of a show. For example, the musical Cats opened on Broadway in 1982 at the Winter Garden Theater. It had a reasonably successful run until it closed in 2000 due to casting issues.

The musical had a revival in 2016, playing at the Neil Simon Theater. While this show is still playing, it is set to close at the end of the year. There have been many changes from the original set to the revival set due to the restrictions of this new theater. One of the biggest complaints about the revival of Cats has been the set. This has caused the show to lose money and not be as successful as originally anticipated (Cats Broadway at Neil Simon Theater). A limited engagement run sets up a show to run for a limited, specific amount of time. One reason for a limited engagement show is to make way for another, scheduled show. In this case, there is a gap of time between two already scheduled shows. This time gap isn’t big enough to allow for a regular run of a show but it isn’t small enough that it can be left alone without losing money. So, putting a show between two scheduled ones creates a period of time for the theater to generate extra revenue. A limited engagement run also creates a sense of urgency towards seeing the show. If a person knows that a show is going to be on Broadway for years, they may not rush to see it. However, if a person knows that a show is only going to be on Broadway for a few months, they’re probably going to buy a ticket as soon as possible. For example, the play 1984 was set for a limited engagement run of about four months, but in that time, it made close to $7 million before it closed (1984 Broadway at Hudson Theater). Despite valid explanations for shows closing that don’t seem related to money on the surface, everything can circle back to financial gain as motive.

While there are many causes of a show on Broadway closing, all of them boil down to money. On the surface, it can seem like a show has closed because of millions of elements like politics, poor casting decisions, racism, politics, bad reviews, poor staging, or a limited run. However, all of these factors are part of the biggest motivator of all: money. All the aforementioned elements affect the financial gains or losses of a show, and these losses and gains directly determine whether a show stays on Broadway or not. Perfect examples of the mentioned elements coming together to close a show can be found in the musicals Amélie, Groundhog Day, and Natasha, Pierre, and the Great Comet of 1812. While shows close often to make way for others, it can still come as a shock. Since it began in the 18th century, shows have been going in and out of the revolving door of Broadway, and just as with life, financial gain is the biggest motivating factor that keeps the door spinning.