Today:
41,290 hits after 4 years precisely!!
Yay!
Edit: Same day as Google's b'day, I never knew that
Monday, September 27, 2010
Saturday, May 15, 2010
Spider-Man's sticky figures
Costly B'way show may tour big arenas
Last Updated: 5:31 AM, May 14, 2010
Posted: 12:32 AM, May 14, 2010
Michael Riedel
MY favorite $50 mil lion target is swinging back into view.
"Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark" (and bankrupt the theater) will go into rehearsals this summer, begin previews in October and open in November, theater sources say.
And by January, I bet it'll be the biggest financial disaster in Broadway history.
But I'm getting ahead of myself.
First the news: Patrick Page has been offered the role of the Green Goblin. He'll replace Alan Cumming, who withdrew from the production a few weeks ago, citing scheduling conflicts.
Page is an old hand at being green and mean. He created the title role in "Dr. Seuss' How the Grinch Stole Christmas."
Director Julie Taymor spent the week auditioning actresses to play Mary Jane. Taymor's first choice, Evan Rachel Wood, withdrew from the production last year, also because of "scheduling conflicts."
Cute little Reeve Carney is still on board as Spider-Man. I guess he's the only original cast member with nothing better to do.
As for the money, it is, believe it or not, in place. Michael Cohl, who was brought in by Bono, the show's composer, to sort out the financial mess, has put up a big chunk of it, and work has resumed at the Hilton Theatre, which has been torn apart to accommodate the gigantic set.
But Cohl doesn't want to be on the hook for the whole show, so he's quietly trying to lay off as much of his investment as he can.
If you're a stage-struck sucker, I hear you can get into "Spider-Man" for about $11 million.
"They're calling everybody," says a veteran producer. "They don't want to carry the whole thing on their backs."
The finances are, of course, laughable.
The show's weekly running cost is $850,000. And that's before royalty payments. Factor those in, and the weekly nut jumps to more than $1 million. A person who's crunched the numbers says "Spider-Man" will have to run five years -- at full capacity, and by selling lots of premium-priced seats -- just to earn back the $50 million production cost.
"It's a fantasy," this person says. "How many shows sell out every seat at every performance for five straight years?"
Cohl and his co-producers, including Marvel Comics, know this is true. And when they speak to potential suckers -- I mean investors -- they admit the show is unlikely to pay back on Broadway. But they say they'll clean up on the road.
Their plan is to launch the show here and then send it out on tour. But it's not going to play 1,500-seat theaters: It's going to play 10,000-seat sports arenas.
"They're trying to sell it as a rock concert," says a producer. "But you're not going to sell out a 10,000-seat basketball stadium unless Bono and The Edge are playing the songs. Basically, it's gotta be a U2 concert. Nobody's going to sit in nosebleed seats to see a Broadway musical."
"Spider-Man" collapsed last summer when David Garfinkle, the hapless lead producer, failed to come up with the money. Other, more experienced producers took a look at the show but concluded that the finances were "insane" (as one said at the time) and that, when it came to budget-busting spending, Taymor was worse than Greece.
Not a whole lot has changed since. True, Garfinkle's been sidelined and Cohl's now in charge. But even he's not going to rein in Taymor.
And when "Spider-Man" goes into previews -- and once overtime for the hordes of stagehands kicks in -- watch that production cost soar to $60 million.
Bono and The Edge better tune up their guitars.
michael.riedel@nypost.com
http://www.nypost.com/p/entertainment/theater/spider_man_sticky_figures_FMvwejmJ4Ndm220au85j0M
Last Updated: 5:31 AM, May 14, 2010
Posted: 12:32 AM, May 14, 2010
Michael Riedel
MY favorite $50 mil lion target is swinging back into view.
"Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark" (and bankrupt the theater) will go into rehearsals this summer, begin previews in October and open in November, theater sources say.
And by January, I bet it'll be the biggest financial disaster in Broadway history.
But I'm getting ahead of myself.
First the news: Patrick Page has been offered the role of the Green Goblin. He'll replace Alan Cumming, who withdrew from the production a few weeks ago, citing scheduling conflicts.
Page is an old hand at being green and mean. He created the title role in "Dr. Seuss' How the Grinch Stole Christmas."
Director Julie Taymor spent the week auditioning actresses to play Mary Jane. Taymor's first choice, Evan Rachel Wood, withdrew from the production last year, also because of "scheduling conflicts."
Cute little Reeve Carney is still on board as Spider-Man. I guess he's the only original cast member with nothing better to do.
As for the money, it is, believe it or not, in place. Michael Cohl, who was brought in by Bono, the show's composer, to sort out the financial mess, has put up a big chunk of it, and work has resumed at the Hilton Theatre, which has been torn apart to accommodate the gigantic set.
But Cohl doesn't want to be on the hook for the whole show, so he's quietly trying to lay off as much of his investment as he can.
If you're a stage-struck sucker, I hear you can get into "Spider-Man" for about $11 million.
"They're calling everybody," says a veteran producer. "They don't want to carry the whole thing on their backs."
The finances are, of course, laughable.
The show's weekly running cost is $850,000. And that's before royalty payments. Factor those in, and the weekly nut jumps to more than $1 million. A person who's crunched the numbers says "Spider-Man" will have to run five years -- at full capacity, and by selling lots of premium-priced seats -- just to earn back the $50 million production cost.
"It's a fantasy," this person says. "How many shows sell out every seat at every performance for five straight years?"
Cohl and his co-producers, including Marvel Comics, know this is true. And when they speak to potential suckers -- I mean investors -- they admit the show is unlikely to pay back on Broadway. But they say they'll clean up on the road.
Their plan is to launch the show here and then send it out on tour. But it's not going to play 1,500-seat theaters: It's going to play 10,000-seat sports arenas.
"They're trying to sell it as a rock concert," says a producer. "But you're not going to sell out a 10,000-seat basketball stadium unless Bono and The Edge are playing the songs. Basically, it's gotta be a U2 concert. Nobody's going to sit in nosebleed seats to see a Broadway musical."
"Spider-Man" collapsed last summer when David Garfinkle, the hapless lead producer, failed to come up with the money. Other, more experienced producers took a look at the show but concluded that the finances were "insane" (as one said at the time) and that, when it came to budget-busting spending, Taymor was worse than Greece.
Not a whole lot has changed since. True, Garfinkle's been sidelined and Cohl's now in charge. But even he's not going to rein in Taymor.
And when "Spider-Man" goes into previews -- and once overtime for the hordes of stagehands kicks in -- watch that production cost soar to $60 million.
Bono and The Edge better tune up their guitars.
michael.riedel@nypost.com
http://www.nypost.com/p/entertainment/theater/spider_man_sticky_figures_FMvwejmJ4Ndm220au85j0M
Tuesday, April 27, 2010
Batman: Coming Soon to a Theatre Near You (They linked to Dark Knight Of The Soul)
Batman: Coming Soon to a Theatre Near You
The Dark Knight is hitting the stage -- no, not the sound stage.
by Jim Vejvoda
US, April 25, 2010 - Move over, Phantom. Here comes Batman.
Warner Bros., DC Comics, and two of the companies behind the touring stage shows Walking With Dinosaurs and Mamma Mia! are in the early stages of developing Batman Live, a stage show rendition of the Dark Knight Detective. But according to The Hollywood Reporter, don't expect the Dark Knight to burst into showtunes or grace the Great White Way. "The show is neither a musical nor a Broadway-bound theatrical production but rather an elaborate arena production aimed at kids and families," said the trade.
Animation vets Alan Burnett (Batman: Mask of the Phantasm, Green Lantern: First Flight) and Stan Berkowitz (Superman/Batman: Public Enemies, Justice League: The New Frontier) are crafting the script, which will reportedly feature multiple villains.
THR adds that Batman Live will debut either in 2012 after Christopher Nolan's Batman 3 opens or sometime prior to it in 2011.
Years ago, former Batman director Tim Burton tried to stage Batman: The Musical but the project was aborted.
http://au.movies.ign.com/articles/108/1086029p1.html
The Dark Knight is hitting the stage -- no, not the sound stage.
by Jim Vejvoda
US, April 25, 2010 - Move over, Phantom. Here comes Batman.
Warner Bros., DC Comics, and two of the companies behind the touring stage shows Walking With Dinosaurs and Mamma Mia! are in the early stages of developing Batman Live, a stage show rendition of the Dark Knight Detective. But according to The Hollywood Reporter, don't expect the Dark Knight to burst into showtunes or grace the Great White Way. "The show is neither a musical nor a Broadway-bound theatrical production but rather an elaborate arena production aimed at kids and families," said the trade.
Animation vets Alan Burnett (Batman: Mask of the Phantasm, Green Lantern: First Flight) and Stan Berkowitz (Superman/Batman: Public Enemies, Justice League: The New Frontier) are crafting the script, which will reportedly feature multiple villains.
THR adds that Batman Live will debut either in 2012 after Christopher Nolan's Batman 3 opens or sometime prior to it in 2011.
Years ago, former Batman director Tim Burton tried to stage Batman: The Musical but the project was aborted.
http://au.movies.ign.com/articles/108/1086029p1.html
Warner Bros., DC Comics developing 'Batman Live' stage show (exclusive)
April 25, 2010
A Batman stage show soon might be swooping to a town near you.
Warner Bros. and DC Comics are in the early stages of developing a tour, tentatively titled "Batman Live" and starring the Caped Crusader, working with Nick Grace Management and Water Lane Prods., companies behind the popular "Walking With Dinosaurs" and "Mamma Mia!" touring shows.
The show is neither a musical nor a Broadway-bound theatrical production but rather an elaborate arena production aimed at kids and families.
Alan Burnett, a longtime animation veteran whose credits include Batman and Superman television shows as well as such animated movies as "Batman: Mask of the Phantasm" and "Green Lantern: First Flight," is writing the story and script. The logline is being kept under wraps, but it's known that the show will feature numerous villains.
Warner Bros. Consumer Products is spearheading the project, whose deals with NGM and WLP are licensing agreements. Other partners might come aboard.
The credentials of NGM and WLP are well-known in the stage world. The award-winning "Dinosaurs" show, for example, boasted intricate dinos and sets, and the tours generated tens of millions of dollars, consistently ranking near the top of Pollstar's annual ranking.
No timeline for the "Batman" show is set, though one scenario involves aiming to come out after Christopher Nolan's third "Batman" movie in 2012. Another scenario has it opening in 2011.
Mounting any type of stage production featuring a superhero can be tricky -- just look at the on-again, off-again Spider-Man Broadway musical -- but Batman could be the first DC Comics character with his own touring stage show. His erstwhile colleague Superman was the center of a Broadway show in 1966, but it closed after a few months despite fairly positive reviews.
Warners' consumer products division declined comment.
Burnett is repped by the Arlook Group.
http://www.heatvisionblog.com/2010/04/batman-live-stage-show-warner-bros-dc-comics.html
A Batman stage show soon might be swooping to a town near you.
Warner Bros. and DC Comics are in the early stages of developing a tour, tentatively titled "Batman Live" and starring the Caped Crusader, working with Nick Grace Management and Water Lane Prods., companies behind the popular "Walking With Dinosaurs" and "Mamma Mia!" touring shows.
The show is neither a musical nor a Broadway-bound theatrical production but rather an elaborate arena production aimed at kids and families.
Alan Burnett, a longtime animation veteran whose credits include Batman and Superman television shows as well as such animated movies as "Batman: Mask of the Phantasm" and "Green Lantern: First Flight," is writing the story and script. The logline is being kept under wraps, but it's known that the show will feature numerous villains.
Warner Bros. Consumer Products is spearheading the project, whose deals with NGM and WLP are licensing agreements. Other partners might come aboard.
The credentials of NGM and WLP are well-known in the stage world. The award-winning "Dinosaurs" show, for example, boasted intricate dinos and sets, and the tours generated tens of millions of dollars, consistently ranking near the top of Pollstar's annual ranking.
No timeline for the "Batman" show is set, though one scenario involves aiming to come out after Christopher Nolan's third "Batman" movie in 2012. Another scenario has it opening in 2011.
Mounting any type of stage production featuring a superhero can be tricky -- just look at the on-again, off-again Spider-Man Broadway musical -- but Batman could be the first DC Comics character with his own touring stage show. His erstwhile colleague Superman was the center of a Broadway show in 1966, but it closed after a few months despite fairly positive reviews.
Warners' consumer products division declined comment.
Burnett is repped by the Arlook Group.
http://www.heatvisionblog.com/2010/04/batman-live-stage-show-warner-bros-dc-comics.html
Saturday, March 13, 2010
'Phantom' menace: Sequel is shaky
Webber show off to rough start in UK
Last Updated: 11:59 AM, March 12, 2010
Posted: 3:53 AM, March 12, 2010
Michael Riedel
At the opening of Andrew Lloyd Webber's "Love Never Dies" Tuesday night, I ran right into the composer's wife, Madeleine.
Beautiful and clever, Madeleine's always quick with a quip.
"Michael," she said, smiling. "You've come a long way -- to trash us."
No, no, Madeleine. I'm just here to report on the premiere and dole out a little gossip. We'll leave the trashing to the Internet chatters -- whose early salvo, "Paint Never Dries," will haunt this show forever -- and the critics, some of whom have taken up their assignment with gusto. The Times of London, The Evening Standard and The New York Times dismissed this $12 million sequel to "The Phantom of the Opera" as an unsalvageable wreck.
But other critics enjoyed it. The Telegraph raved about the score and the creepy production; The Independent called it "phabulous."
Response among insiders was mixed as well. A New York investor announced, "I can kiss my 25,000-pound investment goodbye." Another said, "Great score, but there's a lot of tweaking to do." A top London producer added, "They've got to work on the story. It's so predictable."
"Love Never Dies," set to open on Broadway in November, takes the Phantom to Coney Island, where he runs a freak show. Still obsessed with Christine, he lures her to New York. She arrives with her husband, Raoul, who's a drunken gambler, and her son, Gustave, whose father may be Raoul or -- de-da-de-dum! -- the Phantom. (Said a wag, "They should call it 'Who's Your Daddy?' ")
That the musical's generating such a grab-bag response may be due to the fact that even some of the creators don't think it's ready yet. The Americans on board -- director Jack O'Brien ("Hairspray") and choreographer Jerry Mitchell ("Legally Blonde") -- were frustrated that they had only two weeks of previews to stage such a huge spectacle. They begged for more time, sources say, but Lloyd Webber's minions were concerned that postponing the opening would generate even more negative chatter.
And the previews were rocky. Anyone who works on a Lloyd Webber show will tell you there's always a moment when the Great Man throws a Great Fit. During a rehearsal of "Woman in White," the leading lady spoke a note instead of singing it and Lloyd Webber threatened to take his score home. (I'm told they now keep two copies of a Lloyd Webber score in the pits of his shows as a precaution.)
On "Love Never Dies," he reportedly became so frustrated, he muttered, "I'm just going to write a check for 10 million pounds and close the show."
He's also butted heads with O'Brien, who's no pushover. O'Brien once told the ensemble to play their parts subtly. Then Lloyd Webber came around and said everybody should play it up. An exasperated O'Brien, sources say, threw up his hands and said, "I don't know what he wants!"
There's a rumor swirling here that O'Brien and Mitchell may leave the show before it opens in New York. (It's said they took the job for the money, although I refuse to believe anyone would work on an Andrew Lloyd Webber show for anything but the art.) Hal Prince, who directed the original "Phantom," is whispered to be waiting in the wings.
I ran that by Andre Ptaszynski, who runs Lloyd Webber's empire, The Really Useful Group. He said, "The mention of Hal Prince is a stunner to Andrew and me. No such thing was anywhere on the radar. Why would it be? We love Jack and are very pleased with his work, though, as is often the case, there is a further mile to go."
Ptaszynski also said the creators met Wednesday to pore over the reviews and "discussed the work we and Jack would like to do before the show opens on Broadway."
A big issue, sources say, is the opening scene, which is slow and confusing.
Another, much deeper problem is the Phantom himself. In the original, he's mysterious, sensual and terrifying. This time around, he cries a lot. And his first entrance isn't an entrance. He's at a piano, scribbling. He's got a killer first song -- the soaring " 'Til I Hear You Sing Once More" -- but he needs a thrilling entrance. (In the original, he materializes in the mirror.) When I mentioned this to someone working on the show, he snapped, "Tell that to Jack O'Brien."
Ramin Karimloo, who plays the Phantom, sings beautifully, but as critics have mentioned, he's bland. You come expecting Michael Crawford and you get Gerard Butler's stand-in.
Nobody here thinks the mixed verdict will stop Lloyd Webber from bringing "Love Never Dies" to Broadway. He's the richest composer in theater history precisely because he's thumbed his nose at the critics and gone straight to the people who matter: the paying public.
But it's clear there's work to be done. And from what I'm hearing, it's going to be a white-knuckle ride. Just like the Cyclone at Coney Island.
michael.riedel@nypost.com
Read more: http://www.nypost.com/p/entertainment/theater/webber_show_off_to_rough_start_in_ppIUFX4Nca3lULbFTAkZNN
Last Updated: 11:59 AM, March 12, 2010
Posted: 3:53 AM, March 12, 2010
Michael Riedel
At the opening of Andrew Lloyd Webber's "Love Never Dies" Tuesday night, I ran right into the composer's wife, Madeleine.
Beautiful and clever, Madeleine's always quick with a quip.
"Michael," she said, smiling. "You've come a long way -- to trash us."
No, no, Madeleine. I'm just here to report on the premiere and dole out a little gossip. We'll leave the trashing to the Internet chatters -- whose early salvo, "Paint Never Dries," will haunt this show forever -- and the critics, some of whom have taken up their assignment with gusto. The Times of London, The Evening Standard and The New York Times dismissed this $12 million sequel to "The Phantom of the Opera" as an unsalvageable wreck.
But other critics enjoyed it. The Telegraph raved about the score and the creepy production; The Independent called it "phabulous."
Response among insiders was mixed as well. A New York investor announced, "I can kiss my 25,000-pound investment goodbye." Another said, "Great score, but there's a lot of tweaking to do." A top London producer added, "They've got to work on the story. It's so predictable."
"Love Never Dies," set to open on Broadway in November, takes the Phantom to Coney Island, where he runs a freak show. Still obsessed with Christine, he lures her to New York. She arrives with her husband, Raoul, who's a drunken gambler, and her son, Gustave, whose father may be Raoul or -- de-da-de-dum! -- the Phantom. (Said a wag, "They should call it 'Who's Your Daddy?' ")
That the musical's generating such a grab-bag response may be due to the fact that even some of the creators don't think it's ready yet. The Americans on board -- director Jack O'Brien ("Hairspray") and choreographer Jerry Mitchell ("Legally Blonde") -- were frustrated that they had only two weeks of previews to stage such a huge spectacle. They begged for more time, sources say, but Lloyd Webber's minions were concerned that postponing the opening would generate even more negative chatter.
And the previews were rocky. Anyone who works on a Lloyd Webber show will tell you there's always a moment when the Great Man throws a Great Fit. During a rehearsal of "Woman in White," the leading lady spoke a note instead of singing it and Lloyd Webber threatened to take his score home. (I'm told they now keep two copies of a Lloyd Webber score in the pits of his shows as a precaution.)
On "Love Never Dies," he reportedly became so frustrated, he muttered, "I'm just going to write a check for 10 million pounds and close the show."
He's also butted heads with O'Brien, who's no pushover. O'Brien once told the ensemble to play their parts subtly. Then Lloyd Webber came around and said everybody should play it up. An exasperated O'Brien, sources say, threw up his hands and said, "I don't know what he wants!"
There's a rumor swirling here that O'Brien and Mitchell may leave the show before it opens in New York. (It's said they took the job for the money, although I refuse to believe anyone would work on an Andrew Lloyd Webber show for anything but the art.) Hal Prince, who directed the original "Phantom," is whispered to be waiting in the wings.
I ran that by Andre Ptaszynski, who runs Lloyd Webber's empire, The Really Useful Group. He said, "The mention of Hal Prince is a stunner to Andrew and me. No such thing was anywhere on the radar. Why would it be? We love Jack and are very pleased with his work, though, as is often the case, there is a further mile to go."
Ptaszynski also said the creators met Wednesday to pore over the reviews and "discussed the work we and Jack would like to do before the show opens on Broadway."
A big issue, sources say, is the opening scene, which is slow and confusing.
Another, much deeper problem is the Phantom himself. In the original, he's mysterious, sensual and terrifying. This time around, he cries a lot. And his first entrance isn't an entrance. He's at a piano, scribbling. He's got a killer first song -- the soaring " 'Til I Hear You Sing Once More" -- but he needs a thrilling entrance. (In the original, he materializes in the mirror.) When I mentioned this to someone working on the show, he snapped, "Tell that to Jack O'Brien."
Ramin Karimloo, who plays the Phantom, sings beautifully, but as critics have mentioned, he's bland. You come expecting Michael Crawford and you get Gerard Butler's stand-in.
Nobody here thinks the mixed verdict will stop Lloyd Webber from bringing "Love Never Dies" to Broadway. He's the richest composer in theater history precisely because he's thumbed his nose at the critics and gone straight to the people who matter: the paying public.
But it's clear there's work to be done. And from what I'm hearing, it's going to be a white-knuckle ride. Just like the Cyclone at Coney Island.
michael.riedel@nypost.com
Read more: http://www.nypost.com/p/entertainment/theater/webber_show_off_to_rough_start_in_ppIUFX4Nca3lULbFTAkZNN
Saturday, March 6, 2010
Andrew Lloyd Webber insists it’ll be all right on the night
From The Times
March 6, 2010
Ben Hoyle, Arts Correspondent
Some of the most successful musicals of all time would never have survived to become long-running favourites if they had premiered in the digital age, according to Andrew Lloyd Webber.
The Times reported yesterday that although Love Never Dies — his sequel to The Phantom of the Opera — does not open until Tuesday, it has already been denounced by so-called “phans” all over the globe. Some have seen the West End preview, but many have not.
Speaking yesterday during rehearsals at the Adelphi Theatre, on the Strand in London, he said that the internet had made life much more difficult for anyone trying to bring an ambitious new stage production to the public.
He says that Love Never Dies is one of the best things he has ever done. “It’s the score that I’ve put the most into,” he said. “Those people that have heard it think that we are trying to do something completely new. Tim [Rice, his writing partner on many of his early hits, but not this musical] thinks it’s one of the best librettos I’ve ever had. I don’t think anything like this has been created for a long while.”
Love Never Dies, which moves the action on ten years and transports it from Paris to Coney Island, New York, has been developing for years.
But with days to go until the opening night, it clearly irks him that the show is having to do battle with the internet, where fan sites and theatre chat rooms act as a global echo chamber for a minority of opinionated audience members, as well as providing an easy opportunity for industrial sabotage.
“What we really have to consider is all this stuff on the net,” he said. “It’s a very worrying situation for anybody now who’s opening any kind of play or musical.”
“Three years ago I was alerted [to the potential for sabotage] with somebody else’s musical theatre production. It was discovered by various machinery that another producer was knocking it [on the internet]. Everybody knows a little about this in the theatre.
“At that time I put a ban out to everybody who was working directly or indirectly with me that we will not post anything on the web to do with any production in the West End because it’s very dangerous.”
Does he believe that this practice is still widespread? “Yes.” Does it explain some of the comments aimed at Love Never Dies? “No.”
The evidence collected by Lloyd Webber’s digital team suggests that the critics with “vested interests” in this case are not rival producers but “phans”. He suspects that they are people who have seen the original Phantom hundreds of times and have developed an obsessive relationship with the show.
“What’s happening is that this small number of people have now got this marketplace where they can be the Benedict Nightingale [The Times’s veteran chief theatre critic] of the day.”
What they ignore is that previews are not the same thing as the finished article, Lloyd Webber added. Audiences should understand that they are watching a work in progress. “It is a problem now because if you go back in history, I dread to think what anybody would have said about the first preview of Cats, or, frankly, Les Misérables, which was a huge undertaking and wasn’t right at the beginning.
“Cameron [Mackintosh] and Trevor Nunn bravely got it through and, despite not very good reviews, it turned into one of the biggest musicals of all time. If anybody [with access to the internet] had seen the first preview of Cats I think it would have been closed.
The internet has changed the rules of the game and it has fallen to Love Never Dies to test the water. “Wicked, which is probably the biggest musical in the world right now, when that started there were a lot of Wizard of Oz fans who objected to it,” says Lloyd Webber.
“There’s a whole sad culture around the world of people who seem to only live by the old Phantom of the Opera,” he said. “But I suspect in a year’s time most of those, if they come to see thiss, will understand and enjoy it.”
Lloyd Webber is fully aware that a flop could tarnish his most successful creation, but he is quietly confident ahead of Tuesday night’s world premiere, whatever the critics decide.
“Phantom got some terrible reviews. The Sunday Times called it “masked balls” and that was it. But the point is that by opening night we knew we were away. I will know on Tuesday whether we’ve got a worldwide hit or not.”
Audiences might be best advised to hold off a little bit longer if they wish to see the new show at its best.
“There’s an old adage,” Lloyd Webber said, rather surprisingly. “Never go and see a musical until a month after it opens.”
http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol/arts_and_entertainment/stage/article7052118.ece
March 6, 2010
Ben Hoyle, Arts Correspondent
Some of the most successful musicals of all time would never have survived to become long-running favourites if they had premiered in the digital age, according to Andrew Lloyd Webber.
The Times reported yesterday that although Love Never Dies — his sequel to The Phantom of the Opera — does not open until Tuesday, it has already been denounced by so-called “phans” all over the globe. Some have seen the West End preview, but many have not.
Speaking yesterday during rehearsals at the Adelphi Theatre, on the Strand in London, he said that the internet had made life much more difficult for anyone trying to bring an ambitious new stage production to the public.
He says that Love Never Dies is one of the best things he has ever done. “It’s the score that I’ve put the most into,” he said. “Those people that have heard it think that we are trying to do something completely new. Tim [Rice, his writing partner on many of his early hits, but not this musical] thinks it’s one of the best librettos I’ve ever had. I don’t think anything like this has been created for a long while.”
Love Never Dies, which moves the action on ten years and transports it from Paris to Coney Island, New York, has been developing for years.
But with days to go until the opening night, it clearly irks him that the show is having to do battle with the internet, where fan sites and theatre chat rooms act as a global echo chamber for a minority of opinionated audience members, as well as providing an easy opportunity for industrial sabotage.
“What we really have to consider is all this stuff on the net,” he said. “It’s a very worrying situation for anybody now who’s opening any kind of play or musical.”
“Three years ago I was alerted [to the potential for sabotage] with somebody else’s musical theatre production. It was discovered by various machinery that another producer was knocking it [on the internet]. Everybody knows a little about this in the theatre.
“At that time I put a ban out to everybody who was working directly or indirectly with me that we will not post anything on the web to do with any production in the West End because it’s very dangerous.”
Does he believe that this practice is still widespread? “Yes.” Does it explain some of the comments aimed at Love Never Dies? “No.”
The evidence collected by Lloyd Webber’s digital team suggests that the critics with “vested interests” in this case are not rival producers but “phans”. He suspects that they are people who have seen the original Phantom hundreds of times and have developed an obsessive relationship with the show.
“What’s happening is that this small number of people have now got this marketplace where they can be the Benedict Nightingale [The Times’s veteran chief theatre critic] of the day.”
What they ignore is that previews are not the same thing as the finished article, Lloyd Webber added. Audiences should understand that they are watching a work in progress. “It is a problem now because if you go back in history, I dread to think what anybody would have said about the first preview of Cats, or, frankly, Les Misérables, which was a huge undertaking and wasn’t right at the beginning.
“Cameron [Mackintosh] and Trevor Nunn bravely got it through and, despite not very good reviews, it turned into one of the biggest musicals of all time. If anybody [with access to the internet] had seen the first preview of Cats I think it would have been closed.
The internet has changed the rules of the game and it has fallen to Love Never Dies to test the water. “Wicked, which is probably the biggest musical in the world right now, when that started there were a lot of Wizard of Oz fans who objected to it,” says Lloyd Webber.
“There’s a whole sad culture around the world of people who seem to only live by the old Phantom of the Opera,” he said. “But I suspect in a year’s time most of those, if they come to see thiss, will understand and enjoy it.”
Lloyd Webber is fully aware that a flop could tarnish his most successful creation, but he is quietly confident ahead of Tuesday night’s world premiere, whatever the critics decide.
“Phantom got some terrible reviews. The Sunday Times called it “masked balls” and that was it. But the point is that by opening night we knew we were away. I will know on Tuesday whether we’ve got a worldwide hit or not.”
Audiences might be best advised to hold off a little bit longer if they wish to see the new show at its best.
“There’s an old adage,” Lloyd Webber said, rather surprisingly. “Never go and see a musical until a month after it opens.”
http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol/arts_and_entertainment/stage/article7052118.ece
Lloyd Webber sequel incurs scorn of online ‘phans’
From The Times
March 5, 2010
Ben Hoyle, Arts Correspondent
Opening night is still four days away but Andrew Lloyd Webber’s sequel to The Phantom of the Opera is already threatening to stake an unwanted claim to theatre history.
Love Never Dies may well be the most pre-emptively vilified show yet. Vicious verdicts began popping up online immediately after previews started at the Adelphi in London on February 22. They have kept coming, attacking the singing, the music, the lyrics, the story by Ben Elton and Frederick Forsyth, the set, the ticket prices and various endings tried so far.
Perhaps the internet and the borderline obsessive protectiveness that many people feel towards the original musical made that inevitable. Before anyone had seen the show, die-hard “phans” were bombarding the inboxes of theatre critics and reporters in London and New York with complaints about its very existence.
One influential theatre blog parodied the show as “Paint Never Dries”, describing it as tedious and gloomy with inaudible singing and an “interminably drawn-out finale”. The discussion boards of the theatre news website What’s On Stage (owned by Lloyd Webber’s company The Really Useful Group) had 62 pages of comments as of yesterday afternoon, viewed more than 70,000 times. The most recent posting, from someone who declared themself to be a “big fan” of the original, called the show “appalling, appalling, appalling”.
Alistair Smith, news editor of The Stage, said that the industry has been taken aback by the criticism. “I think this is a genuine new phenomenon and we can’t yet tell what effect it will have [on the show’s prospects]. There are probably only two shows that people are this obsessed with: Phantom and Les Misérables. These people develop a sense of ownership and feel it’s their show, not the composer’s.”
Those obsessive audiences are the bedrock of the original Phantom’s success. As the publicity material puts it, Phantom is “the most succesful single piece of entertainment of all time” with a box office gross of more than £2 billion. Lloyd Webber has not had a hit on anything like that scale since but neither has anybody else. He is sufficiently aware of the threat posed to the global target market by the criticism to have a team of people analysing the online chatter for him.
Andre Ptaszynski, chief executive of The Really Useful Group and a producer for Love Never Dies, said that negative online reviews “probably can be really damaging” but after a difficult start 80 per cent of the total comment was favourable.“All the online comment was confirming what we knew was wrong,” he said. “On Monday two weeks ago they were saying, ‘the last scene is really dreadful’. It was the first time we’d done it in front of an audience . But we have tried at least three versions since and now it really works.” The show has taken advance bookings of £9 million on a production cost of £6 million. Dates are pencilled in for the US, Asia and Australia, pending a decision likely to be based “more on popular reaction than critical reaction”, he said. “Andrew has been one of the easiest targets in popular cultural life for decades. Critics often take the high ground and ignore that his work is incredibly popular.”
Previous Lloyd Webber premieres
Jesus Christ Superstar, New York, October 14, 1971: “It all rather resembled one’s first sight of the Empire State Building. Not at all uninteresting but somewhat unsurprising and of minimal artistic value. The total effect is brilliant but cheap”
Aspects of Love, London, April 17, 1989: “The opening number, Love Changes Everything, consists of a blandly repeated six-note phrase over two chords. Another innocuous little phrase accompanies George’s favourite slogan, ‘Life goes on, love is free’. Lloyd Webber then goes on to exploit this as if he had hit on the Grail motif from Parsifal”
http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol/arts_and_entertainment/stage/article7050528.ece
March 5, 2010
Ben Hoyle, Arts Correspondent
Opening night is still four days away but Andrew Lloyd Webber’s sequel to The Phantom of the Opera is already threatening to stake an unwanted claim to theatre history.
Love Never Dies may well be the most pre-emptively vilified show yet. Vicious verdicts began popping up online immediately after previews started at the Adelphi in London on February 22. They have kept coming, attacking the singing, the music, the lyrics, the story by Ben Elton and Frederick Forsyth, the set, the ticket prices and various endings tried so far.
Perhaps the internet and the borderline obsessive protectiveness that many people feel towards the original musical made that inevitable. Before anyone had seen the show, die-hard “phans” were bombarding the inboxes of theatre critics and reporters in London and New York with complaints about its very existence.
One influential theatre blog parodied the show as “Paint Never Dries”, describing it as tedious and gloomy with inaudible singing and an “interminably drawn-out finale”. The discussion boards of the theatre news website What’s On Stage (owned by Lloyd Webber’s company The Really Useful Group) had 62 pages of comments as of yesterday afternoon, viewed more than 70,000 times. The most recent posting, from someone who declared themself to be a “big fan” of the original, called the show “appalling, appalling, appalling”.
Alistair Smith, news editor of The Stage, said that the industry has been taken aback by the criticism. “I think this is a genuine new phenomenon and we can’t yet tell what effect it will have [on the show’s prospects]. There are probably only two shows that people are this obsessed with: Phantom and Les Misérables. These people develop a sense of ownership and feel it’s their show, not the composer’s.”
Those obsessive audiences are the bedrock of the original Phantom’s success. As the publicity material puts it, Phantom is “the most succesful single piece of entertainment of all time” with a box office gross of more than £2 billion. Lloyd Webber has not had a hit on anything like that scale since but neither has anybody else. He is sufficiently aware of the threat posed to the global target market by the criticism to have a team of people analysing the online chatter for him.
Andre Ptaszynski, chief executive of The Really Useful Group and a producer for Love Never Dies, said that negative online reviews “probably can be really damaging” but after a difficult start 80 per cent of the total comment was favourable.“All the online comment was confirming what we knew was wrong,” he said. “On Monday two weeks ago they were saying, ‘the last scene is really dreadful’. It was the first time we’d done it in front of an audience . But we have tried at least three versions since and now it really works.” The show has taken advance bookings of £9 million on a production cost of £6 million. Dates are pencilled in for the US, Asia and Australia, pending a decision likely to be based “more on popular reaction than critical reaction”, he said. “Andrew has been one of the easiest targets in popular cultural life for decades. Critics often take the high ground and ignore that his work is incredibly popular.”
Previous Lloyd Webber premieres
Jesus Christ Superstar, New York, October 14, 1971: “It all rather resembled one’s first sight of the Empire State Building. Not at all uninteresting but somewhat unsurprising and of minimal artistic value. The total effect is brilliant but cheap”
Aspects of Love, London, April 17, 1989: “The opening number, Love Changes Everything, consists of a blandly repeated six-note phrase over two chords. Another innocuous little phrase accompanies George’s favourite slogan, ‘Life goes on, love is free’. Lloyd Webber then goes on to exploit this as if he had hit on the Grail motif from Parsifal”
http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol/arts_and_entertainment/stage/article7050528.ece
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
