Broadway Grosses - Week Ending 10/05/09

It seems that this is the first week in quite a long time that there has been no huge decrease in the amount of people a show has pulled into a theatre. There is not one show which has seen a drop of more than 10%. Chicago seen the steepest drop (-9.5%). August: Osage County also seen a drop. It was less than Chicagos drop, but considering that last week it was showing at less than 45% capacity a drop is still not healthy. This week the show has dropped to 33.3% capacity (-8.8%) The show cannot be making money and I still feel that it will close soon. Most family musicals remained steady (The Little Mermaid -0.1%), as did most musicals is general (Jersey Boys +0.7%, Billy Elliott +2.1%). Alot of plays seemed to see a big resurgence in visitors with Norman Conquests (+15.7%) and Waiting for Godot (+14.9%) the biggest gainers. Overall there were more people watching Broadway shows this week - 72.05% of seats were sold compared to 70.45% last week.


For full Broadway Grosses click here

Sister Act Nuns abseil down Palladium!

The Producers of the new Sister Act Musical which started previews in the London Palladium last night caused the traffic to stop and thousands of tourists to gather around yesterday when they abseiled six nuns down the front of the theatre!

The stunt was pulled by producers Stage Entertainment and Whoopi Goldberg. The nuns were dressed in their full habits, complete with black painted stilettos.

Bill Taylor, producer of Sister Act, commented, "We're hoping Sister Act fever will be taking the capital by storm, and we're celebrating our first preview by stamping our mark on the wonderful London Palladium with our fearless sisters. The nun fun is just beginning!"

Sister Act has taken around $6 million in advanced ticket sales and should run a while.

Wolverine rakes in the cash!

X-Men Origins: Wolverine, the first comic book prequel about the adventures of the X-Men has clawed its way to the top of the American and UK box office. In the US, the film took $85 million (£57 million) in the first three days, which was above expectations, especially because the film had been leaked online weeks in advance. The figure is slightly lower than the last 2 X-Men films, but considering that this film is a spin-off it has performed exceptionally well. In the UK the film has opened to £6.6 million, but that figure includes two days of previews. This figure is 3 times as much as the closest film rival - the big screen adaptation of the Disney Hannah Montana series. The sucess of Wolverine may be short lived however with next Fridays release of the new Star Trek film starring Simon Pegg.

I went to the cinema to see Wolverine over the weekend. Whilst I didn't love the film, I couldn't see why some critics have mauled it. The characters except for Wolverine aren't that well developed and it is hard to actually care for them, but the action sequences were pretty impresive. The storyline was a bit flimsy, but it was always going to be because everyone knew going into the film that nothing drastic could happen to the character because he was in the following 3 X-Men films. It's not one of the greatest comic book films, not even close, but it is an enjoyable Sunday afternoon popcorn fest when all you feel like doing is watching something thaat doesn't require any brain power.

Little Shop of Horrors @ Liverpool Empire

It’s not often that you leave a theatre after watching a musical wanting never to visit the dentist ever again! But that is how you might feel after watching Orin Scrivello inflict torture on his patients during the first act of Little Shop of Horrors.

Little Shop of Horrors is set in Skid Row, an imaginary street in the 60’s, where Seymour, an assistant in a flower shop discovers a new breed of plant. Soon Seymour discovers that this plant has a taste for blood and it isn’t long before this carnivorous creature promises the downtrodden man a life of fame and fortune in exchange for fresh human flesh.

Claire Buckfield as Seymours love interest Audrey is particularly good. The character goes on a big journey throughout the show and Claire shines as she displays the characters emotions, going from the silent domestic abuse victim, to beginning a genuinely cutesy relationship with Seymour.

Alex Ferns was also very strong as the psychopathic dentist. He played the wife beating character well, but one feels that if he wants to avoid being typecast in the future then he must try and avoid roles like this. His comic timing however, was impeccable.

The real revelation of the show however was Damien Humbley who played Seymour. His acting was every bit as good as his singing which was crystal clear.

The three ladies who provided the narration had excellent vocal talent when singing individually, but when they sang together it was very hard to decipher the words. Perhaps this was due to their strong American accents, or perhaps there were some technical issues on the night.

The star of the show was undoubtedly the plant! The fact that it’s all singing and all dancing makes you sort of forget that it’s murderous and ruins everyone’s lives around it. The man behind the voice, Clive Rowe is particularly good.

The set comprised of a back alley which had brick buildings on either sides of the stage. These buildings folded out to reveal the interiors of the shop and the dentist surgery. It was very well utilised and it was good to see that there wasn’t much dead space on the space.

Overall this is a good production, having starting its life as The Menier Chocolate Factorys revival in 2006. Whilst nothing about the show is lavish, everything is executed well. The score isn’t particularly memorable, but it is noticeable that the songs were written by future Disney composers – Howard Ashman and Alan Menkin who went on to write the scores for Aladdin and The Little Mermaid.


7/10


The Little Shop of Horrors runs at the Liverpool Empire until Saturday 9th May, before continuing its UK tour in Milton Keynes (11th-16th May) and in Woking (18th-23rd May).

Tony Award Nominations Announced!

This years Tony Award nominations have been announced and the Broadway production of Billy Elliott leads the pack with a total of 15 nominations. It's 3 young stars are jointly up for Best Actor whilst Sir Elton John is nominated for Best Original Music. The show is also in the running in the Best Musical category, where it is up against Shrek the Musical, Rock of Ages and Next to Normal.

In nominations for plays, Jane Fonda is nominated in the Best Actress category, whilst Geoffrey Rush and James Gandolfini are both nominated for Best Actor. 33 Variations, Dividing The Estate, Reasons To Be Pretty and and God of Carnage are the best play candidates. Angela Lansbury has also garnered her 6th Tony Award nomination for Best Featured Actress in a play, for Blithe Spirit.

The Tony Awards will be awarded at The Radio City Music Hall in New York City on Sunday 7th June 2009. www.tonyawards.com

For a full list of nominees click here

Broadway Grosses - Week Ending 03/05/09

Another not so good week for August: Osage County. Less than 45% of the seats were sold during this past week. It must be on the brink of closing unless the running costs are very, very low! Joe Turners Come and Gone also had a 33% drop in seats sold. This was the biggest decrease however, as generally most shows had a small increase or decrease. Guys and Dolls was the biggest musical casualty, off 16% this week. The family musicals had a biggest drop than other musicals, with Shrek the musical and Mary Poppins both seeing drops of around 10%. Wicked continues to be the musical which is taking the most amount of money, in a trend which has continued pretty much since it opened in 2003.

Click here for the full list of grosses

Sound of Music Tour casting..

It seems that Margaret Preece will be reprising her role as Mother Abbess. Margaret took over from Lesley Garrett in the role at The London Palladium in the city's West End and ended up closing the show alongside Summer Strallen who played Maria Von Trapp, who on tour will be played by another returning star. Connie Fisher is to play Maria and Kirsty Malpass will play Maria at certain performances. Michael Praed will star as Captain Von Trapp. Michael has appeared in the West End versions of Pirates of Penzance and Aspects of Love alongside Sarah Brightman.

http://www.thesoundofmusictour.com/news/newsitem_michaelpraed.php