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Post by westendboy on Jul 28, 2020 23:52:43 GMT
At least Les Mis can now keep its title for roughly the next 34 years and not be overtaken by shows like Mamma Mia. Just the thought of Les Mis and Phantom being overtaken by Mamma Mia is disturbing...
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Post by chernjam on Jul 29, 2020 3:53:27 GMT
Looking back through this thread there seems to have been long periods of time where no one has posted a single thing about the show. I’m really gutted at the announcement today but I also feel a bit guilty that I’ve taken the show for granted over the years. Now that it’s closing I just wish I’d shown it a bit more love... Honestly, I've been saying I need to get into NYC to see Phantom (which is only 15 miles away for me) for years... And now a scan in my memory, I can't believe it's been 23 years since I last saw Phantom (I was then addicted to Sunset - which I've seen at least 15 times in the original and revival since) But for my Mom, Phantom has always been her favorite and I had promised her once Broadway re opened, we would go to see it again. That it would simply close because of COVID - not to be conspiratorial - but feels more opportunistic then anything right now to me. CM been looking to make it more profitable for years. All your stories of it remaining "sold out" just months ago probably bothered him it wasn't turning bigger profits right now compared to a Hamilton which being sold out probably has lower running costs. Not surprised... saddened, but not surprised And whoever mentioned that this is the best PR move they could've done to make it a sell out once whatever reopens - don't doubt that either
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Post by Theatrefan48 on Jul 29, 2020 6:26:52 GMT
I don't know the details as to who owns the majority share of Phantom (I assume CM) but I think he has simply played a blinder of a PR stunt here and probably just wants to put phantom into one of his own theatres rather than keep in in a LW Theatre, that way he will have even more control over the show. I would be surprised if its not back by some time in 2022. To be fair, it was all rather creaky at Her Majesty's! Having seen the recent tour, it looked anything but cheap so if that's anything to go by, I'm feeling quite positive about the future of the show. Also, it might clear the way for a nice revival of another classic LW show at HM. What would people like to see? Stephen Ward? Woman in white? The likes of us?
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Post by Deal J on Jul 29, 2020 8:05:51 GMT
"Her Majesty's" to be re-branded as "Her Majesties", with SIX in residence...?
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Post by CG on the loose on Jul 29, 2020 10:09:26 GMT
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Post by steve10086 on Jul 29, 2020 10:10:19 GMT
I think we’re all gonna need a big bucket of popcorn for this one!!!
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Post by BurlyBeaR on Jul 29, 2020 10:21:55 GMT
ALW and CM are lifelong collaborators. I’d be astonished if they weren’t both on exactly the same page with this, regardless of what PR spin they’re choosing to put on it.
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Post by steve10086 on Jul 29, 2020 10:39:19 GMT
ALW and CM are lifelong collaborators. I’d be astonished if they weren’t both on exactly the same page with this, regardless of what PR spin they’re choosing to put on it. Because historically they’ve always been such good friends...
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Post by woobl on Jul 29, 2020 10:51:46 GMT
Clever move on CM's part. Now that the director and designer are out the way, save some money by closing an expensive production during a global disaster and then get your lapdog LC in to put up a cheaper production both in costs and royalties. Win Win.
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Post by ThereWillBeSun on Jul 29, 2020 10:52:25 GMT
"Her Majesty's" to be re-branded as "Her Majesties", with SIX in residence...? clever!
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Post by TallPaul on Jul 29, 2020 11:24:43 GMT
Describing ALW and CM as lifelong collaborators is, I think, stretching it a little.
In his memoir, apart from a brief mention at the very beginning, ALW's doesn't get to CM until page 305...out of 487. ALW was already hot property when they first started working together; CM had been (mis)using Arts Council funding on the pretext of bringing high-quality touring shows to the regions. "He beamingly described this as a brilliant wheeze."
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Post by 10642 on Jul 29, 2020 11:29:16 GMT
Looking forward to the next live streamed musical hit depicting CM and ALW arguing about Phantom via zoom
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Post by scarpia on Jul 29, 2020 11:46:45 GMT
Before anyone gets too excited over ALW's latest tweet, I think it's worth noting that ALW himself told Michael Riedel of the New York Post when lockdown started that there were "huge plans to rebrand and refresh" the Broadway production. My suspicion is the dismantling of the original was in the planning by Cameron Mackintosh (and possibly RUG) for some time; they were just waiting for the right time (i.e. wait for the powerful creatives, particularly Hal Prince, to pass away).
I understand they wheeled out Sierra Boggess last night on BBC News since neither billionaire co-producer wanted to say anything. Don't know what she said, though, but I suspect she was told what to say.
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Post by scarpia on Jul 29, 2020 11:50:52 GMT
Describing ALW and CM as lifelong collaborators is, I think, stretching it a little. In his memoir, apart from a brief mention at the very beginning, ALW's doesn't get to CM until page 305...out of 487. ALW was already hot property when they first started working together; CM had been (mis)using Arts Council funding on the pretext of bringing high-quality touring shows to the regions. "He beamingly described this as a brilliant wheeze." Supposedly their first meeting was a disaster at the SWET awards when Evita won in 1978 (ALW made a comment about how badly organised it was, but the organiser was CM!).
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Post by anthony on Jul 29, 2020 11:55:06 GMT
ALW and CM are lifelong collaborators. I’d be astonished if they weren’t both on exactly the same page with this, regardless of what PR spin they’re choosing to put on it. I'm not sure what kind of PR spin CM would agree to in which he is seen as the villain? It's a very, very odd decision? I think this "beef" is genuine - for Webber to come out in disagreement with CM so publically twice in a few weeks, in which ALW is on the side of the fans seems pretty... unscripted. Saying that, I do think ALW is trying to play the "angel" card here... his tweet is very carefully worded and actually gives no reassurances about the future of the show.
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Post by Deleted on Jul 29, 2020 12:08:10 GMT
This whole affair could be alleviated with a simple press statement, clearly explaining the plans. The fact there hasn't been one clearly indicates there's a conflict of intentions.
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Post by TallPaul on Jul 29, 2020 12:12:48 GMT
I understand they wheeled out Sierra Boggess last night on BBC News since neither billionaire co-producer wanted to say anything. Don't know what she said, though, but I suspect she was told what to say. When my bad back wakes me in the middle of the night, I switch on the World Service for a while. When I did this last night, by chance it was Sierra Boggess talking about the announcement, from Mars, I think, judging by the quality of the line. "Deeply saddened... Tragic... Two incredibly generous humans... Absolutely devastating..." You get the idea. Only one namecheck for ALW, from what I remember, but she was very gushing about CM.
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Post by scarpia on Jul 29, 2020 12:24:01 GMT
I understand they wheeled out Sierra Boggess last night on BBC News since neither billionaire co-producer wanted to say anything. Don't know what she said, though, but I suspect she was told what to say. When my bad back wakes me in the middle of the night, I switch on the World Service for a while. When I did this last night, by chance it was Sierra Boggess talking about the announcement, from Mars, I think, judging by the quality of the line. "Deeply saddened... Tragic... Two incredibly generous humans... Absolutely devastating..." You get the idea. Only one namecheck for ALW, from what I remember, but she was very gushing about CM. Found it on Twitter. A bland statement as expected, and one which heaped praise on Cameron Mackintosh and urged for financial support...to a billionaire producer.
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Post by chernjam on Jul 29, 2020 12:43:53 GMT
I think we’re all gonna need a big bucket of popcorn for this one!!! Totally agree with you Steve... It's been a long long time since we've seen a CM - ALW "debate". They've played nice in recent years celebrations for POTO and other things, but if they were such great collaborators, then CM would still be producing ALW works. It was part of what frustrated ALW was that after POTO, financially he didn't have a hit again (maybe Aspects made its money back in London) but that almost everything after was nowhere near that - giving CM some bragging rights. And that CM seemed to favor Les Miz over POTO probably didnt go over well either
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Post by westendboy on Jul 29, 2020 12:48:54 GMT
Am I missing something here or is someone a bit confused? Either that or someone's taking the piss
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Post by duncan on Jul 29, 2020 13:05:10 GMT
This whole affair could be alleviated with a simple press statement, clearly explaining the plans. The fact there hasn't been one clearly indicates there's a conflict of intentions. Or it indicates that most successful people know that they dont need to conduct business in full glare of the public.
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Post by Deleted on Jul 29, 2020 13:28:32 GMT
This whole affair could be alleviated with a simple press statement, clearly explaining the plans. The fact there hasn't been one clearly indicates there's a conflict of intentions. Or it indicates that most successful people know that they dont need to conduct business in full glare of the public. Hardly. CM was quite transparent about the happenings around Les Miserables. At this point the public know nothing about whats really going to return to HMT, if anything at all.
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Post by 49thand8th on Jul 29, 2020 14:50:17 GMT
When my bad back wakes me in the middle of the night, I switch on the World Service for a while. When I did this last night, by chance it was Sierra Boggess talking about the announcement, from Mars, I think, judging by the quality of the line. "Deeply saddened... Tragic... Two incredibly generous humans... Absolutely devastating..." You get the idea. Only one namecheck for ALW, from what I remember, but she was very gushing about CM. Found it on Twitter. A bland statement as expected, and one which heaped praise on Cameron Mackintosh and urged for financial support...to a billionaire producer.
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Post by BurlyBeaR on Jul 29, 2020 14:53:05 GMT
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Post by scarpia on Jul 29, 2020 15:12:46 GMT
I think we’re all gonna need a big bucket of popcorn for this one!!! Totally agree with you Steve... It's been a long long time since we've seen a CM - ALW "debate". They've played nice in recent years celebrations for POTO and other things, but if they were such great collaborators, then CM would still be producing ALW works. It was part of what frustrated ALW was that after POTO, financially he didn't have a hit again (maybe Aspects made its money back in London) but that almost everything after was nowhere near that - giving CM some bragging rights. And that CM seemed to favor Les Miz over POTO probably didnt go over well either Publicly Mackintosh said he didn't want to produce with RUG after Phantom because he didn't want to work with another conglomerate (though that's exactly what he did for Poppins). I think he was interested in Aspects but he was too busy with Miss Saigon that year. There was some strange to-ing and fro-ing between the two then: originally Nick Hytner was supposed to direct Aspects, and Nunn Saigon. Nunn wanted to do both (I wonder why...) but Mackintosh ruled that out, which led to a falling out between the two that I don't think they ever quite recovered from. Back in the early 2000s there was a lot of publicity about Mackintosh and ALW collaborating again to co-produce the Michael Grandage revival Evita, which is apparently Mackintosh's favourite ALW score. Then, quietly, there was an announcement in Variety in 2005 that Mackintosh was no longer attached to the project. I don't know if that's because he felt he had too much on his hands with rolling out Poppins, or whether there were other reasons...
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Post by sf on Jul 29, 2020 15:12:57 GMT
"Leaner" Smaller orchestra, smaller cast, scaled-down set, same ticket prices.
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Post by Deleted on Jul 29, 2020 15:13:26 GMT
"leaner"
edit, point made above.
Lean, less the fat. It's a black box production already.
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Post by Jon on Jul 29, 2020 16:40:11 GMT
Publicly Mackintosh said he didn't want to produce with RUG after Phantom because he didn't want to work with another conglomerate (though that's exactly what he did for Poppins). I think he was interested in Aspects but he was too busy with Miss Saigon that year. There was some strange to-ing and fro-ing between the two then: originally Nick Hytner was supposed to direct Aspects, and Nunn Saigon. Nunn wanted to do both (I wonder why...) but Mackintosh ruled that out, which led to a falling out between the two that I don't think they ever quite recovered from. Back in the early 2000s there was a lot of publicity about Mackintosh and ALW collaborating again to co-produce the Michael Grandage revival Evita, which is apparently Mackintosh's favourite ALW score. Then, quietly, there was an announcement in Variety in 2005 that Mackintosh was no longer attached to the project. I don't know if that's because he felt he had too much on his hands with rolling out Poppins, or whether there were other reasons... Poppins wasn't his only co-production after Phantom, Oliver! is jointly owned by him and the Southbrook Group and the tours of Barnum, My Fair Lady etc had co-producers
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Post by Deleted on Jul 29, 2020 17:27:37 GMT
Just curious as it is Webber's musical can he pull the rights from Macintosh? Or does Macintosh have a stake in the copyright?
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Post by firefingers on Jul 29, 2020 18:53:54 GMT
Just curious as it is Webber's musical can he pull the rights from Macintosh? Or does Macintosh have a stake in the copyright? I was wondering this, but know very little about that side of it. Did CamMac get the rights in perpetuity? Does he have an extension clause so he can always extend without objection? And does he have to actually produce the show or can he hold on to a closed show forever? Because if ALW can get the rights back, he could do what he wanted. He even owns the theatre it is usually in. Do a proper clean up and updating and go it alone, produced by RUG/LW theatres solo. But I don't know enough about how the rights are likely to work.
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