Bat Out Of Hell The Musical - MCR/Dominion/Tour/Peacock/Tour

They have launched a fan ticket selling ‘system’ where you can earn rewards & tickets to free shows by flogging tickets to your mates. It is either genius or a sign of desperation. As someone has said it does appear to be selling slightly better so maybe it has found a bit more of a weekday audience?

Well there is only one way to find out, check next weeks sales. Monday is only about half sold whilst Tuesday to Thursday appears to be around 60% full. Thursday and Friday verge onto the 70% full with the opening of the whole Dress on the Friday which is half closed on weekdays. Both Saturday shows then sit somewhere in the 70% to 80% full. For a show this big, with a large cast and production, its not great but we must remember it is quiet all over the West End at the mo with the exception of the likes of Hamilton and Potter, as well as the shows soon closing like Kinky Boots which appeared on social media to enjoy sold out weekends. It has to do something.

Could any of the roles be star cast do we think? The annoying thing is the two parents and Danielle are amazing, and the guy currently playing the lead is great too. I don't want any of them to leave but they are the only roles really a star could replace unless they give Christina the boot.

I want it to extend too, like I said in my reviews, there are some very good things about it and heaven knows the Dominion needs a hit. It's always a tough one with venues this size because you never know how expensive shows are, how many people they have to get in etc.

If the Dominion is say half full, that is still capacity of say a smaller West End house. However, the venue itself costs more because of its size, and the production costs more because of its size of show. Also, their promo budget must be huge too with the amount there is about. I think it's a tough one to judge.

I can see one of two things happening based on its current state of affairs. Either it will close shortly after the winter to get the final tourists in, or it will do one more Summer and close this time next year. We shall see. Kinda wanna see a cast change happen to see also if the avid fans will be so welcome to new cast members etc*.

*but keep Danielle. Forever and always.

What they should do is make a point of saying "final explosive Summer" or something, really drill it into people's heads this is it, the theatre will be packed with the fans and the tourists.

Well, I'm just back from a weekend in London an did my bit of fan-ambassadoring, too, dragging @emicardiff along into the Batcave on Saturday evening (sorry about the beer-spilling lady!). The stalls looked pretty much full to me, bar the odd few seats here and there. Almost the whole first cast was on, except Danielle.



That's actually my favorite argument - if Bat was playing at a regular 1400-1500 seater, it would often be sold-out in the weekends and doing okay business during the week. They don't discount all that much and seem to use TodayTix, TKTS, etc. to fill all these hard-to-shift seats in the back and side stalls and make money on sheer mass alone due to the theatre's size.

I'd also suggest that as these are American producers, they just might do things a little differently - Broadway has this system of giving out discount codes (even for shows that do pretty well), which London doesn't to that extent. They've introduced the "singalong" performances (something Mamma mia could have done years ago but no one seems to have thought of it) and unlike every other show that just sells premium tickets at outrageous prices, Bat actually offers fan packages with extra value where you get a goodie bag, a signed poster and free drinks along with your premium ticket. So why not reward the hyper fans if they bring friends along as another creative new marketing tool? It also seems to be fairly normal for American producers to just extend in little chunks, Book of Mormon has been doing it for years.



That and word getting around, I presume. It just takes a while for punters to see it, enjoy it, tell their mates, them booking tickets, spreading the word further, etc.

And finally, they are now gearing up promotion for the US Tour and Germany will be opening soon, too. I'm sure the producers will want to be flogging it in the US as "is enjoying a successful run in London and now opening on the continent" and not in "folded in London after less than a year". Their pockets are deep, none more than Steinman's and it's a prestige thing for him to see "his Peter Pan Musical" enjoying a good run after decades of wanting this on stage.

I’ve got tickets to this Friday’s show & I saw that Strat will be played by Simon (the alternate). Last time i saw the main Strat & he was great; does anyone know how good the cover Strat is?

A few outlets are announcing on social media that this is closing on the 5th January

Shame

It’s a shame but not a surprise. Perhaps Moulin Rouge can get fast tracked here before Broadway, or more likely, the Starlight Express revival.

Definitely going to have to go back once more before closing. Was debating between this and Jamie for next week, closing announcement means the decision has been made.
Interested to see what goes into this theatre. I just can’t picture any show coming over/transferring into town that’ll survive even a limited run given the capacity.

Ah that’s made me quite sad. It’s one of my personal favourites. I need to go and see it at least one more before it’s gone!

I really hope the cast go on to do great work in the West End, they’re all so great!