Show Boat

As much as I would love it to, I can't seeing this stay open until January. Huge shame. Atleast matinees are doing good?
Thinkint about it, it's quite hard to imagine how some shows sell out night after night and some stay open for years. Heaters have seats of around 1,000; so it's a lot of seats to sell

Sheffield gets all of the usual tours at The Lyceum which is next door to The Crucible. They're not up there with Manc which seems to be the go-to city outside of London, and both are obviously a different ball game altogether to the West End but they're certainly not starved of big musicals. 

Also, I don't think 95% of the Crucible audience would have had the foggiest idea who Xavier, Beck and Trehern were. The people I went with are regular theatre-goers but were oblivious to the casting. Stunt casting with tv celebs may draw in the crowds but I don't think big west end names do. 

West End Live doesnt usually affect shows since they schedule it around the normal performances.

West End Wilma tweeting that this will close on 27th August - anyone on here know whether these are substantiated claims??

Terri Paddock has also tweeted that "@showboatmusical has just posted closing notices for 27 Aug"

Yep, another confirming article from WOS, too: www.whatsonstage.com/london-theatre/news/show-boat-close-early-west-end_40423.html?utm_source=twitter&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=10may2016

Is a shame, but not surprising considering reports of empty houses. It's a good question as to what will come in - not your normal pros arch theatre, either. Wonder if they had a filler in mind should this happen.

Such a shame this is closing, feel super sorry for the cast as they all look amazing. Hope Sandra Marvin, Gina Beck and Julie move on to do things straight after. It's not lasted very long has it?! Only 4 months and it's closed early by 5 months, I wasn't expecting it to close that early!! I wonder why it's doing so bad.

The theatre is quite weird, the stage comes out into the audiences so set design has to be quite hard to create due to lack of fly space, scary wagons etc. I don't think another play will go there again?

As Michael Billington said at the 'Everyone's a Critic' hosted by the Mountview Academy that critics are "Superfluous to Requirements" with West End shows. He even got this correct without realising it, judging by the 5 star reviews.

www.whatsonstage.com/london-theatre/news/michael-billington-west-end-defy-critics_40420.html?cid=homepage_news

Yeah huge shame it's finishing so early . 

Funny how some musicals can't stay open for a year but then some stay open for 10!! I would say Kinky Boots is doing badly?! The shows just extended by a year? I think Beautiful is on its way out. It's a shame the Palladium can't find a long running musical but it's because producers don't want to risk opening in a 2,000+ seat theatre and then gaining profit. 

I keep saying it's the price of West End tickets nowadays!! I saw that Kinky Boots has upped their prices by around £2 but it still makes a difference. Would've thoughht producers would lower prices if shows aren't doing well at the moment!!

It's a good production, and I honestly think I've enjoyed it more than the much more lavish Hal Prince version from the 90s that I barely recollect. However, not really surprised given how dated and how much of a relic the show is, which explains low ticket sales. Without having to go into jukebox musicals killing the West End and the general public's low brow preference, I think people want something fresh and exciting despite its style. It only appeals to a certain older demographic and maybe a musical theatre fan base that wants to see a classic because they either like it or just as part of their musical theatre self-education. To me it was the latter mixed with being in London for the final days of Sunset and really having nothing new to see.

Though I thought it was very well produced, well directed and fabulously performed, I really did wonder just how, well, necessary it was. The show is far from perfect in terms of its story telling, and its portrayal of black characters could have been cutting edge when it first started for humanizing them and shedding a light on their struggle and reality, but we've moved on and seeing it in 2016 these characters are really just used as a devise coming to the aid of the white protagonist with their special insight into life and situations.

The West End isn't particularly lacking without it, and it's not one of those must see revivals that gets done every 5-10 years like Gypsy or King & I.

I'm sure the cast will be just fine. They are very much an employable bunch, especially the young leads who are all up and coming and booking one show right after the other.

Funny, despite being immersed in theatre on here and other sites, this has been totally off my radar, so I can't imagine much of the general public will have much awareness of it. Is it worth catching or is it just one of those revivals that seem a bit pointless and dated?