375 posts
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Post by Theatre Fan on Jul 28, 2020 13:38:59 GMT
With the recent rumours of CM wanting to update the show and reduce costs I can't help but question the motives of why he's done this. Wouldn't this make all original contracts void? This would certainly give him more leverage to make any changes x |
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98 posts
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Post by paddy72 on Jul 28, 2020 13:39:22 GMT
Anyone know who owns Her Majesty’s theatre now.? I always presumed it was ALW or CM which would ensure that phantom was one of the safest productions in the west end when it came to issues of closure.
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Post by Deleted on Jul 28, 2020 13:46:43 GMT
I actually have a theory of why out of all the DMT productions this one faces the axe.
Mary Poppins hadn’t been running for long and was doing well sales wise, Hamilton is still widely successful and hyped up, and he’d just done a massive investment in refurbing the Sondheim and updating Les Mis. Therefore making Phantom the least relevant of the big four.
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Post by Deleted on Jul 28, 2020 13:53:08 GMT
Anyone know who owns Her Majesty’s theatre now.? I always presumed it was ALW or CM which would ensure that phantom was one of the safest productions in the west end when it came to issues of closure. ALW / LW Theatres |
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Post by Deleted on Jul 28, 2020 13:54:10 GMT
I actually have a theory of why out of all the DMT productions this one faces the axe. Mary Poppins hadn’t been running for long and was doing well sales wise, Hamilton is still widely successful and hyped up, and he’d just done a massive investment in refurbing the Sondheim and updating Les Mis. Therefore making Phantom the least relevant of the big four. Its not a populariuty issue or relevance, it's economics. Also, Delfont Mackintosh is the company that runs the theatres. Cameron Mackintosh Ltd is the company that runs the productions. They're separate so the refurbishment of the Sondheim would have no gravity on the running/refurbishment cost of a production, no matter the venue.
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7,061 posts
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Post by Jon on Jul 28, 2020 13:58:49 GMT
I wouldn't be surprised if Phantom is only 'closing' like Les Mis closed and be replaced by the new production rather than closing and being replaced by a new show.
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1,481 posts
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Post by steve10086 on Jul 28, 2020 14:04:53 GMT
I wouldn't be surprised if Phantom is only 'closing' like Les Mis closed and be replaced by the new production rather than closing and being replaced by a new show. But Les Mis never closed (if you buy CM’s “longest running musical” crap). This has been announced as Phantom permanently closing. |
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520 posts
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Post by anthony on Jul 28, 2020 14:07:49 GMT
I wouldn't be surprised if Phantom is only 'closing' like Les Mis closed and be replaced by the new production rather than closing and being replaced by a new show. But Les Mis never closed (if you buy CM’s “longest running musical” crap). This has been announced as Phantom permanently closing. I thought it did close and a new production opened? Phantom would have became the longest running musical in a few more months of running (it would have just passed it, if Covid hadn't happened). |
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Post by scarpia on Jul 28, 2020 14:08:37 GMT
I wonder if Cameron was unable to come to an agreement with ALW as to what production they were going to reopen with, so has pulled the show altogether. I wonder that too. Frankly I think it's better for the show to come to an end (though it's sad to not to send if off like it deserves) rather than suffer cost-cutting over the years to the point where it becomes a shadow of its former self and then gets thrown under a bus, which is what Mackintosh did with Les Mis. Lost all respect for Cameron though. His actions during this entire pandemic (not just to do with Phantom) just reek of greed. |
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Post by 10642 on Jul 28, 2020 14:10:42 GMT
But Les Mis never closed (if you buy CM’s “longest running musical” crap). This has been announced as Phantom permanently closing. I thought it did close and a new production opened? Phantom would have became the longest running musical in a few more months of running (it would have just passed it, if Covid hadn't happened). Cameron claims although the original production of Les Mis closed, having the staged concert then the new production means Les Mis is the longest running “musical”. Phantom would have become the longest running “production of a musical” |
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Post by westendboy on Jul 28, 2020 14:26:10 GMT
I am actually speechless
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19,677 posts
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Post by BurlyBeaR on Jul 28, 2020 14:26:29 GMT
Eh? Nothing has been said that we didn’t already know. Phantom has been temporarily closed for a refit and will reopen in 2021 when the work has been completed.
Move along. Nothing to see here.
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1,481 posts
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Post by steve10086 on Jul 28, 2020 14:37:29 GMT
Eh? Nothing has been said that we didn’t already know. Phantom has been temporarily closed for a refit and will reopen in 2021 when the work has been completed. Move along. Nothing to see here. Saying it has “permanently” closed was something we did not know before. |
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2,245 posts
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Post by richey on Jul 28, 2020 14:42:58 GMT
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Post by westendboy on Jul 28, 2020 14:55:26 GMT
What doesn't make sense to me is that he didn't announce this in a statement via the Phantom website, but in an article in the Evening Standard.
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Post by scarpia on Jul 28, 2020 15:05:48 GMT
This doesn't bode well for Broadway, where the running costs will undoubtedly be higher.  |
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106 posts
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Post by trapdoor on Jul 28, 2020 15:07:21 GMT
What doesn't make sense to me is that he didn't announce this in a statement via the Phantom website, but in an article in the Evening Standard. Most likely because the core staff he mentions he hasn’t temporarily let go won’t include whoever looks after the phantom website. His PR team wouldn’t be responsible for that. |
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Post by scarpia on Jul 28, 2020 15:10:18 GMT
At this point I wouldn’t be surprised if Mackintosh took some Les Mis characters, some Phantom characters, mashed them up into “The Phantom of the Barricades” and marketed it as “The Brilliant Originals Together At Last”. Should save him a bit of cash... given how poor he is. He can hire Laurence Connor as director and the tagline can be 'MORE SPECTACULAR THAN EVER'. The chandelier can look like this:  ...and the barricades like this:  The rest of the set can be pixelated projections. |
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Post by isabel on Jul 28, 2020 15:17:17 GMT
An official announcement is needed. at the moment its just rumours ?
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Post by c4ndyc4ne on Jul 28, 2020 15:23:03 GMT
An official announcement is needed. at the moment its just rumours ? all we have is his take and it seems to be a question of semantics more than anything – the difference between 'shutting down' and 'closing? |
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Post by scarpia on Jul 28, 2020 15:32:08 GMT
An official announcement is needed. at the moment its just rumours ? all we have is his take and it seems to be a question of semantics more than anything – the difference between 'shutting down' and 'closing? The key word is "permanently". He also talks about potentially "bringing it back". He doesn't use any of these phrases to describe his other productions, which are presumably simply suspended. |
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Post by 141920grm on Jul 28, 2020 15:33:43 GMT
What doesn't make sense to me is that he didn't announce this in a statement via the Phantom website, but in an article in the Evening Standard. Honestly think it was said more for shock value- especially the use of the phrase "permanently shut down". Phantom is such an icon and household name, praying this piece in the ES is just to spur relevant gvt officials into action. Otherwise there would be an official statement about the closure just like the tour. IMO that is the crux of the matter, and my biggest concern regarding all this news about the West End production. As others have mentioned before, this gives him room to "pull a Les Mis" with Phantom, and that is what's most unacceptable to me. On a slightly different note, the @phantombway Instagram account has mysteriously vanished. |
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Post by 141920grm on Jul 28, 2020 15:38:25 GMT
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7,061 posts
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Post by Jon on Jul 28, 2020 15:41:50 GMT
As if Cameron and Andrew really want people bothering them at this time. |
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520 posts
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Post by anthony on Jul 28, 2020 15:43:04 GMT
If it is to do a Les Mis (which I suspect is the end game here - I can imagine ALW not agreeing to this, especially with his tweet about wanting to protect the original staging) then the chandelier better be a non-negotiable. A Las Vegas type crash (in which it falls onto the audience, before the auditorium is plunged to darkness and the chandelier is removed from the auditorium, out of view - I imagine this would be impossible with the infrastructure of Her Majesty's anyway), a Hungarian crash (the chandelier falls from the top of the stage, through a hole in the stage) or worse, the last UK tour where it's just some light pyrotechnics, would be totally unacceptable!
I don't know... I know it's dated (in fact, I think I complained on the old forum about the set being visably dusty and dirty!), but there is something really lovely and iconic about the current chandelier being pushed off the stage and caught again when it comes down - it really adds to the performance, in my opinion. I can understand why they'd want to change that element, for example... but for me, a fan of the show, I'd be gutted if the chandelier fall gets updated.
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