Why West End shows are no longer flopping

They might not be flopping like they were, but that doesn't mean the West End is in a Golden Age. Far from it.

Out of town tryouts are a good way to refine a show and build some momentum - so that may well be a trend we see re-emerging with greater frequency going forward.

Producers - unless they have money to burn - will always tend towards the risk averse - and so we are, perhaps, seeing safer options more often that we may have done in the past.

It is hard to know exactly what is going on. The touring market is seen a number of very significant failures over the past few years. Regional audiences don't like being taken for fools with hackneyed revivals returning time after time after time. Nor do they want to see chamber shows being forced into 1000+ seater venues.

Perhaps it will settle in a couple of years - but we are in a state of flux at the moment.

I think the article compares apples and oranges. Most of the short-lived flops in recent years were original British shows that arrived in the West End without much of a previous tryout if any. They might have done better with extended tryouts out of town and build more stamina. Nobody speaks of shows like The Grinning Man or Romantics Anonymous as flops because they did limited runs in smaller venues while stuff like Made in Dagenham (which I loved and would have liked to see do better) struggled to fill the Adelphi. If anything, I think, producers have learned to not head straight into the West End, but first try to build buzz elsewhere (like Bat, Juliet and BTTF all do in Manchester and Jamie did in Sheffield) or opt for smaller theatres and limited runs.

Currently almost all musicals that sell decently are US-imports that were worked on and refined before they were even sent to Broadway and then come over with the Broadway pedigree and often music that is already well-known such as Hamilton, DEH and Waitress. The flops don't make it across the pond (King Kong anyone?). Exceptions are Jamie and Six, although I'm sure Six benefits very much from its tiny fringe venue - I doubt it would put 1000 bums on seats nightly and I'm really curious to see how it will fare on Broadway at Broadway prices.

That said, I'm sure that things like TodayTix and Dynamic Pricing play a role, too, but on the other hand we used to have other options like the Half Price Booth in Leicester Square which is now TKTS and where only few shows are offered with really good discounts.

Cheap as chips to run, I am sure so I'm not surprised. It hardly ever discounted. Stunt casting. Small theatre. From a business point of view, it was obvious. Drag queens are all the rage right now. However, it's a shame that such a rubbish show is taking up a West End house.

In terms of plays there is no doubt that the landscape in the West End has changed for the better. There are fewer dusty old Kenwright style Shaftesbury Avenue revivals now (although I did enjoy many of those). Instead we generally have the pick of the bunch critically and commercially from the subsidised sectors.
It is very rare now to see a play post early closing notices (Foxfinder and The Man in the White Suit are the only recent examples I can readily think of) whereas a decade or two ago, stuff was regularly closing early.
Also, theatres are only dark now when they are being refurbished, whereas I remember in Summer 2008 for example, loads of theatres were closed for months for no real reason. Now if a theatre is dark for even a couple of weeks, something slots in (The Life I Lead with Miles Jupp, The Girl on the Train). It is really dynamic and I think Sonia Friedman is largely responsible for this.

Sorry, that was me sorting out a members problem earlier and making a mess of it! Separated out again now.