Into the Woods (Terry Gilliam Dir.) - Theatre Royal Bath

Remember why this was cancelled at the Old Vic in the first place. Whatever you think of that decision, it's likely a big consideration for the big London theatre owners - is it worth finding themselves at the wrong end of a social media/PR storm?

All in all I don’t think Theatre Royal, Bath suffered much as a consequence, nor the production itself.
It was a talking point at times, sure, but even in coverage on BBC World News it was hardly painted as overly controversial and made little impact during the run. So the only way you could use the word storm to describe any potential reaction would be in the context of ‘storm in a teacup’.

Or London venue owners are looking at the (cheaper, critically adored) Broadway production and thinking maybe that'd be a better option

I’m not sure what other framing devices could be used, but I’m certainly aware of other productions that have used both child's play and dolls house conceits; from GCSE drama upwards.If all Gilliam contributed was a riff on his Monty Python feet and giant props his name should have been a whole lot smaller in the programme!

You can be a fan and still be realistic.

The box office of the much celebrated Into the Woods revival on Broadway fell off a cliff the moment Sara Bareilles left, too.

I think the Sondheim fans must start to accept that there's a new generation of theatre lovers who just don't care that much for the man anymore and bigger revivals can only work with star names attached to them now (like Bareilles, Jake Gyllenhaal in Sunday in the Park or soon Sweeney Todd with Josh Groban). If the production from Bath transferred in, it would need to hire 1-2 big names, too and they probably can't afford it.

I agree, I don't have any agenda. I'm just realistic about ITW's commercial prospects and while we can complain about the quality of shows coming in, we're thinking like theatre fans and not theatre owners who have to balance between something that is risky or something that will sell and tide them over for a few months before a bigger show comes in. 

Was going to say the same thing, Sondheim revivals generate huge amounts of chat and excitement within the theatre community and almost no interest at all outside of it. The recent Company revival did well by essentially being a very new take done in a very good way, it generated raves and hype and had a very nice run. Could it have sold out the Dominion for 6 months? Probably not. Younger generations of theatre fans like him the same in my view, on TikTok for example all these teenage MT fans do talk about his shows, but he's no more and no less commercially appealing than he ever was.

This feels very possible.

I've watched a few clips of the Broadway Encores version - the witch looks very good, but I didn't like the rest.  I just never like the way American productions seem to do 'fairy tale' in any clips of Into The Woods productions from the first til now.  Too much of it feels 'bibbidi bobbidi boo' and aware "look we're doing fairy tale" rather than being 'in it'.  Self-conscious 'ensemble' with the audience too vocally joining in to self-affirm "hey, we're all making a show together, isn't it neat?". It may just be what the accent does to it that makes it feel downhome cutesy.  Unfair of me - however much they may be European fairy tales by origin, it is after all an American piece. Maybe that makes me anti-American in theatre taste or a snob, or both.  I'd better say both before someone else does, lol.  I was looking forward to the Gilliam version.

Also - even though it looks like it's been stopped for now, doesn't mean it can't come in the future.

City of Angels took five years to transfer!

They would have to add some names to the cast for it to sell, but that just adds to the weekly running costs. In the current economy with people having to cut back, budget and generally make their money go further, people are very unlikely to go to a Sondheim show with no one they know in it.

no Barney?? or Lauren? <//3

I thought both Barney and Lauren were fine jacob but not spectacular enough that the production would be worse off without them.

andrew Corden isn't headed for this, but I have heard he's headed for something else on our shores...