Final Block of Chicago Tickets Going on Sale

[ERinVA]

This tweet from Broadway in Chicago puts an interesting spin on the closing of the show there:

BILLY ELLIOT – announces final bow on Nov. 28 after 37 weeks only 3 weeks short of the original record-breaking, long-run LION KING in Chi

[porschesrule]

Makes you wonder how "Wicked" was able to last at the Oriental Theater for 5 years.

"Wicked" does have wide appeal. For example, if you look at the weekly Broadway grosses, it continually is ranked #1 in NY and also almost always leads all shows on Broadway in % of capacity sold.

Also, I think you have to take into account the economy of the time when it was doing that long run in Chicago compared to the poor economy we have today. For BETM to generate $27M in this economy over eight months is no small achievement.

[ERinVA]

"Wicked" does have a large appeal all across the country, and it has toured several times. It is now due to come back to Chicago, I believe, but I doubt that it will sustain as long a run this time as it did the first.

[ERinVA]

In the previous post, I had started to expound upon the "spectacle" in Wicked, but thought better of it. Then I came across this tweet!

Billy Elliot closing early? It's cause unlike Wicked, you could see the wires, right? http://bit.ly/d5FLpE

[ERinVA]

The reality is that not many cities have a whole array of theatres to choose from, so a tour has to go into the house that the sponsoring organization has at its disposal. I don't know about the situation in Toronto, but I'm sure it's true for some Second Tour cities like Durham and Charlotte, for instance.

I said this back on the last page. In looking at the schedule for the Blumenthal Center in Charlotte, I see that they have scheduled BETM into Ovens Auditorium. The main Blumenthal Center is downtown, but Ovens is out on Independence Blvd. It is by far the largest venue they operate. Interestingly, the other B'way shows they are bringing in will all be in the Belk Theatre, which is really more the size that BETM plays best in, but the Charlotte Symphony apparently already had dibs on it for some of the same dates as BETM will be in town. Since they are a resident company at the center, the Belk is their home, so Billy ended up in the oven, so to speak.

[CJ-Rochester]

Toronto is similar to Chicago in that it has a cluster of large theaters, all of which host Broadway style shows. In Toronto there are 4 such theaters downtown, plus another in North York on the outskirts of the city.

Shows can have long runs there. "Phantom" ran for 10 year in the Pantages theatre (since renamed the Canon). "Lion King" ran for several years at the Princess of Whales, which is an even larger space.