‘IT’S going to look like a hurricane whipped through here.”
That’s how one top Broadway pro ducer describes the devastation that is about to be visited on theater box offices in the coming weeks.
It starts with the Republican Convention, which everybody in the theater thinks is going to depress ticket sales even more than the elevated terror alerts did a few weeks ago.
Delegates will be attending a handful of shows (the ones screened for delicate Republican sensibilities) the Sunday before the convention begins. But after that, they’ll be tied up with convention business and parties.
There will be plenty of protesters around, but nobody thinks Bush-haters are going to head to Broadway after the rally.
Meanwhile, New Yorkers will be fleeing the city and suburbanites will be staying home.
In an attempt to avoid a total wipeout that week, producers yesterday announced a fire sale for all but a handful of Broadway shows:
From Aug. 30 through Sept. 2, buy one full-price ticket and get a second for just $20.04.
Participating shows include “Movin’ Out,” “Wonderful Town,” “The Phantom of the Opera” and “Bombay Dreams.”
Producers wouldn’t be so gloomy if they thought ticket sales might pick up after the convention.
But Labor Day week is traditionally slow on Broadway. So, too, is most of September.
“There is a ton of inventory until October,” one theater executive says. “I don’t know how we’re going to move all those tickets.”
“Until the Jewish holidays, it is always a soft time on Broadway,” says Jed Bernstein, president of the League of American Theaters and Producers.
Bernstein did not rule out the possibility that the Broadway fire sale might be extended past Sept. 2 if ticket sales remain stagnant.
With business so depressed, producers are trying all sorts of ploys to keep their shows alive.
The cast of “Wonderful Town” was bracing for news of a closing notice Wednesday night.
The show grossed a paltry $350,000 last week and will probably drop even further in the weeks to come.
But producers Fran and Barry Weissler, God love ’em, are not giving up without a fight.
They’re trying to line up Brooke Shields for the show (Cyndi Lauper apparently having passed), dangling in front of her what I’m told is a rather hefty weekly salary.
She would replace Donna Murphy, whose contract is up at the beginning of October.
Whether the show can hang on that long, however, is very much in doubt.
And Shields’ drawing power is not a sure thing.
She did well in “Cabaret” a few years ago, but that was already an established hit by the time she joined it.
“Wonderful Town” has been limping practically from day one.
A production source says, “If we can get Brooke Shields or someone like that, we’ll make a run. If not, the show will close.”
The producers of “Bombay Dreams” are also hoping to line up some sort of pop star to boost sales.
They made an offer to Janet Jackson, but so far she hasn’t bitten.
Mariah Carey is on their list, as is Brandy.
Time is not on their side, however. “Bombay Dreams,” a $14 million show, only did $475,000 last week, and is poised to go over the cliff in the weeks ahead.
Another big show on the critical list is “Fiddler on the Roof,” staring Alfred Molina.
There is talk that it could close next month.
What are its producers, the Nederlanders, doing to keep it going?
“Praying,” says one person involved in the show. “They’re all wearing Tevye’s prayer shawl.”
ON a cheerier note: Casting is complete for Michael Frayn‘s political thriller “Democracy,” which – you heard it here first – is going to be the most talked-about show of the fall, as well as one of the season’s few hits.
James Naughton will play Willie Brandt, the West German chancellor who was brought down by a spy scandal in 1974.
Richard Thomas will play Gunter Guillaume, the secretary who was spying on Brandt and his inner circle for the East Germans.
The rest of the cast includes Lee Wilkof, Robert Prosky, John Dosset and Michael Cumpsty.
“Democracy” will be directed by Michael Blakemore, who helped turn Frayn’s terrific play “Copenhagen” into a big hit a few years back.