In an interview for Broadwayworld, Ghost star Mark Evans stated:
"Nothing's been confirmed. They might have jumped the gun slightly. Viva Forever may want the theatre but there's been no word as to when. We're contracted until February, and Ghost's producers want it to continue to run."
I can't remember the last time he was wrong on this kind of thing. Yes maybe his opinions on what will and won't be a hit can be wrong, but his insider knowledge on this kind of thing is pretty sound. Its almost a replica of what happened with Love Never Dies.
In this weeks Mail there is a small bit on Ghost and he is standing by it and wishes the producers would be honest with the cast. He also says which Ghost will close first, London of New York
He can't talk about anyone doing right by the cast when he essentially told them through his right wing god awful newspaper. I personally can't stand the worm of a man
I love Baz, but he has made a couple of bad calls, one was that Michael Ball was to don yet another fat suit as 'Shrek', however don't like the Mail as it is bigoted to the core, people who read the Mail sound like the Mail.
Michael Ball was almost signed for Shrek! But Sweeney, which at one stage very early last year, was nearly off, was back on and it was Michaels chance of a lifetime. He is still connected with the producers as he is talks to play Willy Wonka in Charlie next May at the Palladium.
Baz has dropped a few misfires, but in this biz, things do change all the time. Ghost arent doing any favours to their cast and crew.... The producers behind it really have their heads buried, and they have had for a long time.
Yeah, read on the site below that it's opening in December with previews in November.
Apparently the Daily Mail printed this information first last week, which came as a shock to Ghost cast members who read it there first. Having been in shows myself, I think that is pretty harsh. Although I am looking forward to seeing Viva Forever.
AG2 is quite right- MB was almost Shrek- it didn't come off by a whisker- but the producers saved a shed-load by not employing him! Would they have grossed more? Who knows?
If Michael would have done "Shrek", I would have been the first in line to see it! As it stands, I haven't seen it and don't particularly intend to. I¯m glad though that Michael turned ¯Shrek¯ down in order to do ¯Sweeney¯. I don¯t think ¯Shrek¯ would have been the right direction for him to go in after the huge success he had as Edna in ¯Hairspray¯. He is giving the performance of his career in ¯Sweeney¯ and I think will be getting his second Olivier for the role. I don¯t think that would have been the case with ¯Shrek¯.
As for "Viva Forever" I have absolutely no desire to see this either. I HATE the music of the Spice Girls and I doubt a musical could rise above the basic material even if it has a book by Jennifer Saunders. At least the music of Abba is theatrical and tells a story. With the Spice Girls, you get absolutely none of this! The songs in ¯Mamma Mia¯ are also expertly constructed into the story with many of them sounding like they are written specifically for this particular story and for particular moments. Whether this will happen with "Viva Forever" still remains to be seen.
I haven't seen "Ghost" but am not particularly interested unless I can get cheap tickets. I have the Original London Cast Recording but have only listened to it once, and that was enough! Musically and lyrically it was just incredibly bland and repetitive, sounding more like a string of pop songs in a concert than a cohesive musical theatre score and from clips I have seen, the show just looks like an overdone music video. I also saw promotional material on TV when Richard Fleeshman and Caissie Levy were still in the show and they looked incredibly dull, with absolutely no chemistry between them and wooden acting. I don't know whether the new leads are any better? It is a shame though that if it is closing then it is making way for "Viva Forever", yet another Jukebox show. It is also a shame that the cast had to find out through a newspaper first rather than the show's producers, as was the case with "Love Never Dies".
Not just apparently - definitely! Stage Ent have announced that their reconceived production of Little Mermaid will take up residency in the Beatrix Theater in Utrecht instead of Ghost opening.
Bear in mind that the Dutch market has eaten itself alive over the past few years with too much programming and too many discounts. It is extremely difficult for anything to be a huge success there - there aren't really that many people, after all! - and with even Wicked closing after 18 months (to make way for Sister Act, it seems) I suspect Stage Ent will have been crapping themselves about putting such a hugely expensive show into a relatively small theatre, especially after the international trouncing the show's had.
Be interesting to see what happens post Tonys - AND if the Australian engagement goes ahead.
It's amazing how tits up this has gone. It was a pretty big hit when it first opened in terms of ticket sales but it dropped after 6 months and has been on offer for ages. New York seems to be a bit of a disaster. I suspect new York or londons set will be shipped to Australia if it still goes ahead. The producers must have messed up somewhere along the line for such a fast decline, I wonder if it's an arrogance and assumption in their product, the pricing structure could suggest that . It's actually following a very similar pattern to Love Never Dies, opened with a decent advance, opens to mixed reviews (albeit not as bad a LND), and just goes downhill from there and the closing being leaked to the Mail, everyone denying it and then finally closing at the end of the summer.
Ghost getting cancelled in Holland may have other causes. Officially it is being postponed, not cancelled.
The Beatrix theatre in Utrecht and the Circustheatre in Scheveningen are not that small (I think around and 1500 and 1800 seats). The Dutch government has been cutting its spending on culture, well slashing instead of cutting. Van den Ende has been very critical about these austerity measures. The man is not afraid of taking risks, so cancelling a production means something is really wrong. I don't think it means he doesn't like Ghost(let's not forget the man put the dreary Cyrano musical on Broadway) - times are getting really hard in Holland.
Mark Evans recently blogged about the whole situation, and it does sound like the cast kind of know, its just a question of when and how long Ghost can hold out. Also seems interesting that the Piccadily is the only option logistically for the other show. He also quite rightly says if the show was selling it wouldnt be in danger, obvious but something hardcore fans of shows always seem to forget
"After I went home the whole of the internet erupted with the news from the Daily Mail that Ghost is closing and that we're all losing our jobs in the autumn and all the fans of the show were in an uproar saying it sounded ludicrous. Well I can tell you that nothing has been confirmed officially. It is true that there is another commercial show that wants to come into our theatre and this is the only theatre that it could come into logistically and practically for various reasons which are too dull to write about - however it is also true that the producers of Ghost don't want the show to close until it really must. It is very uncertain when we will be finishing it could be in a couple of weeks (highly unlikely) or we could reach the end of our contracts in February but all I can say is - come and see the show and spread the word because if Ghost was selling out there would be absolutely no problem but unfortunately as with almost every show in the West End, the sales have taken a little dip recently because of various reasons - none of which is the fault of anyone involved with Ghost or the Piccadilly Theatre. "
IMO these shows may be money-spinners right now, but I believe that in the long-term they will harm the WestEnd. There are just too many of them.
I used to come to London every 6 to 8 weeks - these days I come over much less. I could be wrong, but I think that people who really love the artform "theatre" will stay away if this trend continues - and they are the ones who spend a lot of money on theatre outings.
Oh well, I could be wrong ... but speaking for myself I've been going to NY more often recently as there is a wider variety/choice of shows (and that's coming from someone who loves London).
Viva Forever, the musical featuring the Spice Girls’ songs, has taken a cool £1?million — half of it on the first day — since tickets went on sale after the show’s hoopla-heavy launch on Tuesday. Now producer Judy Craymer and writer Jennifer Saunders — along with director Paul Garrington and choreographer Lynne Page — will get on with the job of coming up with a classy show to run at the Piccadilly Theatre from November 27. It’s well to remember that Viva Forever is a stage musical and not a live concert featuring the actual Spice Girls!
Drama Desk Award Winners - MATILDA, VANYA AND SONIA, PIPPIN, VIRGINIA WOOLF & More!
STAGE TUBE: MATILDA Cast Performs on The View!
TV: See the Cast of Paper Mill's THE LITTLE MERMAID Fly!
CHUCK Star Zachary Levi and Krysta Rodriguez Set to Lead FIRST DATE
Paris SUNDAY IN THE PARK Now Available For Download
VIDEO: Joss Whedon Chats THE AVENGERS 2 on LATE NIGHT WITH JIMMY FALLON
Rihanna for River Island Summer Collection Lands May 25th
Exclusive InDepth InterView Audra McDonald Talks GO BACK HOME Album & PBS Special, MARLENE DIETRICH'S ABC, Upcoming Projects & More
Donkey Kong Country Returns is Back and Optimized for Portable Play
BWW Blog: Leah Edwards - Practice. Perform. Repeat
BWW Reviews: Millepied, Wheeldon and Martins - A Mixed Bag for City Ballet
Jay Leno Hosts Magical Evening to Celebrate Partnership for Cancer Care
joined:10/19/03
Posted: 6/6/12 at 05:42pm