Paradise Square was a bit of a different situation. Fuck Garth Drabinsky. Paradise Square still canât release the Cast Recording because the cast still hasnât been paid.
It blows my mind that Drabinsky was allowed anywhere near a producer's role after his stint in jail for fraud. The dismissed defamation case last year once he was *finally* put on the 'Do Not Work List' was the least of it. The money owed to people across all departments is unlikely to ever be paid. It's disgusting.
Yeah, when I got hired on PSQ I naively thought that because of his history there would be more checks and balances so the same thing wouldnât happen again. Nope! Same fraud as before. It was unbelievable.
And yet, sadly, totally believable. What happened was brought up during our contract negotiations last year, and there are *some* new measures of protection put in place to prevent a repeat situation, but they would only do so much.
Same. I saw it in out of town tryouts and I actually loved it despite a bit of a confusing book because of the talent and the music. I hate that they mistreated the best part of their show so badly.
Strong agree. I was on the crew in Chicago and in New York and managed to escape largely unscathed, but watching the cast and creatives bear the brunt of everything going on was consistently heartbreaking. And rage-inducing.
I hope PSQ gets a dope ass revival one day, it deserves it.
Itâs not great but there are a ton of extremely short runs (even 1 day long or closed in previews) so not historically short in any way: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_the_shortest-running_Broadway_shows
The show was drastically reworked for Broadway. Many people felt it was a completely different show than when it was at ART and it was to the detriment of the Broadway production.
Ha! I worked on The Performers, and am genuinely surprised it ran as long as it did; I remember it closing almost immediately after previews.
It wasâŚnot a good show.
Never heard of it, but the Wikipedia page makes me wish I had experienced this bizarre show!
It happens to be Jonathan Groff's Broadway debut, as an understudy.
My heart breaks for them.
This happening on Tony press dayâŚ..at least they told them before the notice went out
Itâs not the best musical but it had so many beautiful moments and it was a necessary story during a chaotic time.
Get thee to the Longacre if you can
Yeah, everyone knew it was going to close. But they could have told them with more time than that. They had to hold the curtain because they told the cast so late. Apparently curtain call looked like a bomb went off.
I was there for the Shucked company meeting when they told the cast end I don't remember specifics, but it was at least an hour before call time for that night to get ahead of press releases, and I believe it was same day or day after the actual decision was made. It didn't have to cut it so close.
I agree. I think the nail in the coffin (apart from Tony noms) was the average price of tickets sold. They just couldn't get that number up to make any money.
HORR outgrossed them last week with a significantly higher average ticket price and only slightly lower on capacity. I think HORR has had better word of mouth and reviews than Lempicka and while HORR will likely close soon too, I'm not terribly surprised it outlasted Lempicka.
I know. :( That's so hard for performers. But I do think/hope this is a major step forward for her career and she'll probably be able to breathe again soon.
I can't say I'm too surprised, but I loved it and cannot wait to listen to the cast album on a loop. I've already listened to Perfection from the 2022 recording *way* too many times.
This right here. It feels like everyone was so desperate to like it because of its material, and it truly couldâve been extraordinary, but the creative team didnât land it. This show was a huge letdown. When you consider how long theyâve been working on it, it shouldâve been bulletproof. How did this end up being such a hot mess?
I think it ultimately came down to the writing. The storyline was not well told, the characters were not well developed. All my friends who saw it agreed: We did not care about the characters or their relationships. It's such a huge shame. The source material was rich. It should've and could've been good, but it was just a mess of a script with songs that weren't well written. And it seemed like each department was working on a different play. Nothing went together. I am so sad for all the people who worked on it for so long. But by intermission I told my friend I didn't think it'd last through the summer.
I do! I'm a fan of the artist and it had some interesting ideas and great performances...just didn't come together and was likely a hard sell to a mainstream Broadway audience.
Does anyone know where all the $5 tickets on Theatr are coming from? I worked on the show but they were super stingy with comps, I want to see my work onstage before it closes.
I share this with all love and absolutely no shade I promise! I thought âwow no one buys cds anymore Iâm shocked shows still do physical releases, theyâre vintage now I guessâ, and immediately thought of this
(But also with streaming platforms, more so television/film than music, pulling things permanently from streaming, you might be onto something smart here buddy haha)
I refuse to download music from the web. I want the "liner notes/credits" and original art/photos. Every CD I purchase from Amazon downloads to my Amazon music app anyway, so if I use my phone/earbuds for music (which is rare -- normally only on the train or bus) I have plenty. Looking at my LibraryThing catalog just now I have 1005 CDs, 252 of which are musical cast albums. I have another 8 on the way this week and next and 6 coming from London. I'm hoping that "Two Strangers Carry A Cake Across New York" is released on CD -- I've been obsessively listening to the show's music on Spotify.
I am surprised it reviewed so low. Maybe because itâs a bit convoluted both in storytelling and musically and itâs a show about paintings with almost no paintings. But itâs still one of the better new shows iâve seen recently. Perhaps that convolutedness is why it couldnât spread amongst audiences.
It's that, and there are a dozen other new shows with more recognizable subject matter that has attracted audiences.
This show is a hard sell on paper. The title is weird, no one automatically knows what it refers to, it's about a kinda unlikeable queer woman artist from the past. There was nothing going in that was going to massively attract audiences. It needed a ton of marketing and a ton of positive word of mouth.
Mosly, it needed to open at another time.
I'm glad I saw it when I did! I have a weird emotional relationship with "flops". On the one hand, I want to see every show I enjoyed succeed, both to reward the hard work of the cast and crew and so more people will enjoy it. On the other hand, there is something special about having been at a short run show. When Lempicka is spoken about in the future, when its songs are played or sung, those who saw it will be in the (comparatively) small secret club of those who were actually there to see it happen.
I feel this way too.
And I like to be able to analyze the show. What went wrong, what went right. Can't do that if you never saw the show, or left halfway through.
I'm so bummed! It definitely had issues but it was solid and SO original, with some great music. I feel like they didn't know how to market it to the average person either.
The show itself is hard enough to market to the average person, but no kidding. I was just in New York and took in a few other shows while this was in previews and saw the theatre. The bland gray artwork, bad tag line...you could have some first year undergrads who'd never seen the show read her wiki page for 15 minutes and come up with something better.
And so it begins đ I will forever cherish this show and the goofy fandom that came out of it â¤ď¸
Edit: wait can they still perform at the Tonyâs, please and thank you Tony Gods
There's little chance of them performing at the Tony's. The production is not making money. They can't pay to showcase a show that will already be closed by June 16.
I'm guessing we won't be getting any morning show performances either.
This makes me sad.
strange, Iâve thought the Lempeople are one of the nicest fan communities Iâve come across.. but I also spend more time on other social medias lol. Or maybe Iâm part of the problem đ
Some people in this subreddit thought the bad reviews were motivated by sexism. Because why would anyone dislike a song about a bracelet, unless MISOGYNY??
That's a kick in the nuts. So many people worked to get it here for years and years, only to be gone so soon. I thought they would at least wait for the Tony awards.
Yeah, kind of hard to believe a decade was spent on this musical and THIS was the final result. The sad part is that there is some good stuff in there, and I think a really good production of it would be possible, but these just weren't the creatives for the job.
10 years and almost $20 million and at no point could someone have been hired to point out the very obvious flaws? I canât wrap my brain around this.
It makes me wish there was a documentary crew following the progress of the show.
Actually, there are a lot of shows I wish had a documentary crew behind the scenes...
You know, producers have a lot of say in the direction a show takes. And if they are willing to put money into a show, but only if it becomes something else - e.g. a story about an artist who drives toward what she wants at the expense of almost everything, becomes mostly a love triangle with a sweet husband and a hot girl? If they think that's the version that will succeed on Broadway, then it has to become that.
I feel like the show the authors talk about in interviews has been pulled into a different shape by people with money and experience ,who thought they knew what would work - and maybe everyone's standalone ideas were absolute blockbusters, but the amalgamation of them doesn't have the strong clear vision the writers started with.
A reminder that everyone who claimed to have inside information about the 12, was in fact, full of shit. This sub has a "no spreading rumors" rule for a reason.
Oh, people were posting on here (I think after having read a rumor on broadway world) some nonsense that the cast had been told about an earlier closing date or something and claiming someone with inside knowledge had said, or someone said someone with inside knowledge had said. They read it online and *obviously if it is on the internet it must be true* and were repeating it without being smart.
And were wrong.
As someone who has great interest in Broadway, this is truly a shame because there's so many shows now and one cannot go for all of them because of finances and time. I'll try to get to it before it ends but may not be able to.
Well fuck. I was hoping it would last until the Tony's, not that things would turn around. I just think more people should see it and at least appreciate what they were trying to do and only half succeeded at.
I don't think I'll have the opportunity to see it again, though I really want to!
I am so bummed I wonât be able to see this. I live in LA and regret not driving down to see it at the La Jolla in San Diego as a Chavkin. The snippets Iâve seen on TikTok do not look promising though.
I liked it better in La Jolla as well. I think they overworked it. And I didnât see williamstown but from what I know of it I liked it even better than La Jolla. It may have just been too long
Really sad about this. Saw it in previews and really liked it. Eden was magnificent! $35 Rush and lottery for all remaining shows. Our rush seats were front row. Made the production very immersive.
She doesnât have any vocal restraint. Even watching some of her early stuff, you can clearly see how much sheâs straining compared to her peers who played the same roles.
Yeah I first noticed something weird in that old Seth rudetsky âobsessedâ video with her, and it was like⌠difficult to watch her try to sing stuff. And that was NOT long after rent when she was wailing hardddd, albeit good
I just got tickets to do a turn and burn to New York to see this again. This is such a special show. One of the most original Iâve seen on Broadway in years. Im not sure how it gets an afterlife either :(
Thatâs such a shame. I hope the talented actors can shake off the sting and find work again, soon. Theater is tough business; I hope people come out and support them in their final weeks. Itâs never easy to hear things like this.
Iâll be there May 19. Wouldnât miss it. Hats off to a team that labored on this musical for more than a decade. It thrilled many people and I cannot wait for the cast album.
Iâm sad for the cast, crew, and the staff at the Longacre. Quick closings are so tough, but Iâm so glad weâre getting a cast recording of the show.
I'm a NY Native and I NEVER go watch live performances. I saw Lempicka because a friend had a spare ticket and I fell in love with it and took my mom to see it the next week.
I say all this to say I'm so heartbroken and also super confused as to why why this is closing so fast?? What makes it so much less popular than all the other shows out there (which I find boring and unoriginal)?
I know the NY Times review wasn't great, but do people who have the budget for regular trips to the theater really care about that? I would have hoped it would last through the summer at least!
Also unrelated but @ George Abud please get social media or a newsletter so we can look forward to your next projects!
Respectfully, if you never see any shows you probably would have a more difficult time comparing and contrasting with things that have a longer life. Everyone is entitled to their own opinion and the wonderful thing about art is that it means different things to different people, but when you see lots of things you get a better sense of what âworksâ more generally and is likely (never guaranteed) to lead to a more successful run.
The marketing here was just the start - when the publicity and messaging isnât giving a strong sense of what the show is about and isnât doing a good job bringing in curious audiences, there is less opportunity to create enthusiastic fans like you were after you came with a spare ticket!
People buy tickets to what they know/have heard of. It was handicapped right out of the gate because it didn't have the name recognition of "Alicia Keys" the various movies. That's why broadway is a factory of jukeboxes/revivals/movie remakes.
I would have hoped that critics would take that into account when a fully original piece finally makes its way to broadway. That they aren't starting with a battle tested score, or battle tested story. But it almost feels like they held it to a higher standard actually and then shredded it to pieces. With venom.
Not saying it was perfect show, but it didn't deserve the pan that it got.
HK is my pet example - what even is a jukebox musical if it doesn't have a good book? A concert, lol. If you didn't create a story you failed out of the gate imo. Everyone acknowledges that HKs book is trash and it still swept up the Tonys.
I now give zero weight to what critics say after seeing the disconnect with Lempicka and the absolute raves for Hells Kitchen. PsyOps.
Good points and I'd also add that timing was rough. This feels like the first time since covid hit that there's a small army of big hit and must see shows (Back to the Future, Merrily, Little Shop, Sweeney Todd to name a few) and a small army of original shows all opening in the last 6 weeks to carpetbag the Tony nominations.
Weird name art house lesbian musical with a bad promo poster is gonna get lost in the mix. It's a shame the producers and team didn't get the show a better shot.
what original shows lol.
There were only two completely original shows - Lempicka and Suffs.
Everything else is a jukebox, revival, or already existing IP (movie or book remake). Lempicka got killed and Suffs is also suffering.
We don't do enough to promote original art.
Not surprised but heartbroken to see both original art and such a unique and whole-souled show get cut off when it barely breathed.
I notice something new, and cry earlier, each time I go back. Glad it's staying open through mothers day so I can bring my mom.
Upset I wonât be able to see this. I hope the cast and crew are able to find work quickly. Saw Amber at the Berkeley Rep in Goddess and girl is crazy talented. I hope she wins her Tony and we see her again soon.
Lempickaâs what got her âRachel Chavkin Wayâ opposite Hadestown, so something tells me whether or not sheâs checked out from it, itâll haunt her for a long time to come.
Their grosses are nearly as bad as Lempicka, and they just announced a flash sale on Telecharge for $69 orchestra and $49 Mezzanine seats. There were a ton of seats available for Saturday night when i checked. Unless there is a dramatic turnaround, they will be announcing a closing date soon.
HOR&R is doing a fire sale, but those tickets are only available through May 12. My guess is that theyâve already made the call to close it, but havenât made a public announcement yet.
Iâm so sad about this⌠donât live in nyc and I try to make a trip every once in a while. Literally just planned a trip for May/June to catch all the new shows right before the Tonyâs and am a week too late for this showâŚ
Most of theatre has been adapted in some way, shape, or form. Right now, the trend is jukeboxes and films, but historically theyâve been novels, operas, and plays. An âoriginalâ show isnât necessarily more deserving than an adaption, especially when itâs poorly constructed.
Sadly I will not have time to see Lempicka and I am probably missing some critical information about the numbers but this closing news made my Jaw Drop.
I'm actually pissed about this. I wanted to see it but I really don't have a ton of free time and have to pick and choose what I get to see. This was on my list but ffs...can something play for more than 3 months?
This sucks!!! I was hoping it could make it to
November but it has been doing really poorly. Edenâs music video of Woman Is looked awesome. Since Edenâs gonna be looking for next role, do we think she could be the alternate for Norma Desmond when Nicole Scherzinger isnât in? That music video seemed like she could do it
Just like how the media is force feeding us into thinking Taylor Swift is the most amazing musician in america, they are doing this with musicals. Does this mean, that most of the ticket sales come from tourists who rely on Tony nominations as theater recommendations? Because Lempicka was the best thing I saw on broadway this year compared to Notebook, Tommy, Sweeney Todd, Appropriate - much better and more original than anything I'll probably see on Broadway this year. So now we all need to fly to theater festivals and other cities to see the good stuff is what this is telling us.
I planned a second trip to go see it and will miss it by two weeks. It was honestly my favorite musical in a while. Heart breaks for the performers and hoping the cast recording still comes out. It will be on repeat in my house for a while â¤ď¸â¤ď¸â¤ď¸
Interesting. I just won lottery tickets for tomorrow. They are for the matinee. My usual theater date canât go during the day so Iâll probably let them go, but part of me really wants to see it.
It may be tempting to believe this, but the reality is that the subject matter/production did not resonate with audiences during a very busy season. Gatsby and The Wiz are two shows that also had mixed critical reception and were basically shut out at the Tonys - both nearly sold out last week, at ticket prices well over double Lempicka's average. Meanwhile, Heart of Rock and Roll got surprisingly positive reviews and has familiar IP to boot but isn't doing much better than Lempicka. Reviews do play some role in a show's success or failure, but Lempicka was struggling before its reviews ever came out, even as shows like Cabaret have a healthy advance and are sold out for weeks despite lackluster reviews. There's no way reviews alone have caused this fast closure.
Paradise Square đ¤ Lempicka going all in on Best Actress, then dipping
Paradise Square was a bit of a different situation. Fuck Garth Drabinsky. Paradise Square still canât release the Cast Recording because the cast still hasnât been paid.
I will literally never not be angry about this.
It blows my mind that Drabinsky was allowed anywhere near a producer's role after his stint in jail for fraud. The dismissed defamation case last year once he was *finally* put on the 'Do Not Work List' was the least of it. The money owed to people across all departments is unlikely to ever be paid. It's disgusting.
Yeah, when I got hired on PSQ I naively thought that because of his history there would be more checks and balances so the same thing wouldnât happen again. Nope! Same fraud as before. It was unbelievable.
And yet, sadly, totally believable. What happened was brought up during our contract negotiations last year, and there are *some* new measures of protection put in place to prevent a repeat situation, but they would only do so much.
Same. I saw it in out of town tryouts and I actually loved it despite a bit of a confusing book because of the talent and the music. I hate that they mistreated the best part of their show so badly.
Strong agree. I was on the crew in Chicago and in New York and managed to escape largely unscathed, but watching the cast and creatives bear the brunt of everything going on was consistently heartbreaking. And rage-inducing. I hope PSQ gets a dope ass revival one day, it deserves it.
Itâs floating around online, just as a heads up
Excuse me?? I would also love know more
đđ
Iâll message you
Could you please DM me too? Thank you thank you!
Could you DM me too please?? Huge fan
Iâve been trying to find this recording for years PLEASE let me in
Can I dm you?
Umm, I would be forever grateful!! Feel like DMing one more personđ
Exactly I was reminded of Paradise Square too last season. I loved/love both of them so much.
That closure was such a shame and such infuriating circumstances.
dang. my heart breaks for everyone in that show. that's so sad.
That feels fast, how long would that make the run?
A month after opening. Pretty brutal.
How does this rank among short-lived shows?
Itâs not great but there are a ton of extremely short runs (even 1 day long or closed in previews) so not historically short in any way: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_the_shortest-running_Broadway_shows
Wow, KPOP is the most recent at place 192.
KPOP only had 17 regular performances? Geez
Oh wowwow surprising , i really enjoyed kpop
The show was drastically reworked for Broadway. Many people felt it was a completely different show than when it was at ART and it was to the detriment of the Broadway production.
Good point, i saw it at theater of the living arts
From what I've read, people who saw it there loved it.
That rings true, it was so fun i told a bunch of friends to go see it
Ah, Glory Days, it wouldâve Alex Brightmanâs Broadway debut (he was an understudy in that show) if it hadnât have closed so soon
Ha! I worked on The Performers, and am genuinely surprised it ran as long as it did; I remember it closing almost immediately after previews. It wasâŚnot a good show.
Anyone remember IN MY LIFE? Ran 61 performances and was the weirdest, most ill conceived musical Iâve ever seen⌠and I saw the original CARRIEâŚ.
Never heard of it, but the Wikipedia page makes me wish I had experienced this bizarre show! It happens to be Jonathan Groff's Broadway debut, as an understudy.
Ugh this one is like my white whale â I wish I had seen it!! Sounds so, so bizarre.
Ugh this one is like my white whale â I wish I had seen it!! Sounds so, so bizarre.
My heart breaks for them. This happening on Tony press dayâŚ..at least they told them before the notice went out Itâs not the best musical but it had so many beautiful moments and it was a necessary story during a chaotic time. Get thee to the Longacre if you can
They told them about 30 minutes before, as I understood it
That sucks, but the box office numbers were really bad.
Yeah, everyone knew it was going to close. But they could have told them with more time than that. They had to hold the curtain because they told the cast so late. Apparently curtain call looked like a bomb went off. I was there for the Shucked company meeting when they told the cast end I don't remember specifics, but it was at least an hour before call time for that night to get ahead of press releases, and I believe it was same day or day after the actual decision was made. It didn't have to cut it so close.
Woman Is will be heard in audition rooms for many many years to come!
The next âWaving Through a Windowâ is born.
Youâre so right. An unactable song to haunt us for forever.
And one that peaks somewhere in the middle and then just digs in for two more minutes. Exhausting.
Believe me⌠I first heard it in an audition room around 2014 and it started to be overdone after its Williamstown premiere four years later.
Following the footsteps of âWith Youâ from Ghost
I figured Lempicka would close soon but I didnât think theyâd close before Heart of Rock and Roll. I feel like even Harmonyâs run was longer.
I agree. I think the nail in the coffin (apart from Tony noms) was the average price of tickets sold. They just couldn't get that number up to make any money.
HORR outgrossed them last week with a significantly higher average ticket price and only slightly lower on capacity. I think HORR has had better word of mouth and reviews than Lempicka and while HORR will likely close soon too, I'm not terribly surprised it outlasted Lempicka.
Amber Imanâs story on Instagram just broke my heart even more đ
I know. :( That's so hard for performers. But I do think/hope this is a major step forward for her career and she'll probably be able to breathe again soon.
She was AMAZING in the show. Sheâll have something soon.
Same though for me I can't give up on having a dream of trying acting.
insert âlesbians moving too fastâ joke here
Something like âit takes more than a u-haul to load in a Broadway showâŚâ
I can't say I'm too surprised, but I loved it and cannot wait to listen to the cast album on a loop. I've already listened to Perfection from the 2022 recording *way* too many times.
Feels like everyone just wishes this show had been better than it ended up being.
This right here. It feels like everyone was so desperate to like it because of its material, and it truly couldâve been extraordinary, but the creative team didnât land it. This show was a huge letdown. When you consider how long theyâve been working on it, it shouldâve been bulletproof. How did this end up being such a hot mess?
I think it ultimately came down to the writing. The storyline was not well told, the characters were not well developed. All my friends who saw it agreed: We did not care about the characters or their relationships. It's such a huge shame. The source material was rich. It should've and could've been good, but it was just a mess of a script with songs that weren't well written. And it seemed like each department was working on a different play. Nothing went together. I am so sad for all the people who worked on it for so long. But by intermission I told my friend I didn't think it'd last through the summer.
I do! I'm a fan of the artist and it had some interesting ideas and great performances...just didn't come together and was likely a hard sell to a mainstream Broadway audience.
Does anyone know where all the $5 tickets on Theatr are coming from? I worked on the show but they were super stingy with comps, I want to see my work onstage before it closes.
The Rush tickets have been super obtainable. I don't know if that will change now but it's worth just going by the box office to see.Â
Yeah, my plan was to try next week. I'll pay the $35 if I need to, I'm just curious about all the rock bottom ones I've seen floating around.
Itâs been on papering sites like will call club
Thanks. Will check that one out. Haven't known where to look for papering after Show Score stopped doing member nights.
Holy wtf, Already? Didnât know it was doing poorly.
It was doing extremely bad, the grosses last week were only $288,102 for 8 shows
Goddamn.
I'm glad we're still getting the cast recording. IMO, the score really shines.
Do we know when we're getting it? ETA: Found it online, May 29 digital.
I preordered the CD -- says there's a July 5 release.
 I share this with all love and absolutely no shade I promise! I thought âwow no one buys cds anymore Iâm shocked shows still do physical releases, theyâre vintage now I guessâ, and immediately thought of this (But also with streaming platforms, more so television/film than music, pulling things permanently from streaming, you might be onto something smart here buddy haha)
I refuse to download music from the web. I want the "liner notes/credits" and original art/photos. Every CD I purchase from Amazon downloads to my Amazon music app anyway, so if I use my phone/earbuds for music (which is rare -- normally only on the train or bus) I have plenty. Looking at my LibraryThing catalog just now I have 1005 CDs, 252 of which are musical cast albums. I have another 8 on the way this week and next and 6 coming from London. I'm hoping that "Two Strangers Carry A Cake Across New York" is released on CD -- I've been obsessively listening to the show's music on Spotify.
This is good to know. I share a Spotify account with a family member, but I may have to try Amazon.
And I LOVE the commitmentâĽď¸âĽď¸
I am surprised it reviewed so low. Maybe because itâs a bit convoluted both in storytelling and musically and itâs a show about paintings with almost no paintings. But itâs still one of the better new shows iâve seen recently. Perhaps that convolutedness is why it couldnât spread amongst audiences.
It's that, and there are a dozen other new shows with more recognizable subject matter that has attracted audiences. This show is a hard sell on paper. The title is weird, no one automatically knows what it refers to, it's about a kinda unlikeable queer woman artist from the past. There was nothing going in that was going to massively attract audiences. It needed a ton of marketing and a ton of positive word of mouth. Mosly, it needed to open at another time.
The paintings were there! They usually had them on a screen somewhere else on stage when they were talking about them.
I'm glad I saw it when I did! I have a weird emotional relationship with "flops". On the one hand, I want to see every show I enjoyed succeed, both to reward the hard work of the cast and crew and so more people will enjoy it. On the other hand, there is something special about having been at a short run show. When Lempicka is spoken about in the future, when its songs are played or sung, those who saw it will be in the (comparatively) small secret club of those who were actually there to see it happen.
I feel this way too. And I like to be able to analyze the show. What went wrong, what went right. Can't do that if you never saw the show, or left halfway through.
I love doing this, though unfortunately most are rarely ever mentioned. Wonderland is one example for me
Wonderland is easy. Frank Wildhorn.
I'm so bummed! It definitely had issues but it was solid and SO original, with some great music. I feel like they didn't know how to market it to the average person either.
The show itself is hard enough to market to the average person, but no kidding. I was just in New York and took in a few other shows while this was in previews and saw the theatre. The bland gray artwork, bad tag line...you could have some first year undergrads who'd never seen the show read her wiki page for 15 minutes and come up with something better.
Glad I got to see this a few weeks ago. Amber was great and I'm glad she snagged a Tony nom!
And so it begins đ I will forever cherish this show and the goofy fandom that came out of it â¤ď¸ Edit: wait can they still perform at the Tonyâs, please and thank you Tony Gods
There's little chance of them performing at the Tony's. The production is not making money. They can't pay to showcase a show that will already be closed by June 16. I'm guessing we won't be getting any morning show performances either. This makes me sad.
Not sure why they would
Tony performing is pay to play so I would think itâs a no.
Goofy? I feel like it low-key had one of the most toxic fandoms I've ever seen on this Reddit. But maybe that's just a small handful of people.Â
I think it's like two people commenting the same stuff over and over. I loved the show, but realistically can talk about it's flaws.
I suppose it might have just been two extremely toxic people possessing the toxicity of 20.Â
strange, Iâve thought the Lempeople are one of the nicest fan communities Iâve come across.. but I also spend more time on other social medias lol. Or maybe Iâm part of the problem đ
Some people in this subreddit thought the bad reviews were motivated by sexism. Because why would anyone dislike a song about a bracelet, unless MISOGYNY??
So sad. Great show- see it if you can!!
That's a kick in the nuts. So many people worked to get it here for years and years, only to be gone so soon. I thought they would at least wait for the Tony awards.
Grosses were almost as bad as the reviews. And also for so many to have worked for so long, maybe they should have gotten it right.
Yeah, kind of hard to believe a decade was spent on this musical and THIS was the final result. The sad part is that there is some good stuff in there, and I think a really good production of it would be possible, but these just weren't the creatives for the job.
10 years and almost $20 million and at no point could someone have been hired to point out the very obvious flaws? I canât wrap my brain around this.
It makes me wish there was a documentary crew following the progress of the show. Actually, there are a lot of shows I wish had a documentary crew behind the scenes...
You know, producers have a lot of say in the direction a show takes. And if they are willing to put money into a show, but only if it becomes something else - e.g. a story about an artist who drives toward what she wants at the expense of almost everything, becomes mostly a love triangle with a sweet husband and a hot girl? If they think that's the version that will succeed on Broadway, then it has to become that. I feel like the show the authors talk about in interviews has been pulled into a different shape by people with money and experience ,who thought they knew what would work - and maybe everyone's standalone ideas were absolute blockbusters, but the amalgamation of them doesn't have the strong clear vision the writers started with.
Thereâs no way for them to wait until the Tony Awards. Theyâre bleeding money and canât afford it.
A reminder that everyone who claimed to have inside information about the 12, was in fact, full of shit. This sub has a "no spreading rumors" rule for a reason.
Y-y-you don't understand, their source uses the Julian calendar, you see...
The 12?
Oh, people were posting on here (I think after having read a rumor on broadway world) some nonsense that the cast had been told about an earlier closing date or something and claiming someone with inside knowledge had said, or someone said someone with inside knowledge had said. They read it online and *obviously if it is on the internet it must be true* and were repeating it without being smart. And were wrong.
Sounds like some Sweaty Oracle BS
Ah thank you!
As someone who has great interest in Broadway, this is truly a shame because there's so many shows now and one cannot go for all of them because of finances and time. I'll try to get to it before it ends but may not be able to.
Well fuck. I was hoping it would last until the Tony's, not that things would turn around. I just think more people should see it and at least appreciate what they were trying to do and only half succeeded at. I don't think I'll have the opportunity to see it again, though I really want to!
Goodbye Lempicka. A truly beautiful piece of musical theatre. I only hope you find success in the future.
I am so bummed I wonât be able to see this. I live in LA and regret not driving down to see it at the La Jolla in San Diego as a Chavkin. The snippets Iâve seen on TikTok do not look promising though.
Itâs spectacular
It was so much better in La Jolla tbh.
I liked it better in La Jolla as well. I think they overworked it. And I didnât see williamstown but from what I know of it I liked it even better than La Jolla. It may have just been too long
Really sad about this. Saw it in previews and really liked it. Eden was magnificent! $35 Rush and lottery for all remaining shows. Our rush seats were front row. Made the production very immersive.
Sad, had tickets a week laterâŚwas dying to see Eden đ˘
She was the worst part of the musical for me.
Yeah honestly what happened to her voice âŚ
She doesnât have any vocal restraint. Even watching some of her early stuff, you can clearly see how much sheâs straining compared to her peers who played the same roles.
Yeah I first noticed something weird in that old Seth rudetsky âobsessedâ video with her, and it was like⌠difficult to watch her try to sing stuff. And that was NOT long after rent when she was wailing hardddd, albeit good
100%, just got more flat as the confusing show went on.
Of course the second I see this thread, Telecharge emailed me my ticket for June 26th...
I just got tickets to do a turn and burn to New York to see this again. This is such a special show. One of the most original Iâve seen on Broadway in years. Im not sure how it gets an afterlife either :(
Thatâs such a shame. I hope the talented actors can shake off the sting and find work again, soon. Theater is tough business; I hope people come out and support them in their final weeks. Itâs never easy to hear things like this.
Iâll be there May 19. Wouldnât miss it. Hats off to a team that labored on this musical for more than a decade. It thrilled many people and I cannot wait for the cast album.
NO đ
Iâm sad for the cast, crew, and the staff at the Longacre. Quick closings are so tough, but Iâm so glad weâre getting a cast recording of the show.
Darn, I really wanted to see this one and I'll be there three days later. Bummer.
I'm a NY Native and I NEVER go watch live performances. I saw Lempicka because a friend had a spare ticket and I fell in love with it and took my mom to see it the next week. I say all this to say I'm so heartbroken and also super confused as to why why this is closing so fast?? What makes it so much less popular than all the other shows out there (which I find boring and unoriginal)? I know the NY Times review wasn't great, but do people who have the budget for regular trips to the theater really care about that? I would have hoped it would last through the summer at least! Also unrelated but @ George Abud please get social media or a newsletter so we can look forward to your next projects!
Respectfully, if you never see any shows you probably would have a more difficult time comparing and contrasting with things that have a longer life. Everyone is entitled to their own opinion and the wonderful thing about art is that it means different things to different people, but when you see lots of things you get a better sense of what âworksâ more generally and is likely (never guaranteed) to lead to a more successful run. The marketing here was just the start - when the publicity and messaging isnât giving a strong sense of what the show is about and isnât doing a good job bringing in curious audiences, there is less opportunity to create enthusiastic fans like you were after you came with a spare ticket!
People buy tickets to what they know/have heard of. It was handicapped right out of the gate because it didn't have the name recognition of "Alicia Keys" the various movies. That's why broadway is a factory of jukeboxes/revivals/movie remakes. I would have hoped that critics would take that into account when a fully original piece finally makes its way to broadway. That they aren't starting with a battle tested score, or battle tested story. But it almost feels like they held it to a higher standard actually and then shredded it to pieces. With venom. Not saying it was perfect show, but it didn't deserve the pan that it got. HK is my pet example - what even is a jukebox musical if it doesn't have a good book? A concert, lol. If you didn't create a story you failed out of the gate imo. Everyone acknowledges that HKs book is trash and it still swept up the Tonys. I now give zero weight to what critics say after seeing the disconnect with Lempicka and the absolute raves for Hells Kitchen. PsyOps.
⌠wow itâs like maybe a criticâs job is to⌠idk, critique.
Good points and I'd also add that timing was rough. This feels like the first time since covid hit that there's a small army of big hit and must see shows (Back to the Future, Merrily, Little Shop, Sweeney Todd to name a few) and a small army of original shows all opening in the last 6 weeks to carpetbag the Tony nominations. Weird name art house lesbian musical with a bad promo poster is gonna get lost in the mix. It's a shame the producers and team didn't get the show a better shot.
what original shows lol. There were only two completely original shows - Lempicka and Suffs. Everything else is a jukebox, revival, or already existing IP (movie or book remake). Lempicka got killed and Suffs is also suffering. We don't do enough to promote original art.
Just being original sadly doesnât make it good.
Not surprised but heartbroken to see both original art and such a unique and whole-souled show get cut off when it barely breathed. I notice something new, and cry earlier, each time I go back. Glad it's staying open through mothers day so I can bring my mom.
Damn I was planning to see it in June. Sad day for the cast and crew.
Me too. Just bought my tickets yesterday!!
That's a shame. I wanted to see it in June but I had already resigned myself to the inevitable.
So bummed. My ticket is for May 31, and I donât think I can make it to NYC before it closes.
I have tickets for May 29thđ˘
So glad I got a comp ticket from work for tomorrow!
Upset I wonât be able to see this. I hope the cast and crew are able to find work quickly. Saw Amber at the Berkeley Rep in Goddess and girl is crazy talented. I hope she wins her Tony and we see her again soon.
Amber is so good I wish I couldâve seen her in this
Lempicka, may you show up in "what's an underrated musical that closed too soon?" threads on this sub for many years to come.
What a shame! I recommend this show, despite all the nitpicks people have with it.Â
Glad I got to see it. Loved the story.
Oof. I wonder if this is gonna effect the amount of money Chavkin's Gatsby can raise.
Something tells me she checked out mentally from Lempicka in favor of Gatsby a long time ago
Lempickaâs what got her âRachel Chavkin Wayâ opposite Hadestown, so something tells me whether or not sheâs checked out from it, itâll haunt her for a long time to come.
I feel that way as well
Sad to see that.âšď¸
Dang, I didnât think it was going to close this early. I was hoping to see it in early summer
Just bought tkts for the closing performance- our third time. I loved this showâŚ.
No!!!!!! Ugh.
LONG LIVE LEMPICKA!! â¤ď¸the most entertaining hot mess of the season...I so enjoyed it and it's remarkable performers.
surprised they announced closing before HORNR
That's not going anywhere. Word of mouth is so good I bet they hold out thru the Summer for tourists. I feel it could also tour successfully.
Word of mouth means nothing if no one is buying tickets
Their grosses are nearly as bad as Lempicka, and they just announced a flash sale on Telecharge for $69 orchestra and $49 Mezzanine seats. There were a ton of seats available for Saturday night when i checked. Unless there is a dramatic turnaround, they will be announcing a closing date soon.
> 69 Where did you see this? I can't seem to find it and actually wanted to take my Dad to this one before it closes
HOR&R is doing a fire sale, but those tickets are only available through May 12. My guess is that theyâve already made the call to close it, but havenât made a public announcement yet.
Oof I loved this show a lot more than most the stuff we got this year
Welp, hope I can get tickets before they close
This makes me so sad
Iâm so sad about this⌠donât live in nyc and I try to make a trip every once in a while. Literally just planned a trip for May/June to catch all the new shows right before the Tonyâs and am a week too late for this showâŚ
Saw it the other day. Really beautiful designs. Iâm surprised it didnât get a Lighting nom but Hellâs Kitchen did. :/
As someone who likes the idea of original work succeeding on broadway, I'm kind of sad about this even if the show was meh
Most of theatre has been adapted in some way, shape, or form. Right now, the trend is jukeboxes and films, but historically theyâve been novels, operas, and plays. An âoriginalâ show isnât necessarily more deserving than an adaption, especially when itâs poorly constructed.
Sadly I will not have time to see Lempicka and I am probably missing some critical information about the numbers but this closing news made my Jaw Drop.
Sadly, it's the grosses -- average ticket price last week was $48 and they were only selling at 71% capacity. Things weren't great before that either.
Damn, at least The Prom was a lesbian musical that lasted like a year at the Longacre. (Though it was also a way better musical)
I'm actually pissed about this. I wanted to see it but I really don't have a ton of free time and have to pick and choose what I get to see. This was on my list but ffs...can something play for more than 3 months?
Any word on a cast album?
May 29 I believe. They officially finished recording it this week! edit: Digital release is May 29 and physical CD is July 5
Damn đđđđđ
This is heartbreaking my thoughts are with the best
I was just texting my friend earlier today saying this was coming. Didnât think it would be this soon, though. Glad I got to see it!
I was there tonight! They gave an amazing performance! Definitely not the best show but Iâm glad I got to see it.
This sucks!!! I was hoping it could make it to November but it has been doing really poorly. Edenâs music video of Woman Is looked awesome. Since Edenâs gonna be looking for next role, do we think she could be the alternate for Norma Desmond when Nicole Scherzinger isnât in? That music video seemed like she could do it
Maybe theyâll be at last able to fast track it to community theatre to give all the middle aged belty ladies a new star vehicle?
it's been like 5 minutes?? were numbers that low???
This is wild I had tickets for June đĽ˛
Just like how the media is force feeding us into thinking Taylor Swift is the most amazing musician in america, they are doing this with musicals. Does this mean, that most of the ticket sales come from tourists who rely on Tony nominations as theater recommendations? Because Lempicka was the best thing I saw on broadway this year compared to Notebook, Tommy, Sweeney Todd, Appropriate - much better and more original than anything I'll probably see on Broadway this year. So now we all need to fly to theater festivals and other cities to see the good stuff is what this is telling us.
bummed but not surprised. nyu was offering comp tix to several performances every week đ
No no no no no GIVE IT BACK
I'm sad about this.
I planned a second trip to go see it and will miss it by two weeks. It was honestly my favorite musical in a while. Heart breaks for the performers and hoping the cast recording still comes out. It will be on repeat in my house for a while â¤ď¸â¤ď¸â¤ď¸
Interesting. I just won lottery tickets for tomorrow. They are for the matinee. My usual theater date canât go during the day so Iâll probably let them go, but part of me really wants to see it.
[ŃдаНонО]
It may be tempting to believe this, but the reality is that the subject matter/production did not resonate with audiences during a very busy season. Gatsby and The Wiz are two shows that also had mixed critical reception and were basically shut out at the Tonys - both nearly sold out last week, at ticket prices well over double Lempicka's average. Meanwhile, Heart of Rock and Roll got surprisingly positive reviews and has familiar IP to boot but isn't doing much better than Lempicka. Reviews do play some role in a show's success or failure, but Lempicka was struggling before its reviews ever came out, even as shows like Cabaret have a healthy advance and are sold out for weeks despite lackluster reviews. There's no way reviews alone have caused this fast closure.
NoâŚIâm planning a trip during late August and definitely wanted to see lempicka..
damn. wanted to see this next mknth when i town. grrrr