NYTimes.com: The new Broadway musical “Chaplin” grossed a modest $460,925 in ticket sales in its first full week of performances since opening to largely negative reviews on Sept. 10, according to box office data released on Monday by the Broadway League, a trade association of theater owners and producers.
6 comments:
It is always sad to hear that a show is given bad reviews before its official opening date. I expected "Chaplin" to be a fantastic musical similar to "The Producers". With the concept as interesting as it is, one would expect that this musical would be a hit. I hope that before the show officially opens it will improve and become a successful piece this season. I'd love to see this story thrive.
The show is open and did, unfortunately, get those reviews for its press opening. I don't want to lay blame, but for being a Broadway musical, it had quite a sleeper marketing campaign leading up to the beginning of performances. I saw some web banner ads, but really didn't hear any music, saw no pictures from the production, saw no press events, no social media presence for fans to get engaged... where was anything to get people excited about the show? I'll point to Rebecca - The Musical as a counterpoint - their "Manderley Experience" Facebook app gives audience members not only ways to connect with each other and play games that connect to the story, but they all earn ShowPoints (connected to American Express Audience Rewards) and allow for players to win prizes by drawing or by redeeming points, even up to free tickets to the show. Chaplin's PR firm really needs to batten down the hatches and get powering up.
There's a phrase I use when I'm trying to sound smart - form and vision content fushion. It means that a form a piece (Genre, style, look, feel) reflect its vision (themes, subject matter, motifs.) Good performance have form and vision content fushion. Bad plays don't.
Who decided that a story about a man whose is remembered for being one of the best silent performers - largely because his clown character moved so gracefully - will translate into a presentational Broadway musical? Those two things don't match. The film made sense because it was a biography - it was about the man's life and not his work. When you put Chaplain on stage it immediately becomes about the character and his work. I'd imagine audiences want to see something theatrical because his work was so theatrical. Songs? That doesn't fit into the form of his work. The tramp didn't sing because the tramp didn't talk. Yes, music was crucial to Chaplain's work (he scored most of his films himself) but song was not at all part of it. By making a musical about Chaplain I'm afraid you're creating a show that no one wants to see.
It is really too bad that such a promising musical is not quite living up to its potential. I hope it was a fluke week and only so low in gross income due to the free tickets they gave to the critics, and that "Chaplin" becomes more successful. Of course, I have not seen the play an am in no place to judge what it deserves, but from the concept and what I've heard about it, I had much higher expectations for this show.
On a brighter note, however, it is wonderful to hear that Broadway is booming. I am so glad "Wicked" and "The Lion King" are still flourishing, and that people continue to enjoy the beauty of theatre despite the current economic crisis.
I really hate to read the reviews for shows after their first week of performances. However, I am not sure why Chaplin was made into a musical. When I was younger I used to watch many Charlie Chaplin films on TNT and I knew them all by heart and loved them. I can't judge the actual musical, because I haven't seen it or read the reviews other than this one. However I can't quite picture it as a musical, but rather as a play or maybe an experimental dance piece. I do however think that the opening figures for them in their first week could have been much worst due to the fact that many people probably aren't interested in seeing this musical. Hopefully the numbers pick up in their second week.
I'm surprised that I haven't heard practically anything about this musical. Usually Broadway musicals have extremely loud and in-your-face marketing campaigns, something which Chaplin definitely lacks. The low ticket sales for its opening weekend could be attributed to the lack of a real marketing campaign for it. The concept for the show however, looks very interesting, and I'd like to actually get to see it.
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