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Opening Night to close early in London | A rant about musical theatre producers and 'risks'
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Mickey Jo Theater
Oh, my God. Hey. In breaking West End theatre news today, it was announced that opening night, the new musical currently playing at the Gielgud Theatre in London, would be closing early. The show, Based on the 1977 John Cassavetes film of the same name, was originally scheduled to run through July of this year, but will now have its final performance next month in May. And in truth, when I was emailed this press release this morning, I wasn't originally planning to make a video about it. I'm not one to dance on the grave of a West End show. I have already said plenty about the show here on YouTube, both in my own one star review video, as well as in a recent review roundup video where I considered many of the other critical perspectives on the show. But then I kept seeing in both a statement by the show's producers as well as by other pundits on social media, this idea of the show having been a critical and artistic risk. And when I read those words, for reasons that I will articulate in today's video, I swear I could actually feel the temperature of my blood begin to increase. And I thought if I didn't sit down and talk about it, my head was going to explode. So here is the news and as well as my own thoughts about the premature closing of opening night, a rant with condolences to the company about the current state of producing in UK theatre. Buckle up. As always, if you enjoy today's video, not only can you find me on other social media platforms like Instagram and TikTok, but you can also make sure to subscribe to my channel here on YouTube so you don't miss any of my upcoming videos. Hit that notifications button and then YouTube will let you know. Every time I post a new video, I bring you theatre news. Sometimes stagey gossip, theatre reviews, and the occasional furious tirade. And if that sounds like something you would be interested in, then you are in luck, because today's video is all of the above. Let's get into it. So if you want more context about the opening of the show and its critical reception, then you can go and watch not only my review, but the video where I rounded up many of the other reviews. But for the briefest bit of backstory, I already told you that this was based on a 1970s film and it's been adapted for the stage by director Ivo Van Hove, whose work is often polarizing. You may know him from the recent West End production of All About Eve, the recent west side Story revival on Broadway that was cut Short by the Pandemic. Previously to this, he directed a stunning production of A View from the Bridge. Very recently, of course, A Little Life in the West End. And this was actually not his first time directing opening night for the stage. He had previously directed a non musical version of the play in the Netherlands, but this time around it became a musical. He was collaborating with singer songwriter Rufus Wainwright, who was writing his first score for musical theatre. But almost as soon as the show began preview performances, it began to garner a particularly unkind word of mouth among early audiences. This is prior to the critics even seeing the thing we should note, there were reports of people walking out in the hundreds per performance. And it was reported that the show underwent changes between early previews and press night. But in spite of how substantial those changes may have been, press night rolled around and myself and many other critics went to see the show and the reaction broadly was not positive. Yes, there were a handful of positive reviews, but these were outweighed by a largely negative critical consensus. And though I don't believe bad reviews have the power to shut down every single production in something where the name of the show is not especially marketable because it's not a hugely well known film that it's based on, you know, it's not a hugely commercial property. And the way it utilized its star, Sheridan Smith, didn't tie in as closely with her personal brand as when she starred in Shirley Valentine last year. This, I will say, is an important footnote about star casting because if you're going to use a star on stage and hope that that creates, you know, ticket sales, the best way to utilize a star is in a way that ties in with their personal brand. I'm going to use an example from today. So this morning it was Johannes Radebe, a professional dancer from Strictly Come Dancing as well as a household name. He's beloved. He is going to be starring as Lola in a new tour of Kinky Boots. He's a dancer. He's danced in drag on the show. People love his extravagant and flamboyant personality. This ties in really well with his personal brand. It's a musical. The Strictly crowd are going to love it. If Johannes was to do like, I don't know, the Seagull or an Arthur Miller or a Chekhov play or even a Shakespeare, I don't think it would command as many ticket sales because people don't necessarily understand that performer in that role, James Norton, on the back of doing hard hitting television, doing a little life. Sure. Sheridan Smith, lovable, charming, quintessential British actress doing Shirley Valentine makes perfect sense. The best way to utilise these stars is in a show that has a connection to their personal brand. So that may answer the question of why just having Sheridan on all of these posters, admittedly wearing sunglasses, which I don't think helped, hasn't necessarily created the same sellout effect that it did last year with Shirley Valentine. In any case, the show's ticket sales have been disappointing and we have now had the news that the show is ending its run at the Gielgud Theatre on 18 May 2024. Let me tell you the other details. So the show was always going to be a limited run, but it was originally planned to last until 27 July 2024. If you have tickets for the dates between 20 May and 27 July, then you ought to have been contacted, or you will be contacted directly at your point of sale. And then what follows in this particular press release is a statement by the produce, Wessex Grove, which I'm going to read for you now. And if I scream a little bit in the middle, try not to be alarmed. So they said it is an honour to produce this beautiful new musical in the West End and everyone at Wessex Grove is proud to have delivered the artistic vision of Eva Van Hove and Rufus Wainwright and their incredible team, led by the exquisite Sheridan Smith, in a challenging financial landscape, which is true. Opening Night was always a risk. And while the production may not have had the life we had hoped for, we feel immensely proud of the risk we took and of this extraordinary production. Our world class cast delivers a brilliant show night after night. And there are still five weeks left to see Sheridan Smith in the role of a lifetime. What is sure fire and safe has its place. But Wessex Grove exists to produce great artists in the West End and to provide the space for original artist led productions in the commercial sector. Productions exactly like Opening Night. We're grateful for all of the support everyone has given us as we made this show and look forward to celebrating the rest of the run. And I do think, for what it's worth, that these are intrepid, exciting producers. But I have several issues with this, and not that I hold it against them, because, you know, this is their show, they've been developing this show, they believe in their work. Fine. But to call this a risk beyond what is legitimately a challenging financial landscape is something I take issue with immensely. And that's because it's not a risk. It's not a risk. It's Just not. No part of taking an Ivo Van Hove show and slingshotting it to the Gielgud Theatre with narrow an out of town tryout or a run at a smaller space. Just going straight into not only the commercial West End, but one of the most desirable West End theatres based on the sole privilege of his name and his artistry, does not constitute a risk. Getting Sheridan Smith to star in this, a performer that a lot of shows could only dream of having the access to, does not represent a risk. And weaponizing her own personal challenges and tabloid history. And I'll expand on that a little bit in a moment. Also not a risk. And then creatively, Ivo Van Hove adapting this screenplay himself, not working with a writer, not working with an actual musical theatre book writer, not working with a legitimate musical theatre composer or lyricist, but instead collaborating with a pop singer songwriter writing their first musical theatre score, who is another name that gets plastered all over the marketing materials. This again is not a risk. What you mean to say is that the material is inherently tonally polarizing, but it's also, and I'm sorry to say, and this is of course my personal opinion, just not of sufficient quality. It's not a risk to put a bad musical in the West End. It's just a bad decision. It also isn't a risk to allow this very esteemed and accomplished director to be kind of the sole creative force in this work without really meaningful collaboration, and to hope that his unchallenged vision alone will be sufficient in creating compelling art. Because, you know, what would actually be a risk is, I don't know, platforming new theatre makers, platforming emerging theatre makers, looking at any number of the fantastic show playing in London's fringe or off West End spaces and giving them the opportunity to go to a larger theatre, something that also isn't necessarily hugely marketable, doesn't have a huge star in the lead, but is of quality. Taking Operation Mincemeat into the West End was a risk, but a worthwhile 1. Taking two strangers carry a cake across New York to the Criterion Theatre is a risk, but a worthwhile one. Casting not only recognizable star names, but also a vastly talented and underutilized ensemble of brilliant, well liked performers from across the globe is not a risk. But platforming and casting unknown talent who will go on to give star making performances would be a risk. Actually, platforming musical theatre composers and lyricists and book writers who are some of the most maligned individuals in the theater industry just consistently would be a risk. God forbid, when producing theatre, we do it because of the quality of the art and not necessarily just because it's going to be the most profitable decision that we can make or just because the names of the people involved sound like they might win awards next year. God forbid. We actually champion shows that speak to us, that actually affect people emotionally, that actually make you feel things, that have authentic representative casts that tell diverse stories, that have meaning. Diverse casts that don't have predominantly male creative teams telling women's stories, telling stories about a woman going through menopause and experiencing a breakdown. God forbid. Producers care as much about the industry at large and the art form as they do about their individual artistic accomplishments. And I don't know these people and I don't know this creative process and I don't know what this rehearsal room was like. I have been told things that I am not going to share publicly on here because bad Cinderella happened and I learned my lesson. But needless to say, this is not the kind of artistic risk that we should be celebrating and championing. For what it's worth, they also say that Sheridan Smith is playing the role of a lifetime. And I think she played that one last year. I think she's played that a handful of times in her career and I think it's probably still yet to come. This is certainly not her role of a lifetime. There are far better roles for her out there because this just isn't developed enough. It's bold and it's brash and it's big and she's having to do a lot of stuff, but it's not meaningful enough to be the role of a lifetime. The roll of a lifetime has far better material. The roll of a lifetime doesn't get one star reviews. The roll of a lifetime doesn't have people so disinterested that they are walking out in the interval in the hundreds. None of which I will say is her fault. And if Wessex Grove does, as they say here, exist to produce great artists in the West End and provide the space for original artist led productions in the commercial sector, then I can tell them exactly where they can find many of those productions, because it's not here. Now. We also have a statement from director Eva Van Hove, who said, I had the most wonderful and inspiring time making opening night thanks to the talent and commitment of our incredible cast and production team. They were led by the exceptional Sheridan Smith, who had the bravery to play such a complex role in the West End. I try to be fearless and sincere in everything I make. With Rufus's beautiful music, we made something Totally unique and true to John Cassavetes daring exploration of the human condition, it will forever have a special place in my heart. It is always sad when a show closes early, but I know that opening night will live long in the memories of those who saw it and made it. And there's actually less in that I disagree with. And I do want to say again that I do feel an enormous sympathy for not only the cast, but the entire crew, creatives, everyone attached to this production who is now going to be losing work earlier than they thought. Working in musical theatre, working in the West End is still a job like any other. These are still human beings with commitments and with families and with mortgages and with financial realities. And regardless of my feelings about this particular piece, I take no joy from any premature closing announcement and I take no joy from this one. This is not what joy looks like like on my face. But this does all beg the question, what happens next? Not for the show, perhaps, but for the cast and for the Gielgud Theatre. Now, when any show closes early, we consider about what the future life for that show might be. And in this instance, because of the nature of why the early closing has happened, I don't think we're going to get one. Not only does it not feel commercial enough to tour the uk, I don't think they would be ambitious enough to take it to the us. But I've been wrong in the past. I believe I said that about Bad Cinderella, that it wouldn't go over to Broadway and then it did pretty quick. So maybe opening night is heading to New York. One of the issues it faced here was that it was happening in the wake of Sunset Boulevard. If it headed to Broadway now and tried to find a theater, the same thing would happen there. It would presumably be opening after Jamie Lloyd's Sunset Boulevard arrives later this year at the St. James Theatre. So again, that would be problematic timing for them. And I do think reviews would still invoke the similarities, both in the show's themes and in the use of cameras on stage. Maybe there's an Off Broadway home that the show could find a lot of, like the artsier work from the UK occasionally plays better in that Off Broadway sphere rather than trying to be uber commercial. And in fact, that's probably what the show should have done here. Somewhere like the Almeida, somewhere like the Donmar Warehouse, probably would have been a better location for this show, minus the cameras. If you believe in the material that much, you can just focus on the material without the gimmick. But I said we would talk about what would happen next. So what is next for this particular cast? And I can only hope that they go on to huge success because there were some brilliant names in this cast and for many of them, that won't be a problem. For the likes of Sheridan Smith, the offers will continue to be there and she's worked a lot in theatre recently. She's an Olivier Award nominee for her performance in Shirley Valentine last year, this coming weekend. So she could, within the space of four days, deal with the public news that her show is closing prematurely and win an Olivier Award for Best Leading Actress in a play. Things on balance could be worse and I'm glad she has that comfort, especially because the gutter press of the UK and terrible clickbait tabloid journalism, in which journalism is a strong word, have tethered her name needlessly to every negative piece about the show. And presumably they are doing the same thing in talking about its early closure. When I mentioned before about the show exploiting Sheridan's tabloid history, this is referring to something that she went through during the London run of Funny Girl, a very personally troubling chapter of her life that this show feels in uncomfortable proximity to. Presumably she is happy playing that on stage because she's accepted this role, knowing what the show is about. Perhaps for her it's cathartic, but the detail of it that I don't think was necessary and has put her needlessly in the firing line is this one moment of the show where they have her in the alley behind the theater and they go and film this live every night, and she is acting, lying down drunk in the street. And of course, again, the likes of the Daily Mail have been running pieces with photographs of her at this time saying Sheridan Smith has to be helped up off the street as she appears in new West End play, which, while technically true, is manipulating the facts to make the story seem completely different, which is what they do because, and say it with me, they are deplorable trash. Amy Lennox is someone whose theatrical star has been on the rise with Cabaret. And then going into this show, she had, you know, just really not significant enough of a role. Hadley Fraser, prior to this, had been doing really great work, both in plays and musicals. I enjoyed seeing Broadway star Benjamin Walker over here and would love it if he was to do another show in the uk, a better show in the uk. There are so many people in this cast. Rebecca Thornhill and Joss Slovik and Nicola Hughes, like an immense amount of talent on that stage, deserve better than opening night. And I hope they get it for Sheridan. I think because we've had a lot of stage performances recently from her, then it might be beneficial for her to do more screen work or there might even be a way to marry the two for a long time. I've been thinking that we ought to have a British made film adaptation of the musical Blood Brothers and that she would be a fantastic choice to play the role of Mrs. Johnston. Comment down below if you'd like a musical movie of Blood Brothers starring Sheridan Smith, I know I would. But as well as people, we have to consider West End real estate because these theaters, especially the likes of the Gielgud Theatre on Shaftesbury Avenue, are very desirable. And while I have heard that the comedian Frank Skinner is going to be returning to the venue with his show, I think was called 30 years of dirt, that was playing there very briefly just before opening night, he's going back to do another run of that. That's only going to be quite short. And this still leaves a decent gap for another show to fill. Now, earlier this year, when Derren Brown's Unbelievable closed early at the Criterion Theater, there was allegedly a record amount of interest in that space. That's because that was a very small space that can allow, you know, smaller, less obviously commercial shows to be nurtured. Operation Mincemeat, for example, is doing well in a small theater like the Fortune. Two Strangers Carry a Cake Across New York is going into the Criterion. The Gielgud is a little bit bigger, which is where this gets tricky. And we can't necessarily pitch West End transfers of off West End shows because they probably wouldn't play well in that space. More likely we might be seeing something coming in off of the touring circuit that happens to have time over those dates. If 222 wasn't currently on tour, then I would suggest that that might pop back up at the theatre. It's played there before, it's played many West End theaters before, and those producers did a very good job of allowing it to be the thing that filled unexpected gaps. But there is also another theory for which I cannot claim responsibility. This one comes from my stagey fiance, Erin James, because on Sunday at this year's Olivier Awards, it has been teased that Groundhog Day, one of this year's nominees for best revival of a musical, having played last year at the Oscar, Old Vic, will be delivering a special message from Australia, where the show is currently on tour. In interviews, however, composer Tim Minchin has suggested that the show will be perpetrating a UK return after Australia. For a long time there's been talk of a tour and that's why the staging was condensed a little from the original version. And since last summer there have been murmurs about the show attempting some sort of a West End run. Could we see Groundhog Day doing a couple months in the Gielgud before launching a UK tour? When it comes to the West End, anything is possible. You wouldn't get conversations like this on Broadway because just capitalizing a show and just putting it up at the theatre in the first place costs a lot more. So in that shorter run, you're unlikely to be able to recoup the investment that it took to get the thing in there. But in the West End, it becomes a lot more possible. This is all just speculation. However, I don't have any actual intel as to what might be going into the Gielgud as when I do, I will be sure to let you know on here. So if you want to keep abreast of all of the West End theatrical news, make sure to subscribe to my theatre themed YouTube channel. For now, I feel like I've worked through everything I needed to in terms of talking about this show and talking about the current state of UK theatre, obviously. Please continue to support live theatre, whatever that means for you. Whatever it is that you as an individual want to go and see, whatever it is that speaks to you, whatever it is that attracts you, go and see that show, go and recommend that show to your friends Champion and celebrate and talk about the theatre that you enjoy that makes you feel those emotions, that makes you happy. And I hope that everyone is staying safe and that you have a Stagey Day. For 10 more seconds. I'm Mickey Jo Theater. Oh my God. Hey, thanks for watching. Have a stagey day. Subscribe.