We know that it runs for over three and a half hours; but the question on everyone’s lips is: “How long do you give it?” They are, of course, asking about the likely prospects for the run of Gone with the Wind. On The Guardian website, I saw a link to a story that was headlined “Gone…. in 60 seconds”, which I thought was a bit too pessimistic (especially for a show that runs for more than 10,800 seconds). It turned out, though, to direct one to a quiz that tests one’s knowledge on the original novel and film in ten easy questions. But the tougher question of how long the musical can survive in the wake of the hostile critical reception it has received isn’t asked.
Of course, no one ever knows.
On the one hand, We Will Rock You got reviews every bit as bad, and is now in its 6th year at the Dominion, but on the other, The Drowsy Chaperone got valentines from many critics last summer, yet was quickly put to sleep at the Novello. One senior colleague I was speaking to last night reckoned it would get six months, at least: he said the seniors sitting around him on Monday were lapping it up. The only problem is that it runs far beyond their bedtimes. But we don’t know how deep the producers’ pockets are, and whether or not they will try to market their way out of the perception of failure that has already attached itself to the show.
That sort of feeling, once it gets linked to a show, is difficult to shift; and it’s what gives a Broadway columnist like Michael Riedel his special power. Once he starts gunning for a show, you could be dead in the water. He’s currently going after a revival of Clifford Odets’ The Country Girl, directed by Mike Nichols and starring Morgan Freeman, that opens this Sunday; and in his column on Wednesday, he itemised their litany of woes, before adding another: “Let’s see: Your word of mouth is dreadful. Your star can’t re member his lines. Your director and his blogging sidekick have been hammered for cutting a famous dead author’s script as if it were sausage. And your company’s fretting that they’re woefully under-rehearsed. What, if you’re a Broadway producer, do you do to avert disaster? How about annoy the critics? It’s an odd strategy to be sure, but that’s just what the genius producers of the troubled The Country Girl have managed to do this week,” he writes.
The Broadway tradition of “critics’ previews” - in which critics are invited to performances in the days leading up to the actual opening night so that they can file their reviews ready for publication immediately after - typically works, according to Riedel, like this: “The rule of thumb on Broadway is that, for a Sunday opening, you invite the critics in on Wednesday or - at the very latest - Thursday. That way, they can file their review by Friday (to run in Monday’s paper) and get on with their weekend.” But he says, The Country Girl is keeping the critics away until Friday, “which is making these already cranky cobras even crankier”.
Riedel, of course, is brilliant at getting them to hiss even louder. New York magazine recently showed how it works in his favour, either way. It admiringly states that “He’s one of the few entertainment writers who just puts into print the stuff everyone is talking about — because he has the benefit of being a high-culture writer working for a low-culture tabloid, and because he takes advantage of the proud Broadway tradition of talking shit behind the backs of your co-workers. He’s pretty much always right. And he loves carrying on vendettas, which certainly makes for a richer reading experience for gossip-hungry theater fans.” And it concludes that what is so great about him is that “He’s totally willing to roll up his sleeves and dive headfirst into a story. There will be more columns about The Country Girl’s problems, fed by more and better leaks from inside the production. In the end, Riedel is totally covered. Either the show is a hit — because Michael Riedel saved it. Or the show is a flop — just as Michael Riedel predicted. The man’s a genius.”
So will The Country Girl soon be gone with the wind? And will Gone with the Wind soon be heading to the country? Watch this space….
At this point The Country Girl is simply a victim of its own arrogance. It'll get mixed reviews with a few raves for its stars and play out its 10 to 12 week run with decent business and be forgotten. Happily there are plenty of other star turns on Broadway this season that come awards time snubbing The Country Girl won't be a problem , the show simply won't be good enough. Reidel is great at throwing rocks in glass houses - the interesting thing is that only people in the industry read him - not the general public. He's sort of the "Gossip Girl" of Broadway. As for GWTW, the problem in London Theatre is that producers sign the lease on the theatre for a certain amount of time - if someone wants the theatre then the pressure is off of them to keep running. If no one wants the New London then the producer is forced into keeping his show running even if no one wants to see it. Unless of course The Really Useful group wants to help out their old friend Trevor Nunn and release them from their lease obligations - but they aren't known for their generisoity of human spirit are they?
Horror of horrors!!! 'Gone With The Wind, the musical' was the most appalling and disappointing show that I have ever seen in the west end. And I thought that nothing could possibly be as worse as 'Robin Hood, the musical' or 'Leonardo' or 'Bernadette.' God knows what the hell possessed Trevor Nunn and David White to waste their time and talent on this abortion of a musical. The cast were so bad and insecure in their performances that I am surprised that any of them mustered up the courage to set foot on the stage, their accents went on a world cruise so clearly there was no dialect coach, the ensemble stupidly shared the narration (which only compensated for the action that was not taking place on the stage) the wigs and costumes were ludicrous and Darius's portrayal of Rab Butler was so dreadful that he made Timothy Dalton's boring portrayal of the same character in the ill conceived sequel 'Scarlet' positively Oscar worthy. The script was badly written and as a result the story became just a rushed mess and the music was boring. The ensemble were so out of their depth that it was clear that David Grinrod simply didn't have a clue how to cast this show.
Nothing in the show worked and I very much doubt that the awful cast or the director for that matter had any knowledge or understanding of the Confederate States of America. After observing the excellent work done on 'Oklahoma, South Pacific' and 'My fair Lady' by Sir Trevor I am absolutely stunned that this musical was allegedly directed by the same man. If Trevor Nunn was at all serious about making a success of Gone with the Wind then why didn't he use actual Actors instead of musical theatre turns and why didn't he try and create this show with the help of the National Theatre or the RSC.
One last thing the performer playing Ashley simply didn't care a jot for the role that he was meant to be playing and the fact that the central characters of the story were portrayed by such bad performers simply magnifies the shere lack of care that was put into this show.
Jack is right up to a point.
A few scenarios can happen when a show is flopping.
The contract will allow the producers to fold the show themselves if buiness falls below a contracted level for a contractual number of weeks - normally two. So a producer would not normally be forced to keep open a loss making show for any major length of time.
At the same time, if business falls below the figure the theatre owner can evict the show.
Often what will happen is that the theatre owrners will want to the show to stick around while they can find something good and new to replace it. So they may do a deal with the Producers who will be keen to see if they can find an audience for the show in spite of the critics.
A renegotiation of the rent may happen that this point.
It used to be quite rare for a sudden early eviction to happen - but it has happened recently twice - both at the Novello - with Drowsy Chaperone and Desperately Seeking Susan being forced to close by the landlord in very short order. In both instances the producers felt that this was VERY BAD FORM.
Notably, Avenue Q had mixed reviews and took some time to find its feet - it is now a solid hit - interestingly, in this instance, Cameron the producer had Cameron the theatre owner to negotiate with.
The "Maria & Joseph" effect means that large theatres are pretty hard to come by these days and there are many big shows anxiously looking for a home.
So Darius's days may be numbered.
Vain to quote myself, but... "I fear that, as was said of a different war, it will all be over by Christmas."
Christmas?! Thats stretching it a bit.
The reviews for Country Girl are coming in mixed. It was only slated for a limited run, and that will likely end up being quite successful. Looks like the show survived the pre-opening attacks.
I managed to catch "The Country Girl" on a recent trip to Manhattan...and as an avid theater goer, I have to say, (I judge the quality of shows by the tenderness of my behind!!)my backside hurt! This was an arrogant attempt to produce 'good' theater with an array of award winners and nominees.
Take the starry quality of Morgan Freeman away and I think you will find that his portrayal of Odet's second-chance saloon actor was weak. Gallacher was outstanding in an otherwise poor, poor production that didn't even begin to look at the sub-text or the motivation of the play's characters.I didn't empathise with any of the characters. I was horrified by the poor direction..but on a high, the set design was awesome. I was never as glad to get a drink after a show!