Printer Friendly - Bette Midler's Show Is Going Into The Booth Theatre
Posted by Jordan Catalano 2013-01-30 10:54:48
Bette Midler's Show Is Going Into The Booth Theatre
Posted by Claudia Draper 2013-01-30 10:58:30
Well now the ticket $$$ will be at Hugh Jackman levels or higher..
Bette Midler's Show Is Going Into The Booth Theatre
Posted by ACL2006 2013-01-30 11:15:31
why are they picking the second smallest house on Broadway?!?!?! Do they not think she can sell out a larger theater??
Bette Midler's Show Is Going Into The Booth Theatre
Posted by somethingwicked 2013-01-30 11:17:36
It's the BOOK OF MORMON mentality- put the show in a smaller house where you know it will sell out, which will create much higher demand for tickets and allow for an inevitably higher pricing structure.
Considering it's a one woman play, having it be in a more intimate venue is also more appropriate for the piece (not to mention how desirable the location of the Booth is.)
Bette Midler's Show Is Going Into The Booth Theatre
Posted by ACL2006 2013-01-30 11:26:05
but it's not like Midler won't be able to sell out the Longacre or Barrymore. Considering it'll likely be a limited run(3 months??) will make it nearly impossible to get tickets. I have to wonder if they'll do any kind of rush or lottery. And does the Booth have SRO??
Bette Midler's Show Is Going Into The Booth Theatre
Posted by Blockhead24 2013-01-30 11:32:38
Yes, the Booth has SRO
Bette Midler's Show Is Going Into The Booth Theatre
Posted by WiCkEDrOcKS 2013-01-30 11:35:33
"Tickets for I'LL EAT YOU LAST are available exclusively to American Express cardholders starting Saturday, February 2 at 10 AM by calling 212-239-6200 or visit Telecharge.com. Tickets will go on sale to the general public on Sunday, February 17. Ticket prices range from $82 - $142. Standing room and rush policies will be announced in the coming weeks."
Bette Midler's Show Is Going Into The Booth Theatre
Posted by everythingtaboo 2013-01-30 11:35:52
It's Bette, but it's also a non-singing one-woman show about someone most people haven't heard of, in a really crowded spring season. I think it's a great move, actually. They'll be able to make a mint just off the Bette audience alone, not worry about low attendance, and make it a tough-to-get ticket.
Bette Midler's Show Is Going Into The Booth Theatre
Posted by RippedMan 2013-01-30 11:40:55
I will say knowing it's a one women show has me a little less excited.
Bette Midler's Show Is Going Into The Booth Theatre
Posted by jaxandmci 2013-01-30 11:54:12
It'll be interesting to see what the run time is on this. I hope it's not another one of those barely-an-hour-long plays.
I'll have my AMEX in hand Saturday morning and I'm sure the good seats are going to be quite steep! But what the heck! It's Bette!
Bette Midler's Show Is Going Into The Booth Theatre
Posted by TalkinLoud 2013-01-30 11:57:25
I think some of you may be overestimated the appeal of Bette and this show.
Bette Midler's Show Is Going Into The Booth Theatre
Posted by GatorNY 2013-01-30 12:12:46
I'm actually a bit more excited about The Testament of Mary...which I'm sure I will have no problem getting a ticket for, probably on TDF even.
Jordan, all I can think when I see your avatar is HANDS ON A HARD BODY.
Bette Midler's Show Is Going Into The Booth Theatre
Posted by suestorm 2013-01-30 13:34:08
talkinloud, i was talking to a bunch of my friends about this,all 23 and younger its sad, but most dont know who she is other then "that annoying lady in Parental Guidance". I know its very sad, i agree.
Bette Midler's Show Is Going Into The Booth Theatre
Posted by Jordan Catalano 2013-01-30 13:42:11
I find that hard to believe.
Bette Midler's Show Is Going Into The Booth Theatre
Posted by themysteriousgrowl 2013-01-30 13:54:46
We're getting old, Jordy.
I agree that there may be an overestimation of her broad appeal/popularity going on here.
She had her time, but I think she's thought more of as a B-lister these days, and it doesn't surprise me at all to hear that the under-25 set might only be tangentially aware of who she is.
Bette Midler's Show Is Going Into The Booth Theatre
Posted by everythingtaboo 2013-01-30 13:56:22
What, that talkinloud has college aged friends? (I kid!)
I'm 35 and went to Bette's Vegas show a few years ago. I swear I was the youngest one there. So I'm not surprised our youngins' don't share our fondness for her, aside from the couple of weirdo kids obsessed with the 60s and 70s.
Bette Midler's Show Is Going Into The Booth Theatre
Posted by ljay889 2013-01-30 13:56:51
I'm sorry, but the 20-25 crowd has no excuse. We grew up on HOCUS POCUS! Idiots.
Bette Midler's Show Is Going Into The Booth Theatre
Posted by themysteriousgrowl 2013-01-30 13:57:39
Yes! Like OUR things! Idiots!
I will be very curious to see how this sells, though.
Bette Midler's Show Is Going Into The Booth Theatre
Posted by ljay889 2013-01-30 14:00:04
What? LOL. I meant the 20-25 year olds who don't know Bette are idiots.....
Wasn't calling anyone here an idiot.
Bette Midler's Show Is Going Into The Booth Theatre
Posted by Wynbish 2013-01-30 14:03:30
I honestly think the first Bette movie I saw was Hocus Pocus.
Bette Midler's Show Is Going Into The Booth Theatre
Posted by kadu335 2013-01-30 14:07:05
I'm 23 and I love Bette, but I would bet a million bucks most of my friends wouldn't know who she is LOL
Bette Midler's Show Is Going Into The Booth Theatre
Posted by GavestonPS 2013-01-30 14:09:35
Not well known to the kids, I'll concede, but "B list"? I don't think so. Midler's more in the "legend" category like Cher, who hasn't had a film hit in decades.
When PROJECT RUNWAY previewed the guest judges for the season that began last week, they saved Bette Midler for last and she was clearly the "big deal" on a list that included Jennifer Hudson, Debra Messing, Zoe Saldana, Hilary Duff and Hayden Panettiere.
And I didn't see the movie, but I feel sure "that annoying woman from PARENTAL GUIDANCE" was Billy Crystal.
Bette Midler's Show Is Going Into The Booth Theatre
Posted by ljay889 2013-01-30 14:09:36
I honestly think the first Bette movie I saw was Hocus Pocus.
Me too, lol. I remember seeing it in the theaters as a little one.
Bette Midler's Show Is Going Into The Booth Theatre
Posted by suestorm 2013-01-30 14:12:10
she really hasnt been in any big movies or tv shows that people my age watch in years. same with Babs, Im a theater geek so i know them but do get a lot of ribbing for it.
Bette Midler's Show Is Going Into The Booth Theatre
Posted by Wynbish 2013-01-30 14:12:32
Hocus Pocus was on ABC Family all the time this past October
Bette Midler's Show Is Going Into The Booth Theatre
Posted by themysteriousgrowl 2013-01-30 14:16:06
Is she thought of as a legend, Gav, broadly? I guess for the Project Runway audience, the reception you describe makes sense, but outside of circles with significant male homosexual fan bases beyond a certain age
I honestly dont think shes thought seen that way. Id guess that if I were to ask my coworkers or, say, my mom or sister, theyd think of her as a sort-of washed-up 80s actress/singer.
And I wouldnt necessarily defend that perception. Im just saying I think reverence for her is reserved by minority segments, demographically speaking.
Or maybe Im totally off-base! I usually am!
Bette Midler's Show Is Going Into The Booth Theatre
Posted by ljay889 2013-01-30 14:16:20
If someone from 16-25 doesn't know the name Barbra Streisand, they are a moron.
Bette Midler's Show Is Going Into The Booth Theatre
Posted by Wynbish 2013-01-30 14:16:59
And Lea Michele has permission to slap them
Bette Midler's Show Is Going Into The Booth Theatre
Posted by ljay889 2013-01-30 14:17:58
Man, It's depressing that today's tweens know Lea Michele, and possibly not Streisand.
Bette Midler's Show Is Going Into The Booth Theatre
Posted by Wynbish 2013-01-30 14:20:08
Or worse: think Lea sings some songs better than Barbra
Bette Midler's Show Is Going Into The Booth Theatre
Posted by ljay889 2013-01-30 14:20:51
Stop.
Bette Midler's Show Is Going Into The Booth Theatre
Posted by Wynbish 2013-01-30 14:23:48
I mean... maybe...
Sidenote: We need a Real Housewives OT thread to talk about all the crazy that Kenya Moore is.
Bette Midler's Show Is Going Into The Booth Theatre
Posted by ljay889 2013-01-30 14:25:26
I know! Would probably just be the two of us. I honestly find her entertaining now. What she did there is one of the best Housewives stunts ever. But she is totally CRAY!
Bette Midler's Show Is Going Into The Booth Theatre
Posted by kadu335 2013-01-30 14:26:40
I guess this has a lot to do with people's interests as well... a lot of my friends are not into arts at all. They could probably name all soccer players that took part in the 1970 World Cup before being able to tell Bette and Barbra apart.
Bette Midler's Show Is Going Into The Booth Theatre
Posted by ljay889 2013-01-30 14:29:04
^ But I'm sure many of them have seen MEET THE FOCKERS.
Bette Midler's Show Is Going Into The Booth Theatre
Posted by Wynbish 2013-01-30 14:29:30
I do bar trivia in a team where everyone else is in their early 30's. The guys can tell you so many names of quarterbacks and World Series of Poker questions, and then they would try to argue that the Tonys are in February.
But those guys wouldn't see Babs or Miss M in a show anyway.
Bette Midler's Show Is Going Into The Booth Theatre
Posted by GavestonPS 2013-01-30 14:31:14
You're probably right, mysterious growl, about the general public, but I think the crowd that knows Midler is a little broader than just gay people. It also includes theater aficionados, the cultural elite and educated people in general.
I don't think performers like Midler, Cher, Lily Tomlin or Bob Newhart descend to a "B list" (though I suppose they do in terms of their ability to get a film financed). I think they age into a "beloved" category outside the ABCD levels. (In an earlier time, the same was true of Merman and Garland.)
And Midler is no fool. She probably knows exactly what she wants to do with the part and how big she wants to play it. The Booth was chosen accordingly.
Bette Midler's Show Is Going Into The Booth Theatre
Posted by suestorm 2013-01-30 14:31:51
its kinda why i thought Chaplin wasnt long for this world, before it even came out... no one my age really cares about him.... on the other hand, its why ive thought from the beginning that cinderella will be BIG!!!(edited). HUGE BUZZ
Let me stress that im not saying that everything has to be youthcentric, just telling you how these things are reacted to in my little world.
Bette Midler's Show Is Going Into The Booth Theatre
Posted by Jay Lerner-Z 2013-01-30 14:38:46
I'm in the 20-25 age bracket, and I know perfectly well who Bette Midler is. Same for my entire circle of friends, straight and gay alike.
I don't believe a word suestorm says, I think "she" is a fictional creation.
Bette Midler's Show Is Going Into The Booth Theatre
Posted by kadu335 2013-01-30 14:38:57
There's a good probability they did, ljay889... but knowing her name and how iconic she is, is different story. For them, she's unfortunately just Ben Stiller's mom LOL
Bette Midler's Show Is Going Into The Booth Theatre
Posted by themysteriousgrowl 2013-01-30 14:43:01
I'm with you on the status of all those other people you named, Gav. Perhaps it's just that, for me, Bette Midler just ain't in the category of a Bob Newhart or a Judy Garland. Despite the force of her personality, I see her as much more of a blip on the pop-culture radar of her lifetime than those folks. As I say, its likely Im the one whos off-base in this estimation of her, but it is genuinely surprising to me that people see her that way.
Bette Midler's Show Is Going Into The Booth Theatre
Posted by GavestonPS 2013-01-30 14:43:56
I'm afraid suestorm is right about Chaplin. I'm on the verge of collecting Social Security and even *I* don't care about him. I know I'm supposed to cherish that scene where he ate his own boot (THE GOLD RUSH, I think), but I just don't.
Silent movies were seriously before my time even.
(ETA But, yes, when I was a kid and Chaplin was still alive, I would say he was a "legend", not "B list".)
Bette Midler's Show Is Going Into The Booth Theatre
Posted by suestorm 2013-01-30 14:48:35
this is why im so happy about the new breed of Broadway stars. Sierra, Laura Osnes etc, and shows like Once, Bring it On, Newsies and Spiderman. they have buzz and introduce a new breed into the theater!
Bette Midler's Show Is Going Into The Booth Theatre
Posted by Wynbish 2013-01-30 14:50:00
City Lights would be a pretty musical. The end scene makes me teary.
Bette Midler's Show Is Going Into The Booth Theatre
Posted by Jay Lerner-Z 2013-01-30 14:50:02
I only know Bob Newhart from his Desperate Housewives appearances...I guess in time, even the great Bette will be forgotten. 
Also, didn't Bradley Cooper say on Charlie Rose last night that he was doing The Elephant Man at the Booth for a sixteen-week run in the spring?
Bette Midler's Show Is Going Into The Booth Theatre
Posted by frogs_fan85 2013-01-30 15:01:49
Spring 2014.
Bette Midler's Show Is Going Into The Booth Theatre
Posted by GavestonPS 2013-01-30 15:17:55
mysteriousgrowl, if we are going to rate legends, then, yes, Garland and Newhart enjoyed broader popular success in their heydays than did Midler. But you're making Midler sound like Debra Harry.
I think Midler's place in American culture is broader than that of Harry or Cindy Lauper or Pat Benatar or Chrissie Hinde (all of whom I appreciate and respect). You don't fill 5,000 seats at Caesar's Palace for two years without a bit of a following, particularly not after touring the same basic show all over the country for the two previous years.
(And to be clear, for gay men Bette Midler kind of WAS Judy Garland in the decade following Stonewall. But I recognize that was--and is--a niche audience.)
Bette Midler's Show Is Going Into The Booth Theatre
Posted by newintown 2013-01-30 15:22:26
Is Midler's appeal greater than that of Vanessa Redgrave, who did another recent one-woman play at the Booth? Or Lily Tomlin or Bea Arthur, who did theirs there as well?
(I don;t have an answer, just wonder what others think.)
Bette Midler's Show Is Going Into The Booth Theatre
Posted by oasisjeff 2013-01-30 15:32:36
The problem is that a lot of people are viewing Bette Midler within the general population, but the majority of the general population doesn't regularly attend Broadway shows. So, yes, the large pocket of people unlikely to attend a Broadway show anyway might not be swayed by Bette being in one.
But among the people most likely to attend a Broadway show, she's huge, and seeing as they are the people who will actually be buying the tickets, that's all that matters.
Bette Midler's Show Is Going Into The Booth Theatre
Posted by GavestonPS 2013-01-30 15:43:25
^^^True. But the question will be whether those who know her will want to pay $100 bucks to see her NOT sing and dance. Gay men? No problem. We'll have to see about the others.
But a lot of us who have been Midler fans for four decades ALSO remember who Sue Mengers was. That may help. (Of course, in my mind, I picture Mengers as Dyan Cannon in THE LAST OF SHEILA.)
Bette Midler's Show Is Going Into The Booth Theatre
Posted by Jordan Catalano 2013-01-30 16:06:41
I think the real problem here is that some of you who are saying* you're in your mid 20s, I always thought were in your mid 50s, so it's like a mindfvck right now.
Bette Midler's Show Is Going Into The Booth Theatre
Posted by GavestonPS 2013-01-30 16:08:47
^^^Now there are lawsuits?! I would have expected those in the Ben Sprecher thread!
Bette Midler's Show Is Going Into The Booth Theatre
Posted by Jay Lerner-Z 2013-01-30 16:34:04
i am a 14 year old girl wit leprosy
Bette Midler's Show Is Going Into The Booth Theatre
Posted by Jordan Catalano 2013-01-30 16:45:47
Well I mean, that's always been kind of obvious from your writing style.
The leprosy part, not the 14 year old girl part, I mean.
Bette Midler's Show Is Going Into The Booth Theatre
Posted by Matt Rogers 2013-01-30 19:50:58
I predict a couple of dates on TDF early and late in the run, as well as a very stingy discount code that calls a discounted ticket one that is $120.00 and excludes Saturday night. I also predict that the poor director will be hauled away to a rubber room by the men in the white suits once dear Bette is done with him.
Bette Midler's Show Is Going Into The Booth Theatre
Posted by PlayItAgain 2013-01-31 00:50:08
^the directors Joe Mantello, he won't be taken down that easy
Bette Midler's Show Is Going Into The Booth Theatre
Posted by DAME 2013-01-31 01:18:48
Bette will sell. I'm hoping its a good enough experience for her that she brings back one of her musical extravaganzas to broadway. While I am a huge fan I have never found her to be a very good actress. But I never cared. I'm also very amused that some poster here referenced Sierra and some other women as the next generation of stars. How ridiculous. These women are fine but broadway those not have the pull it used to and in the scope of things no one out of this niche knows who they are. Bette Midler fills arenas all over the world . Wind Beneath My Wings and The Rose are standards that will be around and associated with her long after we are all gone.
Oh and a few of you have been misrepresenting yourselves with your age. CRAP..ok.. Today I am also 20 .
Bette Midler's Show Is Going Into The Booth Theatre
Posted by SondheimFan5 2013-01-31 01:25:27
I'm not worried about Bette, but how the heck will Holland Taylor be able to sell out the Beaumont?! She's a great talent and it's always a treat to see her in something, but she's not on the level of Pacino, Jackman, or Midler.
Bette Midler's Show Is Going Into The Booth Theatre
Posted by DAME 2013-01-31 01:30:48
I actually saw a earlier production of that play . Very surprised its going to New York.
Bette Midler's Show Is Going Into The Booth Theatre
Posted by suestorm 2013-01-31 08:47:26
DAME, i think Sierra, Osnes and such are or about to be the great new stars of Broadway. If they arent seduced away by film or tv, they will be here for years. Bette, Babs, Patti are all great legends, but Bdway is no different then film, tv or music.... to be healthy, it needs new blood. that being said, there is always room for the great legends
Bette Midler's Show Is Going Into The Booth Theatre
Posted by RippedMan 2013-01-31 09:55:35
Who cares if 20 year olds don't know who Bette is? Are the 20 year old's going to by the premium tickets? Nope. It's going to be older gay men, and old people in general. I think it's a good theater for her, just will be harder to get a cheap ticket.
Bette Midler's Show Is Going Into The Booth Theatre
Posted by ACL2006 2013-01-31 23:24:32
The Barrymore has just been booked with Cumming's Macbeth, leaving the Belasco, Longacre, New Amsterdam(though Aladdin is booked for Spring 2014), Rodgers, St. James & Studio 54, plus the Neil Simon(though Big Fish starts previews Sept. 5) as the empty theaters for the spring/summer.
Bette Midler's Show Is Going Into The Booth Theatre
Posted by RippedMan 2013-02-01 01:27:01
I thought Elephant Man was happening? Or did that get bumped?
Bette Midler's Show Is Going Into The Booth Theatre
Posted by Jordan Catalano 2013-02-01 01:29:14
I think they said that would be in 2014.
Bette Midler's Show Is Going Into The Booth Theatre
Posted by TheatreDiva90016 2013-03-09 14:52:37
Here she is boys!
