Can we now all agree that Patti LuPone should play Princess Puffer?

[Reginald Tresilian]

I remember Tom Cruise coming into the original conversation.

[stevenycguy]

I don't think it has anything to do with who starred in The Anarchist. Instead: What do you think tourists who are coming from Iowa are going to want to see: Elf, A Christmas Story, The Book of Mormon, Newsies, or a 2-person play that got terrible reviews?

More & more Broadway musicals are getting smart and making their weekday shows start at 7pm or 7:30pm to appeal to audiences from the suburbs and tourists who make up the bulk of their purchases. I pass on buying tickets for any show that starts at 8pm since I don't want to "wait around" all that time after I finish work and have to be up for work very early the next day. Perhaps if they started several performances at 7pm (even though it's a short show) they could have had some more ticket buyers. The 8pm start turns off a lot of people.

(I purchased a discounted ticket to Elf last week after work, specifically due to the 7pm start time and had a great time. I only looked at shows that started at 7pm when I was making my purchase.)

[Jordan Catalano]

If an 8pm curtain is what's keeping people away from the theater, we have a bigger problem than Patti LuPone's box office appeal.

[EponineAmneris]

^^^ Well said, Jordan.

[Playbilly]

The play sucked. Patti has been in 3 shows, 54Below and a concert with Many in the past 3 years. No event there. No "must see". Overexposure.

[dtzumbrunnen]

Now I really want to see Patti LuPone as Gallagher. With the Watermelons.

[Jordan Catalano]

They're called Pattimelons.

And why doesn't Patti sell Patti-cakes after her shows for BC/EFA??

[Borstalboy]

I would argue that "selling power" is becoming something of a dinosaur in and of itself. I didn't see THE ANARCHIST but, judging from reviews and reactions around here, it probably would have flopped if it had starred Meryl Streep and Laura Linney.

[muscle23ftl]

You are insane, people will pay top dollar to see Meryl Streep in anything, Patti, although talented, has no selling power.

[Wynbish]

Yes, because the best-selling movies of 2012 were Iron Lady and Hope Springs

[bobs3]

The Iron Lady grossed $114 million worldwide (cost $13 million)

Hope Springs worldwide gross was $107 million (cost $30 million)

Not Skyfall or Twilight grosses but not too shabby either.

[trentsketch]

Obviously, there have been a bunch of missed casting opportunities this year. Patti LuPone should have starred in The Performers in the Cheyenne Jackson role with no costume alterations. Then it'd been a hit.

[Wynbish]

On this list, Hope Springs is 40. 39 is Chronicle, which cost less to make and still made more.

And people could see Hope Springs all over the country for 10-15 bucks. Broadway is even harder and more expensive to make a trip to see.
2012 Box Office

[Patti LuPone FANatic]

I very much disagree with you.

[Wynbish]

^ A non-troll actual fanatic

[goldenboy]

Patti LuPone has SOME selling power; otherwise this two person show would not have grossed 300,000 plus every week. Compare these grosses to other plays and even Scandalous. They are not bad grosses. In fact, with 300,00) plus per week, They are more than Virginia Woolf. If I were the producer, I would give the play a chance to run--their nut can't be that big with only 2 actors in the cast

She just doesn't have the selling power of a Pacino or a Streep.

Read more: http://broadwayworld.com/board/readmessage.php?thread=1054094&page=3#ixzz2EgRFJQ64

[Mr Roxy]

Neither Harold Hill or Jesus Christ could sell this turkey.

[OperaBwayLover]

I'd say she still has plenty of selling power, at least in regard to her concerts. She'll be in concert in New Orleans this summer, and it's already sold out (and before I could get my ticket, too *grumbles*). Of course, that could be because we don't get a lot of big names down here, but still...

[Phantom4ever]

I notice this happening again and again on BWW. Somebody creates a thread. A bunch of people start commenting that the OP is a troll who starts threads just to antagonize and annoy people. Said people continue to post that they are annoyed and antagonized, yet also somehow want the antagonizing and annoying threads to stop. Wouldn't the so-called trolls stop making annoying and antagonizing threads if everybody (or at least he majority of people )stopped commenting about how annoying and antagonizing the threads are? If these types of threads TRULY bother some people as much as they claim, wouldn't a better choice be to just leave the threads alone?

[ljay889]

^ Love, the OP created this same exact thread a few months ago, under a different user name. It's a troll.

[musicaltheatreman2]

^^^well said!!^^^

[Phyllis Rogers Stone]

I agree. Well said, ljay.

[Phantom4ever]

I guess I didn't make my point clear, I apologize for that. I didnt' claim that the OP was NOT a troll, I'm sure he is a troll and I'm sure he's doing this just to drive some of you crazy. And it's working because so many people eagerly rushed to his thread simply to start more you're-a-troll drama. If you *really* don't like when people start threads like this, why don't you ignore them instead of giving them what they want, which is to see so many of you riled up? I personally don't care and I usually enjoy watching all of you get so worked up about something so trivial. It's like watching a good sitcom. Or a bad sitcom I guess. But some of you seem truly worked up about it, but then you keep doing it and perpetuating the cycle. I'm just curious what the thought process is behind all that. : )

[AEA AGMA SM]

And isn't this like the third or fourth time? I seem to recall at least one even before the most recent one before this one showed up.

[Phantom4ever]

And every time, so many of the same people get all worked up and stressed out, and wonder why the trolls keep creating new threads when it annoys everyone. There is a way to get off this crazy train. Just sayin'

[PalJoey]

The trolls think they're playing with us. But, in reality, we're playing with the trolls.