Why did The Producers close?

[WiCkEDrOcKS]

Funny, seeing the original cast of THE PRODUCERS is one of my all time favorite theatergoing highlights. I laughed my ass off and Nathan Lane's performance was probably the funniest performance I've ever seen onstage. I thought it was pretty close to perfect. No replacement cast ever even came close to reaching the gold standard set by the OBC. Their chemistry was like catching lightning in a bottle.

[Sondheim_Geek]

Brad Oscar always did it for me.

[CHOOKA2]

I saw the Australian production starring Reg Livermore,one of Australias' most versatile performers--check out his one man show starting with Betty Blockbuster Follies--and his ad-libbing[?} in Rocky Horror Show bought the house down nightly-but,he couldn't save The Producers here.Recently a Melbourne company The Production Company, who do 3 professional shows a year-a full stage production minus major sets--and they cast The Producers to perfection.The German[Fritz[?],recently played Edna in Hairspray,had the audience weeping with laughter.I just wish you all could have seen this very corny/slapstick show performed brilliantly with a perfectly chosen cast-and not a well-known actor amongst them.It can be done.

[mc1227]

I'm not sure that a 5 year run can be considered, "limping along". Yes, it was a total sell out with Nathan and Matthew as the leads, but they were only with the show for 1 year and then came back for a limited 3 month run. They had to be making money for most of the other time until the final few months. Without the big name payroll, I'm sure it didn't require a huge operating budget.

[AEA AGMA SM]

A show the size of The Producers would have had pretty substantial weekly operating costs even without the huge salaries Lane and Broderick were drawing. There are a lot of things to consider beyond salary. Just the weekly dry cleaning costs alone would be quite expensive as it was a show with a lot of period costuming that was not just getting thrown into a few washing machines each night.

[SondheimFan5]

Because it ran for 6 years and 2500 performances, and enjoyed a successful national tour. That's a very respectable run.

And I believe when they announced The Producers' closing, they announced Young Frank's opening (at the time it was going into the St. James)

[CHOOKA2]

How much did Lane and Broderick earn a week?