The Sudden Death of Brighton Beach Memoirs

It's always sad when a show closes in its first week on Broadway. Brighton Beach Memoirs grossed no more than $125,000 a week in sales during previews, not enough to cover running costs. The $3 million investment in the revival is lost. People in the business are asking "Why?" partly as forensic discovery: they want not to make the same mistake in the future.

The November 1 NY Times article by Patrick Healy "Neil Simon Flop May Be a Case of the Missing ‘Wow’" was an example of reasons being as plentiful as blackberries. No big star, like Jude Law in Hamlet. No marketing campaign creating the impression that this revival was a not-to-be-missed event. No wow factor. Comedy has changed since the playwright Neil Simon's heyday. The economy has made audiences more choosy about spending $100-plus on a play.

The Culture Monster blog for the LA Times by James C. Taylor, also dated November 1, covers some of the same ground but is more concise. "Everyone knows that the old days of premiering a play on Broadway without a big star are over. Neil Simon used to be a star. He had the kind of name recognition to alone spur tickets sales — but those days are long gone." Taylor sums up the production that opened as "strong if not scintillating."

Michael Riedel writing in his column in the November 4, NY Post puts out new information, suggesting the damning fault that caused the failure could be the NY Times itself. Not its critic but its advertising department. The paper offered the show weeks of ads in the paper and on its Web site at steep discounts. In exchange the paper wanted exclusivity. Brighton Beach Memoirs couldn't advertise anywhere else until after opening night. Most producers know that multiple approaches to advertising are needed. Many producers are openly questioning the value of large ads in the NY Times, a media outlet that was once considered essential for theatre productions.

The real reason for the failure: all of the above. When we have read of certain upcoming revivals in the past, we have sometimes asked, "Who cares about another company of. . .? " You fill it in from your own list. Ours might include from recent years Grease, Hair, A Chorus Line. The first two of this short list made a profit and the third probably broke even, although we didn't want to see them. The idea of a no-star revival of a Neil Simon play on Broadway seemed like a loser to us from the get-go. On the other hand, one must be prepared to be surprised. We were not the only theatre-lovers who were stunned at the joy in the riotous--and profitable--revival of Boeing-Boeing. When it comes to new productions, revivals or new material, the risk of financial failure is very high. So it is with all new businesses, a topic covered in detail in Stage Money, still scheduled for May 2010 release.

Photo at right: Playwright Neil Simon and