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Post by Deleted on May 6, 2019 20:17:56 GMT
Very disappointing for Aria/Hope Mill not t9 mention the losses. Do producers take out insurance against bad sales?. I don’t think this was the right show to send out on a large tour. Yes, the 50th anniversary was a landmark and enough to sustain a run at The Vaults but clearly Hair doesn’t have the appeal needed to fill large theatres nationwide. The hippy movement doesn’t have (in my opinion) the nostalgia factor that you need for a period piece to draw people. Having seen it at the tiny Hope Mill and enjoying the raw, quite gritty approach I didn’t feel the need to see it again in the glossed-up, sized-up version. Aria/Hope Mill are running another fundraiser for Mame with Tracey Bennet. I think you may have seen a musical recently about just that! |
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Post by Deleted on May 6, 2019 20:20:17 GMT
Also there are quite a few bill footers involved, not just Hope Mill and Aria, so they feel the hit completely.
I would hope when the tour was planned and booked they weren't budgeting for full houses every night of the run, hence the set of 'ribbons', no flys, one followspot etc.
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Post by BurlyBeaR on May 6, 2019 20:20:24 GMT
Lol
Tonee! Tonee! Tonee!
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Post by BurlyBeaR on May 6, 2019 20:27:42 GMT
Also there are quite a few bill footers involved, not just Hope Mill and Aria, so they feel the hit completely. I would hope when the tour was planned and booked they weren't budgeting for full houses every night of the run, hence the set of 'ribbons', no flys, one followspot etc. I have no idea how the finances work but in that case why not just go for smaller theatres? The costs associated with taking out the Palace for a week must be huge. Why not take your ribbons and one spot to a mid sized theatre where (no insult intended) they don’t get all the West End tours? |
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Post by david on May 6, 2019 20:31:39 GMT
I would think theatres like the Lowry’s Quay theatre or the Liverpool Playhouse and Everyman would be ideal NW venues. Small auditoriums to give you that similar Hope Mill intimate setting which is probably lost in the much larger venues.
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Post by Deleted on May 6, 2019 20:46:39 GMT
Also there are quite a few bill footers involved, not just Hope Mill and Aria, so they feel the hit completely. I would hope when the tour was planned and booked they weren't budgeting for full houses every night of the run, hence the set of 'ribbons', no flys, one followspot etc. I have no idea how the finances work but in that case why not just go for smaller theatres? The costs associated with taking out the Palace for a week must be huge. Why not take your ribbons and one spot to a mid sized theatre where (no insult intended) they don’t get all the West End tours? Great point. The vast majority of venues are ATG houses, so there's something there I think, someone linking them up, some involvement. Also maybe there's a case of running before they can walk? Having the run do well in MCR and London, they may have gotten blind-sighted by the success and overly ambitious. |
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Post by kirstylovesmusicals on May 7, 2019 11:33:48 GMT
Sorry guys, my phone died and I couldn’t reply back last night.
So after 25 mins some music started to play and hippies walked up the side of the stalls and onto the stage standing in a line. Then another hippy came on from the wings and told everyone to leave the stage. Cue another 10 mins of waiting and then the show actually started again with the music but the hippies just walked once from the wings. From what I could gather, the fault was that the house lights in the Empire wouldn’t go off.
All the cast are really good. Jake quickenden was impressive as Berger but I feel like he lacks the manic craziness Berger needs, he is just a little too reserved and controlled for my liking. Daisy as Sheila was gorgeous and o enjoyed her performance. Was very impressed by the girl playing Dionne, she and the Jeanie were my faves! Marcus Collins -pffft. Don’t like him, that’s just a personal thing.
Wil actually buy a programme for £2 on Thursday when I return. And as a side note, wrap up warm in the Empire theatre, it was bloody freezing!
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Post by TallPaul on May 7, 2019 11:50:58 GMT
Okay, I've done a little digging over luncheon. I've also searched the Companies House website. 😂
There was a company called Hair The Musical Ltd, but that was dissolved at the very start of 2019.
A company called Aquarius Tour Ltd was incorporated in August 2018, with Katy Lipson as sole director.
However, the agent that created the company is called (and I hope this is an in-joke) Runaway Entertainment Ltd. The sole director of Runaway Entertainment is one Charlie Parsons, who co-created The Big Breakfast, and sold the Survivor format globally.
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Post by stevej678 on May 7, 2019 12:09:10 GMT
So after 25 mins some music started to play and hippies walked up the side of the stalls and onto the stage standing in a line. Then another hippy came on from the wings and told everyone to leave the stage. Disgraceful behaviour from the audience members concerned.  |
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Post by horton on May 7, 2019 13:31:26 GMT
And as a side note, wrap up warm in the Empire theatre, it was bloody freezing! I hope this is not a subtle dig at the male cast during the nude scene! |
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Post by oxfordsimon on May 7, 2019 13:49:41 GMT
I have just looked at sales for Oxford (end of June)
and they are very, very low
I am talking under 100 seats sold in a 1800 capacity theatre for most performances (at a quick glance)
Somehow can't see it making it here.
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Post by kirstylovesmusicals on May 7, 2019 22:22:26 GMT
And as a side note, wrap up warm in the Empire theatre, it was bloody freezing! I hope this is not a subtle dig at the male cast during the nude scene! It wasn’t but have to say none of the male cast members have anything to worry about 😝 |
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Post by firefingers on May 7, 2019 22:52:59 GMT
Sorry guys, my phone died and I couldn’t reply back last night. So after 25 mins some music started to play and hippies walked up the side of the stalls and onto the stage standing in a line. Then another hippy came on from the wings and told everyone to leave the stage. Cue another 10 mins of waiting and then the show actually started again with the music but the hippies just walked once from the wings. From what I could gather, the fault was that the house lights in the Empire wouldn’t go off. Think I know how this happened. So house lights at pretty much every venue have a a few ways of being controlled (so that they can be switched on from being on stage, auditorium entrances but also controlled by a lighting desk for the actual show). You have to give control of house lights over to let the lighting desk do it (default being on switches to make easier for cleaners, front of house setting up etc). But before you open the house you'll do a black out check which is essentially where the lighting operator turns off all the lights under his control to ensure they all actually go off (thus proving he can control them). Sounds like house tech hadn't given lighting control of the house lights but they had no time for a black out check so it didn't get picked up. Not having time to do that suggests they are struggling to get the show in in the time allowed. Or maybe someone just messed up. Funny though. |
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Post by Deleted on May 10, 2019 14:33:29 GMT
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Post by shady23 on May 10, 2019 15:30:46 GMT
IMPORTANT NOTICE: Due to circumstances beyond our control, tonight's performance of Hair the Musical has been cancelled. All customers are currently being contacted directly by telephone to be given a chance to attend either performance tomorrow.
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Post by xanady on May 10, 2019 16:42:52 GMT
Kinda hope this is just a technical issue,rather than no tickets sold! Loved this when I saw it.Low ticket sales everywhere apparently and this suggests a failing tour.Things are getting rather...erm...hairy 🤗
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Post by kirstylovesmusicals on May 10, 2019 17:20:47 GMT
I’ve only just got to Sunderland and seen the email saying tonight has been cancelled! Not amused, I was counting on buying a programme today. Might see if the box office is open, and get my refund in person. Damn!!!
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Post by wickedgrin on May 11, 2019 1:05:46 GMT
Friday night cancelled? That doesn’t sound good. I enjoyed this at The Vaults but always thought it would struggle in large theatres on tour.
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Post by shady23 on May 11, 2019 9:22:16 GMT
Both performances cancelled today.
This does not sound good!
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Post by shady23 on May 11, 2019 9:48:15 GMT
The email that went around yesterday to people who had booked the Friday night was that it was cancelled due to cast sickness.
The line on social media was "due to circumstances beyond our control".
A show like must have adequate cover? Unless a whole lot of them are sick?
I saw it on Tuesday and the audience was sparce and it wasn't the best thing I've ever seen but what a hard working cast! The voices of some of the girls were out of this world!
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Post by Dr Tom on May 11, 2019 10:12:33 GMT
Well, they have a cast of 14, all on stage, with some doubling up as musicians.
I'd say 10 are the main roles and 4 are really on-stage swings. So, in theory, they could go on with up 4 people being absent, so long as they were the right 4.
I remember they had a few problems in London as well with the sparse coverage and sometimes had to cut songs if the wrong people were absent.
But, I guess the producers have decided that it's most cost-effective to have to cancel a few shows than to pay for extra cast who won't be needed most of the time. The run isn't long enough to worry about staggering cast holidays (and there are some weeks off already in the schedule).
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Post by wickedgrin on May 11, 2019 10:40:54 GMT
I would have thought that losing 3 shows revenue in a week would be worse financially than employing an extra couple of swings. Most of the costs are fixed - hire of theatre, wages etc. Unless they are insured in some way or the ticket sales were very poor. In any case it looks very unprofessional. The hosting theatre cannot be happy losing bar sales on Friday/Saturday night.
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Post by Dr Tom on May 11, 2019 11:13:11 GMT
Well, that's the calculated risk with these things. They'll have worked out how many shows, on average, they will have to pull throughout the whole run. I've just mentioned the main acting cast, but they also only have a small band of musicians, I've no idea how they cover those roles when musicians are sick.
Without running through the maths, there will be a number of cancellations where it's profitable to have less cover. Bear in mind that many shows do this, never have to cancel and this ends being a smart business move.
Now, there will always be a threshold number of cancellations (or percentage) where this strategy didn't work. The challenge is where to set that threshold. The producers will set that threshold (for mathematicians, we're basically talking about confidence intervals here).
A high cost West End show might set this very low, say 0.01% (i.e. on average, they it still be cost-effective if they had to cancel 1 in 10,000 shows - in reality, this will practically never happen).
For a bare bones tour like this, where they don't expect to sell out, they could set that much closer to 1%. Obviously I don't know the exact figure. After all, for the odd cancellation they can move customers to another night or even (as other shows do), run a concert version instead.
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Post by shady23 on May 11, 2019 20:28:55 GMT
Looks like they are hoping to get everyone back for next week in Dartford
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Post by xanady on May 11, 2019 20:41:15 GMT
Yaaaay....worried this was about to fold.Am planning a return trip to Wolverhampton later in the tour.
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