Broadway Brightongate: NYPost Wrong To Accuse NYTimes?
Early Broadway Closing Theory Disputed
BROADWAY MAGAZINE—This week would’ve seen the opening of Neil Simon’s play Broadway Bound at the Nederlander Theatre. However, with the swift closing of the revival of Brighton Beach Memoirs last month, it was also announced that Broadway Bound would not open. The quick closing of the excellent revival of Brighton Beach Memoirs continues to raise eyebrows. In a New York Post article, Michael Riedel suggests that the New York Times was responsible for the lack of success for this outstanding revival. Not the New York Times critics, but the New York Times ad folks.
To summarize: Riedel writes that the production of Brighton Beach Memoirs made a deal with the New York Times to get “fire sale” discounts on advertising, but in exchange, the show was not allowed to advertise anywhere else until after opening night. “No radio spots, no e-mail blasts, no direct-mail campaign — none of the things most shows do to generate advance sales,” writes Riedel.
However, a dedicated email blast from the ticket discount service Broadway Box on September 29 for Brighton Beach Memoirs uses a special offer code J1BBOX which is different from the New York Times ticket offer code (identified as the “New York Times Reader Offer”). With the subject line “BroadwayBox Special: Save 30% on Neil Simon’s Best!” the dedicated email blast would seem to contradict Reidel’s assertion above and the premise that the New York Times prevented Brighton Beach from advertising elsewhere. Brighton Beach Memoirs opened on October 25 and started previews on October 2. So, perhaps the show wasn’t banned from advertising elsewhere after all.
When asked about the Riedel story, a press representative for Brighton Beach Memoirs responded that they could not confirm nor deny Mr. Riedel’s “account of events”. Follow along with us on Twitter as the BrightonGate saga continues. Hopefully, Mr. Riedel’s story and the contradictory email blast will encourage a truly detailed examination as to why this excellent production closed so quickly.
Tags: Brighton Beach Memoirs, BrightonGate, Broadway Box, Broadway Magazine, Broadway.tv, email blast, Michael Riedel, Neil Simon, New York Post, New York Times
