So far, at least, Friday’s opening of the movie version of Neil Simon’s “Lost in Yonkers” in the Chicago area doesn’t seem to have dampened the long-running stage production of the Pulitzer Prize winner at the Royal George Theatre.
“We actually had a surprisingly good weekend,” says a relieved Michael Leavitt, the show’s executive producer. “Single-ticket sales were slightly up over previous weeks, so we’re pleased.”
Last week’s gross for the Royal George “Yonkers,” which dovetails with the movie’s first weekend showings, checked in at around $53,000, admittedly tepid for a potential ticket gross that tops $100,000 a week. But Leavitt says the show had experienced a downturn in late spring for a variety of other reasons, including its impressive nine-month run.
“We really thought the film might be a deciding factor, but more and more I think the show’s longevity is determining how we’re doing now and how long we’ll continue.”
He says that good weather, for instance, and the fact that the show recently extended its closing date yet again-a point at which ticket sales ordinarily drop off as a kind of end of a cycle for shows-may both be having more effect. “Sales are soft everywhere, I’m told. We’re not out of the water yet. Next weekend will probably tell the story.”
Thanks to the phenomenal success of the Royal George “Yonkers”-“We did more business with this show in six months than we did in a year with `Lend Me a Tenor,’ ” according to Leavitt-he has no intention of taking it all lying down.
He has set up a deal, for instance, where ticket buyers for the stage version will now receive a free pass for the film at Loews’ Theatres. “In a perverse way,” Leavitt says, “the film might help to get the name out to a new audience.”
– It’s official: “The Phantom of the Opera,” the Andrew Lloyd Webber version, will return Dec. 17 to the Auditorium Theatre, 50 E. Congress Pkwy.
The national tour of the show last played the Auditorium beginning in June 1990 and broke all house records. Casting for the return engagement will be announced later.
One change for sure: Top tickets will be slightly higher, going for $65 for Fridays, Saturday evenings and Sunday matinees. That’s a new record for legitimate theater in the Loop, tying Broadway’s current premium price for the brand new “The Who’s Tommy” and “Kiss of the Spider Woman.” Ticket sale information will be announced later.
– Drury Lane Oakbrook Terrace has put together an impressive assortment of classics and new shows for its 1993-94 season, including the world premiere of a new musical version of “The Hunchback of Notre Dame” and the Chicago-area premiere of a musical of Frank Capra’s classic, “It’s a Wonderful Life.”
The lineup consists of “City of Angels,” the Tony Award-winning, Larry Gelbart-Cy Coleman show, blending detective noir and Hollywood chicanery, July 28-Oct. 10; “Wonderful Life,” written and adapted by Michael Tilford, with songs by David Nehls, Oct. 20-Jan. 2; “Hunchback,” by longtime Chicago director David H. Bell, with music by Tom Sivak and lyrics by Cheri Coons, Jan. 12-March 20; “Oliver!”, Lionel Bart’s classic adaptation of Dickens’ “Oliver Twist,” March 30-May 22, not revived here in more than a decade; and “West Side Story,” June 1-Aug. 7, 1994. For tickets: 708-530-0111.
– Steppenwolf Theatre has cast three veteran ensemble members for its production of Ariel Dorfman’s unnerving political drama “Death and the Maiden.”
The 1992 Broadway version (the drama premiered earlier in London) starred Glenn Close as a South American woman convinced that the stranded stranger who arrives at her home for assistance is actually a man who previously tortured her during an agonizing political inquiry. In the Steppenwolf production, Rondi Reed will play the woman, John Mahoney will play the accused stranger and Gary Cole will play Reed’s nonplussed husband. The drama runs July 18-Aug. 29. For tickets: 312-335-1650.
