Has Jersey Boys peaked?

When I was in London recently I called at the West End box office and found it very easy to get tickets for any performance and it seemed audiences are dropping. Then I read about JB Chicago closing in January and the takings for NYC slipping. Still 101% occupancy I thought but with the cast album also slipping off the top spot I asked myself…”Has Jersey Boys peaked?”

Of course nothing lasts forever and so sometime it must. Then with rumours and stories about the possibility of an imminent announcement of the movie version of  Jersey Boys suddenly surfacing, I was (perhaps cynically) thinking that someone might be creating a ‘hype’ to hurry the film negotiations along. Most certainly there will be only one thing in the Four Seasons Partnership’s Business Plan for 2010 and that is ‘Sign up for the film for megabucks!’  Movie hype is sure to pick up the bookings. It’s all about timing…to maximize ‘cashflow’. But then along came the Jersey Boys blog showing a record breaking week in Washington DC

If the several venues are earning $1m dollars plus a week like Washington then in a year the show is grossing over $250m which is near unbelievable. It must be strange for Bob and Frankie to see all this money flowing in: more than in their original career years, by a mile. And to keep that going will obviously be a priority for the marketing budget. Here's an example!

The London Cast has been cleverly marketed on every TV show in the UK to maintain our interest and these have been big ‘promos’ for the show. But 2010 needs a big push to maintain the audiences. Then we saw the latest UK promo

 

IF YOU LOVED JERSEY BOYS - WHY NOT COME BACK AND VISIT US AGAIN!

We are offering you £20 off a pair of top price seats to Jersey Boys.
Valid for midweek performances, excluding 21 December 2009 - 5 January 2010.
Book by 31 January 2010, for performances valid until the 30 June 2010.
And as Lynn Boleyn found out "Andrex toilet rolls I have just bought say you can claim 2 for 1 Theatre & Panto tickets including Jersey Boys!  You just need to collect 10 reward points and exchange them for 2 for 1 theatre tickets.  Full details at :www.andrexpuppypoints.com

But what about the film?

Lots of people are writing about a ‘deal’ being done….but most are saying a deal ‘should be done’!! Check Out this link.

Business is business for Valli and Gaudio. Our interest as fans of the group and the show is re the cast and interpretation of the stage show. Casting for the movie shouldn’t be too difficult….we all know the London cast are a perfect fit….and the interpretation shouldn’t be hard. The four monologues can be synced into interviews with the individual Seasons as they arrive at the R&R Hall of Fame…and then told in flashback. The numbers can be staged with audiences in the main and the other songs just fit the action fairly naturally.

All we need is for Bob Gaudio to say…’Show me the money!’ and get a big name director/producer signed. We know the names and any of them will do it well. It’ll be a breeze.

A sensational one.

As for the West End Show....don't worry guys.."We'll Be Back!"

Chameleon

PS Get your free JB London sampler mp3 download here

Four Seasons Students and Teachers get your guides here

 

Comments

[Ray Ricci]

I'm not sure that it has peaked just yet.

There are still a dozen US cities left to tour in 2010. Broadway showed strong attendance over the Thanksgiving period (typical)
I can't speak for the UK or Australia.

I did hear in a recent Valli interview that they were looking
into other European venues and also mentioned that a movie was to be several years away. I'm sure there were some shrewed marketing reasons for his comments.

The money that these guys are realizing can't be overlooked. Their ship has come in and, of course, they will do anything to keep this buzz going at the expense of any of our other wants.

I remember when the play caught on in LaJolla I thought "Hurry up and release a DVD before this thing sizzles". (Let alone making it to Broadway and beyond for almost 5 years.)

My regrets are that we probably won't ever get to hear the Mowtown tracks nor will we see Valli enter the top 100 singles ever again.