Hey Kids-
This is a chance to "Stick it to the Man!" Urban Cowboy was D.O.A. and the critics and Old-Boys Club of Producers had decreed that it should close. Closing night instead turned into a rally cry from the Director, Producers and Cast to keep it open just from word-of -mouth (much like we do!!)
If you like B-way musicals, you'll like this - I've got some friends in the cast, so I'm biased, but "Try it, You'll like it!"
-Mark DeLaBarre
[This is the e-mail I got from the cast]
Hello friends...
So, for those of you who don't know, there has been some craziness going on at URBAN COWBOY...We opened on Thursday to mostly negative reviews, only to find out on Friday that we would be closing Saturday._ Oh, the power of the pen!_ The reviews, mixed with ZERO publicity, a WAR, loss of money from a musicians strike and bad word of mouth from early previews have not helped our cause!_ But the truth is, this is a really fun show that can hopefully find an audience._ We aren't trying to do Hamlet...we are trying to give people a good time.
Our fight choreographer, Rick Sordalet, sent me the following email and I wanted to shoot it off to all of you._ Read it._ Delete it._ Forward it to all your friends._ Whatever you want/can do._ We are just trying to see if we can give the show a chance.
We don't have "Disney Money" to keep us running, so we have to resort to mass emails!_ COMMANDO THEATER!
Thanks friends-
marcus
From: Sordaplay@aol.com
Date: Sun Mar 30, 2003 12:37:07 PM America/New_York
To: Mchait1998@aol.com
Subject: From Rick Sordelet
Dear Friends,
We are seeing history being made during these trying times, on the battle
front and here at home in NYC. Last night URBAN COWBOY was to die a horrible
little death.
It opened on Thursday to mixed reviews. The producers posted a closing
notice on Friday. Saturday night was to be the last show. Urban Cowboy was
to die and just blow away, only to be a witty anecdote for smug, mean
spirited critics and disgruntled nay sayers.
Last night (Saturday) the producers tore up the closing notice in one of the
most dramatic scenes I've ever seen. (Please read the post below)
Urban Cowboy has a second chance. We need your help. We would like to
continue a run but need an audience. Please talk us up, come see us....go to
TKTS and get a half price ticket and help us change our part of the world.
We need you to fight with us and send a message to a small handful of snarky
critics that a show can run on Broadway in spite of their opinions.
Urban Cowboy has company. TITANIC, SCARLET PIMPERNEL, BEAUTY AND THE BEAST,
JEKYLL AND HYDE, SATURDAY NIGHT FEVER, FOOT LOOSE, AIDA, even LES MIZ all
suffered terrible reviews but were able to find an audience, get Tony
nominations and even win a few. Most importantly, they stayed open and
generated valuable business for Broadway, NYC and on a larger scale, the
United States.
Please send this around to folks who like a fun night at the theater. Urban
Cowboy is not meant to be the Hamlet of the West. It's simple, pure and
honest entertainment with a country flavor. We also have the sweetest cast
or energetic performers who pour their hearts into the show. I guarantee you
will enjoy this show.
Thank you for your support. I appreciate it.
Sincerely,
Rick Sordelet
Below is a post from Talking Broadway.com It is a pretty accurate
description of what
happened last night
"Posted by Wayman Wong on March 30, 2003 at 00:10:29:
I just got back from the Broadhurst tonight and it had to be one of the
incredible ''closing'' nights I've ever witnessed. The place was packed with
family, friends and fans all there to give ''Urban Cowboy'' its bittersweet
sendoff since it got mostly poor reviews and posted its closing notice
yesterday.
Numbers were greeted with explosive applause, especially Matt Cavenaugh's ''I
Wish I Didn't Love You,'' Marcus Chait's ''My Back's Up Against the Wall,''
Jason Robert Brown's ''That's How Texas Was Born,'' Jenn Colella's ''Mr.
Hopalong Heartbreak'' and the dynamite dancers in ''T-R-O-U-B-L-E.''
But the real drama was yet to come. After the hardworking cast rocked the
house with the curtain call of ''T-R-O-U-B-L-E'' and the wildly enthusiastic
audience, all on its feet, was cheering its lungs out, the show's director,
Lonny Price, announced, ''As many of you know, this was to be our closing
night and we had prepared for you [some] cut songs [to perform]. We have the
greatest producers in the world, Chase Mishkin and Leonard Soloway, and they
have just informed me that we are NOT closing!''
The Broadhurst erupts in pandemonium! Everyone's surprised and shocked and
exhilarated. Actors are hugging each other onstage; some are in tears,
sobbing out of joy. Leo Burmester is giving Matt Cavenaugh a piggyback ride.
One actor even gets on his cell phone to already spread the good news.
Price says, ''We're not going to do [those numbers] because we not going to
do it [close].'' Audience laughs. He adds, ''One of the songs that we wanted
to sing was very hard for us to cut because we loved the song and the
performer who sang it. If she can get it together, I'd love Rozz Morehead
[who plays Jesse] to sing it.'' I don't know the name of the song, since it
wasn't announced, but the sentiment of the lyrics were something like: ''Hard
times have fallen on you ... I know you feel like the whole world has let you
down. ... Better days are coming, but we'll be right here, making sure they
will.'' The audience starts clapping along in rhythm. Rozz proceeds to belt
the bejesus out of this gospel number.
Also joining them onstage was book writer Aaron Latham and choreographer
Melinda Roy, who got a great hand. Matt Cavenaugh then took center stage to
read a brief letter from a fan of the show he got on Friday, ''not our best
day at 'Urban Cowboy.''' He added, ''We're a humble show. We just want to
give you a good time.''
Even earlier, the place was pumped. When the lights first came up on
Cavenaugh, singing his first song, there was long and sustained audience. And
the lyrics were so fitting: ''Goodbye, old home. Gonna miss this place, but I
gotta leave.'' When he got to the final line, ''But I'll be back someday,''
there were cheers.
I saw the show's publicist, Pete Sanders, at the back of the house. He said
one of the associate producers was having second thoughts about the closing
earlier today, and by dinner time, it was a possibility that they would keep
the show open, but the cast had NO IDEA. As far as anyone knew, tonight was
it. So how long will it last: one more week, or through the Tonys? Sanders
says the producers really want the show to be eligible for Tony nominations,
so it might be two more weeks, but anything can happen. And as last night
proved, anything still can.
After suffering the death of their original director [Phillip Oesterman], the
musicians' strike, the Broadway malaise and their own reviews, ''Urban
Cowboy'' has had quite a rough ride. And even if it's only a brief reprieve,
I say bravo to a hard-working & talented team that keeps trying to buck the
trend. "
This is a chance to "Stick it to the Man!" Urban Cowboy was D.O.A. and the critics and Old-Boys Club of Producers had decreed that it should close. Closing night instead turned into a rally cry from the Director, Producers and Cast to keep it open just from word-of -mouth (much like we do!!)
If you like B-way musicals, you'll like this - I've got some friends in the cast, so I'm biased, but "Try it, You'll like it!"
-Mark DeLaBarre
[This is the e-mail I got from the cast]
Hello friends...
So, for those of you who don't know, there has been some craziness going on at URBAN COWBOY...We opened on Thursday to mostly negative reviews, only to find out on Friday that we would be closing Saturday._ Oh, the power of the pen!_ The reviews, mixed with ZERO publicity, a WAR, loss of money from a musicians strike and bad word of mouth from early previews have not helped our cause!_ But the truth is, this is a really fun show that can hopefully find an audience._ We aren't trying to do Hamlet...we are trying to give people a good time.
Our fight choreographer, Rick Sordalet, sent me the following email and I wanted to shoot it off to all of you._ Read it._ Delete it._ Forward it to all your friends._ Whatever you want/can do._ We are just trying to see if we can give the show a chance.
We don't have "Disney Money" to keep us running, so we have to resort to mass emails!_ COMMANDO THEATER!
Thanks friends-
marcus
From: Sordaplay@aol.com
Date: Sun Mar 30, 2003 12:37:07 PM America/New_York
To: Mchait1998@aol.com
Subject: From Rick Sordelet
Dear Friends,
We are seeing history being made during these trying times, on the battle
front and here at home in NYC. Last night URBAN COWBOY was to die a horrible
little death.
It opened on Thursday to mixed reviews. The producers posted a closing
notice on Friday. Saturday night was to be the last show. Urban Cowboy was
to die and just blow away, only to be a witty anecdote for smug, mean
spirited critics and disgruntled nay sayers.
Last night (Saturday) the producers tore up the closing notice in one of the
most dramatic scenes I've ever seen. (Please read the post below)
Urban Cowboy has a second chance. We need your help. We would like to
continue a run but need an audience. Please talk us up, come see us....go to
TKTS and get a half price ticket and help us change our part of the world.
We need you to fight with us and send a message to a small handful of snarky
critics that a show can run on Broadway in spite of their opinions.
Urban Cowboy has company. TITANIC, SCARLET PIMPERNEL, BEAUTY AND THE BEAST,
JEKYLL AND HYDE, SATURDAY NIGHT FEVER, FOOT LOOSE, AIDA, even LES MIZ all
suffered terrible reviews but were able to find an audience, get Tony
nominations and even win a few. Most importantly, they stayed open and
generated valuable business for Broadway, NYC and on a larger scale, the
United States.
Please send this around to folks who like a fun night at the theater. Urban
Cowboy is not meant to be the Hamlet of the West. It's simple, pure and
honest entertainment with a country flavor. We also have the sweetest cast
or energetic performers who pour their hearts into the show. I guarantee you
will enjoy this show.
Thank you for your support. I appreciate it.
Sincerely,
Rick Sordelet
Below is a post from Talking Broadway.com It is a pretty accurate
description of what
happened last night
"Posted by Wayman Wong on March 30, 2003 at 00:10:29:
I just got back from the Broadhurst tonight and it had to be one of the
incredible ''closing'' nights I've ever witnessed. The place was packed with
family, friends and fans all there to give ''Urban Cowboy'' its bittersweet
sendoff since it got mostly poor reviews and posted its closing notice
yesterday.
Numbers were greeted with explosive applause, especially Matt Cavenaugh's ''I
Wish I Didn't Love You,'' Marcus Chait's ''My Back's Up Against the Wall,''
Jason Robert Brown's ''That's How Texas Was Born,'' Jenn Colella's ''Mr.
Hopalong Heartbreak'' and the dynamite dancers in ''T-R-O-U-B-L-E.''
But the real drama was yet to come. After the hardworking cast rocked the
house with the curtain call of ''T-R-O-U-B-L-E'' and the wildly enthusiastic
audience, all on its feet, was cheering its lungs out, the show's director,
Lonny Price, announced, ''As many of you know, this was to be our closing
night and we had prepared for you [some] cut songs [to perform]. We have the
greatest producers in the world, Chase Mishkin and Leonard Soloway, and they
have just informed me that we are NOT closing!''
The Broadhurst erupts in pandemonium! Everyone's surprised and shocked and
exhilarated. Actors are hugging each other onstage; some are in tears,
sobbing out of joy. Leo Burmester is giving Matt Cavenaugh a piggyback ride.
One actor even gets on his cell phone to already spread the good news.
Price says, ''We're not going to do [those numbers] because we not going to
do it [close].'' Audience laughs. He adds, ''One of the songs that we wanted
to sing was very hard for us to cut because we loved the song and the
performer who sang it. If she can get it together, I'd love Rozz Morehead
[who plays Jesse] to sing it.'' I don't know the name of the song, since it
wasn't announced, but the sentiment of the lyrics were something like: ''Hard
times have fallen on you ... I know you feel like the whole world has let you
down. ... Better days are coming, but we'll be right here, making sure they
will.'' The audience starts clapping along in rhythm. Rozz proceeds to belt
the bejesus out of this gospel number.
Also joining them onstage was book writer Aaron Latham and choreographer
Melinda Roy, who got a great hand. Matt Cavenaugh then took center stage to
read a brief letter from a fan of the show he got on Friday, ''not our best
day at 'Urban Cowboy.''' He added, ''We're a humble show. We just want to
give you a good time.''
Even earlier, the place was pumped. When the lights first came up on
Cavenaugh, singing his first song, there was long and sustained audience. And
the lyrics were so fitting: ''Goodbye, old home. Gonna miss this place, but I
gotta leave.'' When he got to the final line, ''But I'll be back someday,''
there were cheers.
I saw the show's publicist, Pete Sanders, at the back of the house. He said
one of the associate producers was having second thoughts about the closing
earlier today, and by dinner time, it was a possibility that they would keep
the show open, but the cast had NO IDEA. As far as anyone knew, tonight was
it. So how long will it last: one more week, or through the Tonys? Sanders
says the producers really want the show to be eligible for Tony nominations,
so it might be two more weeks, but anything can happen. And as last night
proved, anything still can.
After suffering the death of their original director [Phillip Oesterman], the
musicians' strike, the Broadway malaise and their own reviews, ''Urban
Cowboy'' has had quite a rough ride. And even if it's only a brief reprieve,
I say bravo to a hard-working & talented team that keeps trying to buck the
trend. "