DESPITE mixed reviews and the sense that it was under-rehearsed on opening night, “Gore Vidal’s The Best Man” is turning into the first hit of the theater season.
Last Monday, the day the reviews appeared, the $1.8 million revival took in a respectable $60,000 at the box office. Since then, the daily ticket sales have shot up to $70,000 to $80,000, production sources say. That’s a strong indication that word-of-mouth on the show is good.
“I don’t like to exaggerate, but we are doing really well,” says Jeffrey Richards, the producer.
“The Best Man,” a comic melodrama about two politicians duking it out for their party’s presidential nomination during a political convention, is playing a limited engagement at the Virginia Theater until Dec. 31. Its starry cast includes Spalding Gray, Chris Noth, Charles During, Michael Learned, Christine Ebersole and Elizabeth Ashley.
The strong ticket sales prompted talk on Broadway this week that the production would be extended, but Richards says that is not possible.
The cast is contracted for just 22 weeks, and the theater already has a spring booking: “The Rhythm Club,” a new musical currently trying out in Washington, D.C.
Richards ruled out a move to another theater because of the expense.
He says he is “hopeful” that, even without an extension, the show can return its investment.
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Meanwhile, another hit – possibly a monster hit – is brewing in the wings.
“The Full Monty” played its first preview Monday night and while some people involved in the production thought the second act dragged a bit, the audience had a great time, several spies who were in the house that night told The Post.
(“Full Monty” full disclosure: The producer of the show is Fox Searchlight production, a division of News Corp., which publishes The Post.)
The buzz on this one has been strong since the summer, when it played an out-of-town tryout at the Old Globe in San Diego. The reviews were good, with even those critics who had some reservations conceding that the show was an old-fashioned crowd-pleaser.
Based on the popular British movie about a group of unemployed steelworkers who turn to stripping to make ends meet, “The Full Monty” has a book by Terrence McNally and a score by Broadway newcomer Andrew Yazbick.
Lindsay Law, who is producing the show for Fox Searchlight, has wisely not overhyped it. He and his p.r. team have also managed to put out the word in theater circles that “The Full Monty” is no “Footloose” or “Saturday Night Fever” – two poorly reviewed shows that tried, and failed, to coast to box-office glory on their famous titles.
Advance ticket sales for “The Full Monty” are said to be around $5 million, although Fox Searchlight would not confirm that figure.
The show opens Oct. 26 at the Eugene O’Neill
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“Imperfect Chemistry” is finally giving up the ghost.
The $750,000 off-Broadway musical about hair transplants (you can’t make this stuff up!) will shut down Sunday at the Minetta Lane Theater after losing about $40,000 a week since it opened two months ago.
Only a few days ago, Al Tapper, the show’s composer and one of its backers, was telling the cast he was prepared to pump another $1 million into the show to keep it running, production sources said.
But that was a pipe dream: In two weeks, the show’s stop clause would have kicked in, allowing the theater owner to evict it if its weekly gross fell below a certain level. And since “Imperfect Chemistry” frequently played to no more than 40 people a night, the question was never, “Will we fall below our stop clause?” but “Will we go above our stop clause?”
The next tenant at the Minetta Lane will be Anne Meara’s “Down the Garden Paths.”
