For Ask BK Day...
Since you "commented" on Xanadu's closing last night...
Would you be "a David Merrick" if one on your shows - a show that you had written - opened on Broadway to some decent to positive reviews, and close it after a week? Basing your decision on the amount of the advance sales, the "buzz", etc.?
*Producing - and the Broadway Theatre - is a totally different business and "game" from David Merrick's days. Yes, Xanadu may be closing at "a total loss", but that should not discount the weeks and months of employment that the show provided to a talented company of actors, musicians, technicians and house staff. I mean, it's not like off-Broadway shows - or even off-off-off-Broadway shows - can recoup their initial investment - even if the show got great reviews and had sold out houses. Yes, that's sort of apples and oranges, but I think that's getting my point across.