Sue Frost talks with Tim Kashani and Randy Adams about closing a show. The decision hinges on recoupment: you need to pay back investors before the run ends naturally. They stress giving cast and crew real notice, not surprise closures, and ending on a high note that matches opening night.
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Probably one of the most difficult jobs you have to do is to close the show. How do you go through that process? Because you're about to put a bunch— not you personally, but you have to let people know.
You put them out of work.
Yeah.
Um, that process was fairly difficult because we were in denial for a little while. We were, you know, we knew we were reaching sort of the end of our shelf life. We could just feel it. And we tried to come up with a target date that made sense and to give everybody enough time to prepare, because I don't think there's anything worse than going into a theater and saying, "Here's your week notice," because that's, that's so painful, especially after a long period of time. So we projected out just about where we wanted to be, but we also— we were this close to paying back, and we had a certain amount of money in the bank. And we knew we could run it out and we could make it longer, or we could close and still have enough money in the bank to finish paying everybody back.
Which is, by the way, recoupment, which is very elusive in this industry.
Recoupment is very elusive, and sometimes you recoup on paper before you actually get all the money back to the investors. So we wanted the money back to the investors. We wanted to say, you've been on this ride with us, and the least we can do is make sure you get your money back. And so we decided to close several weeks before we actually had to, because we didn't want to run the rest of that money out. We didn't want to risk that last little bit going back to our people, because the other thing that's really peculiar about this business, that if you don't pay back, no matter how long you run, you are not categorized as a hit.
Right.
So we would have run for 3 years, more than 3 years. We would have won the Tony Award if we hadn't paid that last little bit back and run it out. We would not technically go into the record books as a hit. And we're like, you know, I think we should be paying attention to all of these signs. And so we did close a few weeks— we wanted to run it through the end of the year and sort of see what we could get from the holiday crowds and all of that. But it was just a little dicey. And there was a whole new crop of new stuff coming in. And we could just sense it. And I will not forget this. I was looking at some of the numbers. And I looked up from my computer. I looked at Randy. I said, what am I going to get? And he said, no, we're not gonna make it. I said, then let's just do it. And then, but it was very, you know, it was very difficult to tell everybody.
That's the worst.
But they knew that we hurt as much as they did. Do you know what I mean? So they knew that we were all family at that point. We were all in it together. So it wasn't like the suits coming in because we were never the suits, you know, we were always there.
Once in a while Randy's got it.
On occasion.
Hey, there's one.
Rare, yeah.
He ain't got suits.
I don't act like one.
He ain't suits. But that was, You know, that was an important—
It's sort of the flip side of, you know, the joy of everybody celebrating the nominations was that night of everybody coming together and, you know, I guess—
Well, you know, it was also stuff was happening, like Montego and Adams, like people's contracts were coming up, and we thought, you know, and people were, we didn't want people like turning down other work because we wanted to hang in a few more weeks, you know? It just didn't feel right to do that. So it was a very—
No, we sort of said we wanted to go out the same way we had come in, which was we wanted it to be a huge celebration, and we wanted everybody to feel as good about the end as they had about the beginning. And it's exactly what we ended up doing. I mean, we closed the show, the final performance was like unbelievable, and then the party afterwards went on and on, and it was like nobody really wanted to go, but at the same time everybody was feeling so good about everything they'd done. So it was great.
Yeah, it kind of was.
It was, yeah, it was really—
because you knew that the child was going to go on.
Oh yeah, yeah, the tour was out there and the, uh, you know, the touring company sent this amazing video that we played at the closing night, which was just, just touching as all get out. And, um, and yeah, you know, I mean, we, we were fortunate enough to— we, we had granted a special license to the Illinois All-State Theater Festival last year, and, and they put together a production of Memphis at their festival with kids from all over the state of Illinois. And we got to see that production, you know, and to see what it's going to ultimately be in its future life and licensing. We were just at the first rehearsal for the next round of the tour where we will be in London within the next year. You know, so all of that is, is still going on, and then we've got this other wonderful fun show that we're having a ball with. So, and then 3 or 4 more that will eventually find their way.
