It’s not a Spice World anymore. The much-hyped musical Viva Foreverl based on the Spice Girls and their high-kicking run to superstardom premiered in London on the West End last year, but unfortunately, the fan support wasn’t quite as aggressive as the ladies had hoped. So, after months of less than packed houses, executives have decided to close the production down.
According to The Daily Mail, the musical will close June 29th. Even worse, it’ll reportedly lose more than seven million dollars, which probably shouldn’t be a big surprise to anyone considering the production was largely slandered by critics.
Here’s what the ladies had to say in an official statement responding to the closing…
“We want to thank the cast and all the fans for their support, and although Viva Forever won't continue in the West End we are thrilled that the thousands of people who came to the show had as much fun as we did.”
It’s easy to use nostalgia to coax a formerly rabid fanbase into having a night of nostalgia. The problem is, with an expensive musical, a production needs to bring in a very wide range of theatergoers into order to be successful over the long run. The way to do the latter is to generate good reviews and good word of mouth. Unfortunately, the production was never able to accomplish either and will likely go down as a good thought that never quite worked.
With high profile jobs and high profile relationships, many of the Spice Girls have stayed in the headlines since they first broke up. For the time being, maybe it’ll be better for all involved if they continue to pursue their own projects for awhile.
