While official numbers for Michael Moore's Broadway show "The Terms of My Surrender" are not yet in, there are clues — and it does not look good, writes Mediaite's Larry O'Connor.
O'Connor cited Broadway World, which reported the week ending Sept. 10 saw Moore's show performing at only 38 percent potential. That number has been steadily declining since the show's late July opening at the Belasco Theater.
That number started with a strong 102 percent opening, but quickly dropped below 50 percent just five weeks in.
"It's pretty clear: Broadway (like much of America) hates Michael Moore," O'Connor writes, noting even the "politically like-minded" The New York Times gave Moore a lousy review.
Times reviewer Jesse Green described "The Terms of My Surrender" as "a bit like being stuck at Thanksgiving dinner with a garrulous, self-regarding, time-sucking uncle. Gotta love him — but maybe let's turn on the television."
In the show, Moore lambastes the political right, as he has long done in his movies, but mostly brags on himself, according to the Times review.
But O'Connor took issue with one claim in the review, namely the line, "There's little he's against that most theatergoers are for."
In reality, O'Connor said, most buying Broadway tickets, especially in summer, are tourists from America's heartland who actually embrace the values and politicians, such as President Donald Trump, that Moore mocks.
Meanwhile, "Moore's core ticket-buyers are enjoying themselves in the Hamptons or Martha's Vineyard or Lake Como," he says, "and they never pay for their tickets, anyway."