Broadway Grosses: Week Ending 11/27/22- Page 2

[akhoya87]

Posted: 11/29/22 at 5:37pm

I'm going to offer a glass-half-full perspective on KPOP; I think it's encouraging that revenues have gone up, especially given that the production likely gave away a ton of tickets for press week.  Attendance is an issue, of course, but it looks like the marketing team is making more of an effort to be visible.

 

[Sauja]

Posted: 11/29/22 at 6:00pm

pethian said: "Call_me_jorge said: "I guess people are finally getting word A Beautiful Noise is actually a beautiful mess of a show."



Or is it because of the all the comp'd press seats in the lead-up to this week's opening?

"

But their attendance was also down almost 20%. So comping lots of seats would explain a drop in grosses but not the large drop in attendance, which I’m surprised by.

[Mr. Wormwood]

Posted: 11/29/22 at 6:38pm

Obviously many tourist-driven shows did well on Thanksgiving week but the ones that I found most impressive this week were: & Juliet, Aladdin, Beetlejuice, Funny Girl, Phantom & MJ

Least impressive? A Beautiful Noise, Some Like It Hot and of course the bottom of the barrel performers like Ain't No Mo & KPOP

[NoItAll]

Posted: 11/29/22 at 6:49pm

Q1: With Funny Girl’s capacity % well down due to Lea’s absences, why would its (quoted) average ticket price and gross shoot way up?

The same oddity appears with totals of metrics for all shows combined.

On a completely different subject,

Q2: Why do so many people seem to cheer for the success of artistic crap, even when I think they know it is?

[Sutton Ross]

Posted: 11/29/22 at 8:10pm

What exactly is artistic crap to you? And unless you've seen whatever you're referring to, you can't really comment with any real merit. 

[SouthernCakes]

Posted: 11/29/22 at 8:13pm

NoItAll said: "Q1: With Funny Girl’s capacity % well down due to Lea’s absences, why would its (quoted) average ticket price and gross shoot way up?

The same oddity appears with totals of metrics for all shows combined.

On a completely different subject,

Q2: Why do so many people seem to cheer for the success of artistic crap, even when I think they know it is?"

I don’t even understand the question. 

[NoItAll]

Posted: 11/29/22 at 8:33pm

Sutton Ross said: "What exactly is artistic crap to you? And unless you've seen whatever you're referring to, you can't really comment with any real merit."

I did not comment on any particular show. “Artistic crap” can very often, although certainly not always, be ascribed to shows which receive near-unanimously poor reviews from established professional critics. It also seems there are people who cheer for the success of shows which they themselves don’t particularly like, as though supporting every Broadway show is supporting Broadway.

[Sutton Ross]

Posted: 11/29/22 at 8:45pm

K.

[The8re phan]

Posted: 11/29/22 at 8:56pm

Updated On: 11/29/22 at 08:56 PM

[ACL2006]

Posted: 11/29/22 at 9:19pm

[JanMaxwellsBag]

Posted: 11/29/22 at 9:20pm

NoItAll said: "Sutton Ross said: "What exactly is artistic crap to you? And unless you've seen whatever you're referring to, you can't really comment with any real merit."

I did not comment on any particular show. “Artistic crap” can very often, although certainly not always, be ascribed to shows which receive near-unanimously poor reviews from established professional critics. It also seems there are people who cheer for the success of shows which they themselves don’t particularly like, as though supporting every Broadway show is supporting Broadway."

Perhaps it would be helpful if you actually told us which show you are referring to, since this is a thread where we are discussing specific shows. I initially took “artistic crap” to mean like “pretentious artsy fartsy not mainstream”, and maybe you were referring to Kimberly Akimbo, but as that got nearly all positive reviews, I’d guess that’s not the case. 

Or maybe you don’t want to have a discussion about a particular show, and that’s fine, but I’ve found discussion in the weekly grosses threads tends to get granular, and that’s actually why it’s my favorite recurring thread type.

Updated On: 11/29/22 at 09:20 PM

[BoringBoredBoard40]

Posted: 11/29/22 at 10:38pm

bdn223 said: "jkcohen626 said: "Always happy to see Kimberly Akimbo do better. I always remain hopeful that it's a sign of it turning into a little show that could."

100% agree. I really wonder what its weekly operating budget is. As if its in the $400K-$450K range, its truly the little show that could, but if its actually$450K-$500K+ the show is like its someone dyeing of dehydration being given a thimble of water in the spirit of Thanksgiving.

Knowing David Stone's track record with producing little shows that could, I am guessing/hoping its nut is in the $400K-$450K range, but in the post covid protocols world that number could easily balloon. Note I am using David Stone's last musical at the BoothNext to Normalas a reference point, as its nut was under $250K a week, but then again that was 10 years ago, and was slightly smaller.


Another positive sign in term of Kimberly Akimbo building positive word of mouth is since last week that despite capacity being down 2% average prices are up 20% meaning audiences are arguably willing to pay more to see it. While yes last week was a Holiday, Kimberly Akimbo is not the type of musical that would get the massive bump from that. How much its grosses fall this week will truly tell how word of mouth is for the show."

Next To Normal isn't exactly a good comp, it had less performers, a smaller orchestra and a mostly static set.

Again this show needs to build an advance, it will not survive with these kind of buying patterns and from the number of email blasts I am getting clearly advance sales are a concern. Looking at telecharge the week of Christmas is also just a sea of unsold seats.

They really could use literally any kind of television performance. The fact is Almost Famous has done Tonight Show and Good Morning America already and &Juliet has done Tonight Show, I saw the booker for Fallon the night I went to see the show and that was well over two weeks ago....

 

[NoItAll]

Posted: 11/29/22 at 11:39pm

JanMaxwellsBag said: "NoItAll said: "Sutton Ross said: "What exactly is artistic crap to you? And unless you've seen whatever you're referring to, you can't really comment with any real merit."

I did not comment on any particular show. “Artistic crap” can very often, although certainly not always, be ascribed to shows which receive near-unanimously poor reviews from established professional critics. It also seems there are people who cheer for the success of shows which they themselves don’t particularly like, as though supporting every Broadway show is supporting Broadway."

Perhaps it would be helpful if you actually told us which show you are referring to, since this is a thread where we are discussing specific shows. I initially took “artistic crap” to mean like “pretentious artsy fartsy not mainstream”, and maybe you were referring to Kimberly Akimbo, but as that got nearly all positive reviews, I’d guess that’s not the case.

Or maybe you don’t want to have a discussion about a particular show, and that’s fine, but I’ve found discussion in the weekly grosses threads tends to get granular, and that’s actually why it’s my favorite recurring thread type."

I was not referring or even alluding to any current Broadway production, none of which I have seen. I was making a comment about the generic responses to the latest grosses. 

And if its grosses you wish to discuss, how can capacity drop and gross rise, both substantially, in the same week for Funny Girl and, to some extent, for Broadway totals?

 

[Jarethan]

Posted: 11/30/22 at 12:34am

NoItAll said: "JanMaxwellsBag said: "NoItAll said: "Sutton Ross said: "What exactly is artistic crap to you? And unless you've seen whatever you're referring to, you can't really comment with any real merit."

I did not comment on any particular show. “Artistic crap” can very often, although certainly not always, be ascribed to shows which receive near-unanimously poor reviews from established professional critics. It also seems there are people who cheer for the success of shows which they themselves don’t particularly like, as though supporting every Broadway show is supporting Broadway."

Perhaps it would be helpful if you actually told us which show you are referring to, since this is a thread where we are discussing specific shows. I initially took “artistic crap” to mean like “pretentious artsy fartsy not mainstream”, and maybe you were referring to Kimberly Akimbo, but as that got nearly all positive reviews, I’d guess that’s not the case.

Or maybe you don’t want to have a discussion about a particular show, and that’s fine, but I’ve found discussion in the weekly grosses threads tends to get granular, and that’s actually why it’s my favorite recurring thread type."

I was not referring or even alluding to any current Broadway production, none of which I have seen. I was making a comment about the generic responses to the latest grosses.

And if its grosses you wish to discuss, how can capacity drop and gross rise, both substantially, in the same week for Funny Girl and, to some extent, for Broadway totals?

"Easy…average ticket price is higher, very common on a holiday week.  FG has also raised demand pricing to an art; as fewer tickets become available, they seem to always raise the prices on the remaining seats.  For the scheduled LM performances, average price was through the roof.  Imagine what the grosses would be if she was doing8 performances a week!

 

[Lot666]

Posted: 11/30/22 at 8:44am

Phantom knocked MJ out of the top five.

[Rainah]

Posted: 11/30/22 at 9:35am

Glad to see Hadestown have a good week. 

Do we know how long Lilias White is contracted for? For all the praise I've heard, she hasn't moved the box office one bit. Chris Sullivan has said he's interested in returning to the role, and that might work better to drum up demand among fans and non fans alike.

Hades may also be an interesting role to star cast. They already transpose it up for people who aren't Patrick.

[quizking101]

Posted: 11/30/22 at 12:17pm

Rainah said: "Glad to see Hadestown have a good week.

Do we know how long Lilias White is contracted for? For all the praise I've heard, she hasn't moved the box office one bit. Chris Sullivan has said he's interested in returning to the role, and that might work better to drum up demand among fans and non fans alike.

Hades may also be an interesting role to star cast. They already transpose it up for people who aren't Patrick."

There's no indication of her leaving soon, so I would assume it's at least 6 months (which puts her to the beginning of March).

Not sure how much Chris Sullivan would move the box office since the "This Is Us" fervor has likely died down. I thought about Norm Lewis as Hades, but he's going on tour with "A Soldier's Play". Phillip Boykin could also do it since he'll be free after "The Music Man".

Honestly, with the cast of "A Strange Loop" in mind, Jason Veasey and Antwayn Hopper from "A Strange Loop" could also sing Hades as written, and John-Andrew Morrison could be a fun Hermes.

I just wish they would replace Reeve and Eva already - when I saw it last month, they (especially Reeve) looked very "phoned in" and it took me out of it...

[Tom5]

Posted: 11/30/22 at 1:23pm

I have a very simplistic and probably flawed way of seeing how a show is doing as I'm sure someone will let me know. But with the exception of one person shows if the average ticket price is one third or lower than the full ticket price the show is a financial flop. 

[Bill Snibson]

Posted: 11/30/22 at 1:31pm

Tom5 said: "I have a very simplistic and probably flawed way of seeing how a show is doing as I'm sure someone will let me know. But with the exception of one person shows if the average ticket price is one third or lower than the full ticket price the show is a financial flop."

I get that but you really need to look at the gross and figure out an estimate on what the weekly running costs might be. A lot of people like to look at attendance percentages but that isn't necessarily a good indication of how a show is doing.  A show might be at 90% but if the average ticket price is lousy or worse if it's heavily papered than the show isn't doing that great.

I'd hate to be a producer right now.  Ticket sales seem to be mostly "day of" and "week o"f with very few people buying in advance like they used to.  So much more difficult to figure the trajectory of any given show.

[Jarethan]

Posted: 11/30/22 at 1:43pm

Rainah said: "Glad to see Hadestown have a good week.

Do we know how long Lilias White is contracted for? For all the praise I've heard, she hasn't moved the box office one bit. Chris Sullivan has said he's interested in returning to the role, and that might work better to drum up demand among fans and non fans alike.

Hades may also be an interesting role to star cast. They already transpose it up for people who aren't Patrick."

You must be desperate for Hadestown to stay open.  Lilias White was never going to sell tickets 9except to a few people on this board who have to see everyone who ever plays a role in a show.  Chris Sullivan was even less likely to sell tickets.  I would bet that 90% of the people who watched This is Us faithfully could not tell you his name today, if asked.  He may be a talented actor -- personally, I fast-forwarded through most of the Kate / Toby (?) sub-plot, because I was so sick of their storyline -- but he is not going to sell tickets to anyone but the people I previously referenced and a few friends and family.

I suspect that, at this point, Hadestown would only be helped if a real 'star' appeared in a few key roles, and I can't imagine that it going to happen.  It has had a good solid run; not knowing its weekly nut, I would imagine that it is getting close to the end of its run, especially if Jan - March are as bad as everyone is expecting, which is presumably a reasonable assumption.

 

[Jarethan]

Posted: 11/30/22 at 1:50pm

Bill Snibson said: "Tom5 said: "I have a very simplistic and probably flawed way of seeing how a show is doing as I'm sure someone will let me know. But with the exception of one person shows if the average ticket price is one third or lower than the full ticket price the show is a financial flop."

I get that but you really need to look at the gross and figure out an estimate on what the weekly running costs might be. A lot of people like to look at attendance percentages but that isn't necessarily a good indication of how a show is doing. A show might be at 90% but if the average ticket price is lousy or worse if it's heavily papered than the show isn't doing that great.

I'd hate to be a producer right now. Ticket sales seem to be mostly "day of" and "week o"f with very few people buying in advance like they used to. So much more difficult to figure the trajectory of any given show."

Could not agree more.  I have always assumed that some of the investors of dramas without stars in particular are wealthy people who love the theatre and can always use write-offs.  For example, did the people who invested in Toipdog or Ohio State or even Kimberly Akimbo.or the Gabriel Byrne show think they would get a positive return on their investment, especially right now.  I imagine some did, but others did not.  I am very thankful for those people.  I hope that I don't sound too much like Pollyanna.

[MadsonMelo]

Posted: 11/30/22 at 5:00pm

I have been holding my breath for a few weeks, but its clears that ''Some Like It Hot'' is the kinda of show that gets one year at Broadway, if much, then it's over.

I don't believe will get great reviews, wont win the Tony and the title itself won't sell the tickets.

Sad cuz I enjoyed the show very much.

[Bill Snibson]

Posted: 11/30/22 at 5:08pm

I think very often the wealthy who have money to burn like the "cache" of being able to say that they are "producers" of a broadway show.  The reality is they are simply investors...have zero say in the production...but can get their friends house seats and tell everyone that they are attached to a broadway production. 

[jkcohen626]

Posted: 11/30/22 at 5:44pm

Bill Snibson said: "I think very often the wealthy who have money to burn like the "cache" of being able to say that they are "producers" of a broadway show. The reality is they are simply investors...have zero say in the production...but can get their friends house seats and tell everyone that they are attached to a broadway production."

And win awards too! Jennifer Hudson has her EGOT because she wrote a check for A Strange Loop. Whoopi Goldberg and John Legend too!

[BroadwayNYC2]

Posted: 11/30/22 at 6:14pm

And Kandi Burruss is making it clear that’s her intention as well (producing Piano Lesson, plus it’s TV adaption)