It will be a shame if some of these shows must close early. Hopefully better weather and more tourists will help them survive. There really is something for everyone in the new musicals. I've only seen three: Gentleman's, Rocky, and Bullets. Those alone would make it a respectable year.
After Midnight had a bad week as there was no special guest star. I'd expect their numbers to go back up this week with Toni Braxton & Babyface.
I am getting a little worried about Once. They've had several weeks around 50% gross potential since after New Year's. I hope their numbers pick up come the spring.
A Chorus Line revival played its final Broadway performance on August 17, 2008. The tour played its final performance on August 21, 2011. A new non-equity tour started in October 2012 played its final performance on March 23, 2013. Another non-equity tour launched on January 20, 2018. The tour ended its US run in Kansas City and then toured throughout Japan August & September 2018.
Glad to see "Beautiful: The Carole King Musical" posting a gain. Billy Joel once said NYC should build a statue of Ms. King; until they do, this hit show will suffice.
BRIDGES is probably losing 40-50 thousand per week. Unless they are paying reduced (or deferred) royalties and rent (would the Shuberts do that?) and unless the producers have a good reserve fund (probably not) I can't see it making it until summer.
It is not getting the tourist business. If Mr. and Mrs. Smith come into town for a convention or trade show, and Mrs. Smith says "I'd like to see THE BRIDGES OF MADISON COUNTY and Mr. Smith says I'd rather see ROCKY or that play with the actor from BREAKING BAD, which show do you think they are going to see?"
I may be off in saying this, and please politely correct me if I am wrong… but considering Rocky's opening this week (3/13) was not a sold performance to the public, yet they made more this week than last (with the same number of performances - 8 ) even with that opening performance… dare I say that's a good sign? Like I said, though… I could be totally off.
No Greased Lightning your right, opening night is all comps and the performances leading up to opening have a lot of press comps. If you go with your thinking, if it were a regular performance they could have made another $90,000.00 ($730k) based on an average of what they made the rest of the week. That still would have only brought them to 50% of their possible gross, but either way its trending upwards. It should continue to go up as the weather loosens up and the tourists descend.
I question whether If/Then can sustain their attendance and gross numbers, I get the feeling the opposite is true. When the tourists descend, unless it gets crazy good reviews, that title will be less attractive. The Idina and Next To Normal fan base is on fire and they've been filling the houses from day one with their excitement. It will be interesting to see how deep that fan base is.
The Idina and Next To Normal fan base is on fire and they've been filling the houses from day one with their excitement. It will be interesting to see how deep that fan base is.
This reminds me of the most recent Follies revival that GREAT the first few weeks when all the Sondheim fans saw it, but then numbers went down. However, I think Idina Menzel's name is going to be a big draw for this.
"There’s nothing quite like the power and the passion of Broadway music. "
"This reminds me of the most recent Follies revival that GREAT the first few weeks when all the Sondheim fans saw it, but then numbers went down."
Yes that's an interesting comparison and it was so interesting how FOLLIES was so well sold for a few weeks and then had a sharp, sudden decline. But IF/THEN seems to have stronger advance ticket sales than FOLLIES did (I followed the FOLLIES grosses closely), and it's opening at a better time. My prediction is that the strong IF/THEN sales will last more than just a few weeks and there will be nothing to worry about for a few months at least - there are many factors then that may influence the longevity of the show if the fans run out (namely Tony Awards and reviews).
"You can't overrate Bernadette Peters. She is such a genius. There's a moment in "Too Many Mornings" and Bernadette doing 'I wore green the last time' - It's a voice that is just already given up - it is so sorrowful. Tragic. You can see from that moment the show is going to be headed into such dark territory and it hinges on this tiny throwaway moment of the voice." - Ben Brantley (2022)
"Bernadette's whole, stunning performance [as Rose in Gypsy] galvanized the actors capable of letting loose with her. Bernadette's Rose did take its rightful place, but too late, and unseen by too many who should have seen it" Arthur Laurents (2009)
"Sondheim's own favorite star performances? [Bernadette] Peters in ''Sunday in the Park,'' Lansbury in ''Sweeney Todd'' and ''obviously, Ethel was thrilling in 'Gypsy.'' Nytimes, 2000
It seems that the only way Bridges could hope to last until even the announcement of nominations of for everyone to be waiving royalties. Those are exceptionally sad numbers for a musical.
Out of curiosity, why do some think that “Bridges” will close if it keeps pulling in these numbers (or similar numbers) while “Gentleman’s” has been between 43% - 52% (gross potential) for the past 7 weeks and I haven’t heard much speculation on it closing? Considering that “Bridges” made the jump last week from fairly consistently grossing in the 30s% to grossing 46% and then they were able to hold that same percentage this week, I can’t help but think that this is only a good sign for them. Not enough to keep them running at that percentage, sure, but enough to make it worthwhile to stick around for a little while longer and be hopeful for a continued interest. Even just factoring in the fact that in the coming warm/tourist months there will be more people going to the theatre, it’s likely that that percentage might raise to at least what “Gentleman’s” is grossing (and then, of course, considering what happens at the Tony’s – which I think O’Hara and the score have fairly good chances at winning – they have the chance for even more positive exposure and a bump in sales). I am thinking about all this with the general idea that running costs of each show are about 50% of their potential gross, but perhaps “Bridges” is higher than their 50% and “Gentleman’s” is lower than theirs (hence the talk of “Bridges” closing and not “Gentleman’s”)?
Liza's Headband, you say "Tony nominations will NOT help Bridges. Appealing to a wider audience will. Unfortunately, it can never do that simply because of its source material. As I have said multiple times... There are only so many middle-aged housewives with money to spend out there. There's a ceiling to that demographic." While obviously it isn't finding its audience, you can't really blame the source material--one of the bestselling novels of the entire 20th century (50 MILLION copies sold) that also was the basis for a movie that earned $75M when it came out, which for something pitched at adult audiences is a pretty outstanding number.
I don't necessarily know why it isn't finding an audience. Do people look to Broadway to be more family oriented? More "fun?" Is the marketing not doing its job? Is word of mouth not strong? Probably there are a lot of factors. But the source material not having demonstrated monstrous mainstream appeal simply isn't one of them.
The book was very popular (mostly with women as has been written on this board) and the film had two movie stars in the leads at the heights of their popularity.
Doesn't have to be a date night. Why do you think it's the woman that will do the compromising? Mr. Smith could compromise. They could see neither. They could see both. That's a huge assumption right there that the woman will be the one compromising and really sexist.
It's not even about the two specific shows. He clearly said Mrs. Smith wants to see Bridges and Mr. Smith wants to see Rocky. Assuming that those are the two that that the two want to see (and rather see). Not necessarily true that Mrs. Smith will be the one compromising.