Broadway Grosses: Week Ending 5/19/19- Page 2

[BritCrit]

Posted: 5/20/19 at 5:02pm

carolinaguy said: "BritCrit said: "Hadestown has also done really well for an essentially original musical (which probably has a lower weekly but than the other blockbusters) but will it lose steam after its inevitable Tony triumphs?

"

Why would Tony wins make a show lose steam?"

That’s not what I was implying. I just wanted to point out that Hadestown will flourish this summer - and probably into 2020, but it could be another victim of “second year syndrome”...

[Mike Barrett]

Posted: 5/20/19 at 5:05pm

JSquared2 said: "Mike Barrett said: "I just don’t think Frankie and Johnny could have picked a worse time to open. There’s an insane amount of quality plays this season, some of which are doing/had done really well with grosses. I think if this began in August, as most plays are wrapping up and not heating up, this show could garner more attention. It’s just in the middle of everything right now, so it just gets grouped in with everything rather than standing out at all."

Audra has a TV series, and I'm sure Michael Shannon has a busy film schedule -- I'm sure the producerstook the window they had."

Yes, but doesn’t mean it was right for them still, clearly as the grosses are abysmal. Just curious, and that cast is much larger, but how did The Boys In The Band do last season? I can see it doing better simply based on the show, and the cast. Not that Audra and Shannon aren’t exciting, but for the general public standpoint, sadly Audra I just don’t think is a strong enough sell for a straight play. And Michael Shannon, great as he is, is not someone I’d spend $200 to see. This is not to discredit their performance at all, but with everything else opening right now, this gets completely lost in the shuffle. An August opening for previews I think would have helped a lot. 

[InTheBathroom1]

Posted: 5/20/19 at 5:12pm

Boys In The Band did incredibly well but that was a lot of stars in a rarely seen show (its first time on Broadway), produced by Ryan Murphy, in a smaller theatre, and sort of during the heat of Pride. The audience was there for it

[LuPita2]

Posted: 5/20/19 at 5:14pm

The Boys in the Band was like attending a party, it was great fun.  It was the first play to recoup for the 18-19 season.  Hugely successful, top notch talent, and some of the most beautiful men in the world. Can't really top that.  

[massofmen]

Posted: 5/20/19 at 5:15pm

Beetlejuice is going to have a hard time making it past labor day. Their tony performance better be much better that what they have done on TV so far. That avg tix price NEEDS to get over $95.00 or they are toast. 
If hadestown wins (which it looks like it will) tootsie might have a problem in the near future without that Tony win, although right now it looks strong. Announcing all those new productions surely was a hint to the "road" tony voters to vote for them for the tony. Santino probably has the award in the bag so maybe that will help them sell more tix. 
No way Waitress, The PROM and beautiful make it past labor day. 

[HogansHero]

Posted: 5/20/19 at 5:16pm

a few quick points:

1. I don't think Seller has skin in the Cher Show; I think he is pretty much along for the ride, in effect exec producing but with a producer share since otherwise it is a rudderless ship.

2. The percentage of gross numbers don't mean a huge amount in isolation. If you set your prices higher, your percentage goes down, and v/v. To me it is of less concern (at least for the moment) than, say, Gary, which has a marginally higher percentage and much worse prognosis. I am not optimistic but I am saying it still has a path for a few days.

[ACL2006]

Posted: 5/20/19 at 6:54pm

I do feel all the publicity for The Cher Show is currently paying off. I think they stick around that $1 million mark all summer. A win for Block will also help. The Fall will be the test for this show.

[SomethingPeculiar]

Posted: 5/20/19 at 7:32pm

ACL2006 said: "A win for Block will also help. The Fall will be the test for this show."

Statistically, acting awards do not move the needle for ticket sales substantially. A solid Tony performance with Cher would have more impact on the b.o. But yes, Fall will be the test.

[quizking101]

Posted: 5/20/19 at 7:49pm

Cher performing with Block on the Tonys is definitely feasible, but depends on what are going to do.

Many shows have since begun to block and tech for the Tonys at Radio City, and Cher is on tour through the end of May

[SomethingPeculiar]

Posted: 5/20/19 at 8:13pm

quizking101 said: "Many shows have since begun to block and tech for the Tonys at Radio City, and Cher is on tour through the end of May"

Which shows are you specifically referring to? The norm is that Radio City rehearsals begin the week before the Tonys, though shows may rehearse at their own theatre before that.

They'll easily be able to plug Cher into a number the week of, she's performed with the cast enough already. Even James Corden probably hasn't done much rehearsing.

Updated On: 5/20/19 at 08:13 PM

[DAME]

Posted: 5/20/19 at 8:19pm

But will Bette perform?

[AEA AGMA SM]

Posted: 5/20/19 at 9:02pm

DAME said: "But will Bette perform?"

Not without a passarelle

[MarkBearSF]

Posted: 5/20/19 at 9:18pm

I wonder if we're seeing a competition between film adaptations akin to between family shows. As when there are 3-4 family shows, it appears that many visitors decide "which one of these [2-4] shows do we want to see?"  I wonder if people simply see the musicalization of films they loved years ago as equivalent and choose between them (Pretty Woman, Tootsie, Beetlejuice)? I'm not sure that they necessarily follow the reviews and likely make their decisions on how much they liked the original, a little word-of-mouth and likely, price.

So while I may see it as one very good adaptation, and two ho-hum shows - one with an imPerfect score, and one with a lazy book. Others likely don't differentiate.

Go, Tootsie, go!

Updated On: 5/20/19 at 09:18 PM

[bear88]

Posted: 5/21/19 at 12:42am

I arrived late Friday night and arrived at the TKTS booth at 7:55 pm. We got tickets to Tootsie, fifth row mezzanine on the sides. The large Marquis was pretty full, the audience a bit younger than I expected. I'm no expert but the numbers seem fine and the audience reaction was what I would want if I was a producer: a lot of laughter.

One of the show's advantages is that it's a cheap ticket. That may not be great for the show's gross potential numbers, but $1.3 million a week seems fine. I don't think Tootsie needs a Tony win, because it has a fallback as the funny musical comedy.

Aside from being new musicals up for Tony awards, Tootsie and Hadestown (which I will see Wednesday) are aiming for different audiences and have appropriately different marketing strategies. Tootsie is aiming for a broader audience, is in a big theater, and doesn't have 'high art' aspirations. Hadestown is in a small theater and is charging big bucks for a unique experience. Hadestown needs the Tony win more, I think.

Meanwhile, the Ain't Too Proud producers don't have to worry about any of that.

[LightsOut90]

Posted: 5/21/19 at 3:01am

Who would have thought EVER that a show with Nathan Lane in it would be sitting at the very bottom of the grosses.

 

and whomever asked about Burn This doing 6 shows, it was to accommodate Adam Driver as his film The Dead Dont Die was the opening night film at Cannes and he went to do press and what not. 

[VintageSnarker]

Posted: 5/21/19 at 7:28am

How is Mean Girls doing? The music still seems terrible to me but I'm tempted to go while most of the original cast is still in it.

Maybe it'll take a little longer to see a result but I'm disappointed there wasn't a bigger bump for My Fair Lady after they announced their closing. If there's no change then maybe they really did run through the audience who wants to see it. I know there are lots of regional and amateur productions but I'm sad for what that might mean for classic revivals on Broadway and also because the current cast is SO GOOD and people should be seeing those performances/the statement of the show as a whole. I've rarely wanted something to be filmed so badly. 

I hope they're cooking up some stunt casting at Waitress to really juice the grosses. 

[meredithchandler73]

Posted: 5/21/19 at 3:20pm

Forgive me if this has been mentioned in other posts about grosses recently, but I would imagine that the new shows are offering tickets to all the voters right now (Drama Desk and Tony) which could contribute to more tickets but less money.

[binau]

Posted: 5/21/19 at 3:27pm

VintageSnarker said: "How is Mean Girls doing? The music still seems terrible to me but I'm tempted to go while most of the original cast is still in it.

Maybe it'll take a little longer to see a result but I'm disappointed there wasn't a bigger bump for My Fair Lady after they announced their closing. If there's no change then maybe they really did run through the audience who wants to see it. I know there are lots of regional and amateur productions but I'm sad for what that might mean for classic revivals on Broadway and also because the current cast is SO GOOD and people should be seeing those performances/the statement of the show as a whole. I've rarely wanted something to be filmed so badly.

I hope they're cooking up some stunt casting at Waitress to really juice the grosses."

I went to Mean Girls recently and it's in great shape. Listen to the cast recording a couple times before going if you're still not set on the score - I honestly believe it is highly underrated on this forum. It is not like "Pretty Woman", a banal pop-trash score with awful lyrics (and I'm a Bryan Adams fan!). It reminds me a lot of Legally Blonde - yes it's trashy but underlying this trashiness is at least a moderate bit of craft and satire.

I like:

* It Roars

* Where do you belong?

* Meet the plastics

* What's wrong with me

* Stop

* More is Better

* I'd rather be me

* I see stars
 

[YvanEhtNioj]

Posted: 5/21/19 at 3:42pm

Agree with the above. Revenge Party is a total bop.