Post-Tony nominations: Closing announcements and Grosses bumps?

Paradise Square will close on June 19 following its impending shutout from any awards.

Funny Girl will stick around for at least several months, but Mrs. Doubtfire is toast. My target closing is August 14.

Mr. Saturday Night will play out Crystal’s contract and close, and it’s possible The Music Man may do the same with Jackman.

Updated On: 5/9/22 at 11:00 AM

I agree that some of the nominated plays will see a bump, but there are so many of them and they're all doing so badly that it may be a negligible difference for some. It may be sort of proportional with how their current numbers are.

There's a world in which HANGMEN and AMERICAN BUFFALO should be performing a lot better.

bdn223 said: "I knowPOTUShas "names" in its cast, but I still find it hard to believe any is being paid as such as"



I was actually thinking it might be the reverse. I feel like the actors in POTUS are all sufficiently established in their respective fields that they would demand a higher pay than your average Broadway star, and it would be hard to refuse them considering they technically ARE banking on their names (or attempting to, at least). The actual fact of the matter is that none of them are significant box office draws, but I feel like they still had to be roped in with a solid paycheck. Obviously none of them are getting paid as much as an A-lister, but I would guess that the combined salaries of Williams, Dratch, DeLaria, Hough, and White equal out to something approximating the cost of a big-name movie star. While reaping none of the real rewards from it.

But of course, I don't actually know the numbers - it's just speculation.

JBroadway said: "bdn223 said: "I knowPOTUShas "names" in its cast, but I still find it hard to believe any is being paid as such as"



I was actually thinking it might be the reverse. I feel like the actors in POTUS are all sufficiently established in their respective fields that they would demand a higher pay than your average Broadway star, and it would be hard to refuse them considering they technically ARE banking on their names (or attempting to, at least). The actual fact of the matter is that none of them are significant box office draws, but I feel like they still had to be roped in with a solid paycheck. Obviously none of them are getting paid as much as an A-lister, but I would guess that the combined salaries of Williams, Dratch, DeLaria, Hough, and White equal out to something approximating the cost of a big-name movie star. While reaping none of the real rewards from it.

But of course, I don't actually know the numbers - it's just speculation."

I agree that combined they likely equal out to a big named star, but still that's only $100K a week + backend. I am guessing all cast salaries combined for POTUS probably run $150K a week. Then add to that they aren't paying any musicians and have minimal crew backstage since its a play, so it isn't costing them a fortune to run. If Hand to God's nut was $250K and They Play that Goes Wrong was $300K, that latter of which had to pay for cast housing, which likely added a pretty penny to its weekly nut. Even with its "name" talent salaries, its hard to believe it costing more than $350K-$400K a week to run.

dramamama611 said: "I think Paradise has the most to gain from these noms - but largely because they are so low to begin with. Will it be enough to see them thru the awards? I guess that depends on how deep their pockets are. I can't see them winning - so seems like throwing away good money."

Were they somehow saving all their marketing for right now? I'm happy for them (especially for the acting nominations, choreography, and costumes) though the other nominations came as a big surprise. Maybe they were just looking for another "serious" show.

ErmengardeStopSniveling said: "As for why it was nominated so much, it's a really weak year for new musicals overall, and the nominators probably found more merit in this than in things like MRS. DOUBTFIRE."



Paradise Square being well-liked enough to get a Best Musical nomination - or even Best Book nomination - doesn't actually surprise me too much. Frankly, "a weak year for musicals" and "a weak year for musical Books" has become the rule, to which there are occasionally exceptions. But even in the best of times, the final 1-2 Best Musical and Best Books slots usually goes to notably weaker contenders. Filler nominations. So Paradise Square being a fairly ambitious, serious show, with some good qualities, and clearly some people who really enjoy it. Not hugely surprising to me.

What really surprises me is that it kicked Flying Over Sunset out of both of these categories. Recent Tony history has shown that they often favor more "artsy," sophisticated shows, even when they're divisive. So if they were looking for filler nominations (as noted above) it's wild to me that they went with the options they did.

The only explanation is the simple, obvious one: that this crop of nominators happened to fall more on the positive side of Paradise Square, MJ, and Mr. Saturday Night, and/or happened to fall on the negative side of Flying Over Sunset; that a general predilection for more sophisticated, artsy shows won't always overcome the case-by-case situations where they just happen to like some individual shows more than others.

Plus, maybe they felt like they already had 2 shows that filled their "artsy" quota, and they didn't need to throw a bone to the one they didn't actually like very much.

Yes, there are generally only 2-3 MAX really strong new musicals in a given season...which makes the inflated categories even more infuriating. The Best Musical category almost always has some "filler" nominees, and I wish the number in all categories was merit-based up to 5, not a minimum of 5 expanding to 6 or 7. I don't know if that's having nominators rank their choices 1-5 or something else. The Tonys should not be a participation trophy. I hope this year's situation sparks a major revision to the rulebook so we don't see a free-for-all like this again.

The Oscars have literally hundreds of eligible films each year and even more performances, yet only have 5 nominees in all categories except Best Picture.

Updated On: 5/9/22 at 02:05 PM

Is there a business model for Paradise? Can’t think of one. A comeback that overrides both negative critical reception and audience indifference? Can Tony recognition offset an absent profile for ticket buyers as consumers? Is it even selling on TDF anymore, let alone TKTS? I’m not a fan but never expected numbers like last week. Who would a pricey Tony campaign target, when the show simply doesn’t interest the ticket buying public?

Fosse76 said: "bdn223 said: "Come From Awayhas 19 members in the current cast (18 normally, plus1 from the tour). Their weekly running costs exceed what was posted above (excluding the additional COVID-related costs). But evenifthat number was accurate, there is no one of note in the cast who could command a high salary, so you can't really compare that aspect."

There's a poster on here who was dead set from data that the running cost was under 500, which I have always thought was delusional. In any case, it's not comparable to a new play.

ErmengardeStopSniveling said: "PARADISE SQUARE has no money. "

Not marketing budget, marketing effort. I don't know what they've been doing to sell this show up until now besides papering and hoping for good word of mouth.

It is a losing battle. When the budget is limited, that limits all marketing efforts. No media publication wants to write about the show (or feature the cast in performance). Even if they had money for ad spends, the creative is dismal. The show was badly reviewed and doesn't have great WOM. And above all, the producer leading all the efforts is a madman.

We've all been lamenting this show's producing strategy since Chicago.

(And standard caveat that just because you don't see an effort doesn't mean that one isn't being made. It's usually just that the effort isn't translating to sales.)

Updated On: 5/9/22 at 03:51 PM

joshdog2014 said: "Is there a front runner for choreography? Seems like that would be the most likely upset win for Paradise Square (although of course that still wouldn’t make a dent)"

Seems like a good place to award MJ (which could still win Best Musical). I haven't seen for colored girls YET, is it win-worthy?