Biggest Broadway advance?

While I am not totally positive, I believe that it was "The Odd Couple."

Also add Miss Saigon and Les Mis to that list.

Odd Couple wasn't even close since it was only selling for a limited engagement, not an open-ended run. Its advance was in the $10 million vicinity (which actually might be a record for the nonmusical category).

---

Updated On: 8/19/06 at 12:43 PM

That was probably true up to that time in terms of pure dollar amount (the top ticket price for Saigon was about $10 more than for Cats when it opened).

I would love for somebody to come up with a list only takes into account actual numbers of tickets sold and not the dollar amount, since ticket prices go up every other year it seems. And now with premium tickets going for $250 to 400 a piece, it's impossible to compare today's box office records and advance sales records with those from the past.

---

Yes, and it all dried up once the reviews came out. $20 million isn't really a lot of money these days once you take into account expenses and if you get bad reviews that end up greatly diminishing new sales (especially group sales). $20 million by itself (spread over say 6 months) will only keep a show afloat for a few months and is why Saturday Night Fever ended up losing millions in by the time it closed after about a year.

---

Updated On: 8/19/06 at 04:19 PM

That was it...."Odd Couple" had the largest nonmusical advance.

???

I think you're confusing "advance" (ie advance ticket sales) with "investment" or "capitalization."

You don't "make back" your advance. Your advance is the amount of money you've already taken in in group and individual sales for future performances. Certain heavily hyped shows like Spamalot, The Producers, Miss Saigon etc..... sold over $20 million worth of tickets before they even opened. And hit shows often have advances even greater than that once they've opened. THAT'S what we're discussing.

Jersey Boys wasn't particularly hyped before opening and its advance wasn't particularly large (or at least wasn't in the category of Spamalot or The Producers). Since the reviews came out and strong word of mouth spread, however, its advance is currently among the highest on Broadway (I don't know the figure, but I would guess it's over $20 million at this point).

"Investment" or "capitalization" is how much money was raised by the producers to open the show to begin with and used to pay for everything from the sets and costumes to advertising to insurance and bonds to salaries for cast and crew etc...... For musicals, this amount is often over $10 million (Wicked was $14 million and certain Disney shows are rumored to have cost even more than that) and that amount must be paid back to investors before a show is considered profitable.

Once a show is running, any money made beyond its weekly expenses (which can be $600,000+ per week) goes towards paying down its capitalization. It can take months or even years to for a show to recoup that initial cost (smaller shows like Spelling Bee and Avenue Q took less than 6 months; Wicked took 14 months). Most shows (about two-thirds), however never make their money back and end up closing at a loss (Dirty Rotten Scoundrels is a recent example which will close in a couple of weeks after playing over 600 performances having only paid back roughly 75-80% of its initial capitalization). Some shows even run longer without making their money back (the recent 42nd Street revival ran 4 and a half years and closed at a loss).

Hope that answers your question.

---

Updated On: 8/19/06 at 10:05 PM

I did get them confused, thank you for clarifying the difference. I find this topic just fascinating how investors take big risks in order to back something they fill strongly about.