Broadway Grosses: Week Ending 1/22/23 — Page 2

In terms of profitability? Absolutely. In terms of talent? I think there are a slew of Ru Girls that could easily do the part. I'd love to see Monet X Change do it. She's got the vocals and attitude. And she's been on the show 3 times, so she's got the fan base, I think.

ErmengardeStopSniveling said: "I remain flummoxed by everything 2nd Stage does beyond the onstage quality of their shows. They have a major star (Common), and the show is filling most of its seats in a tiny house, but at a low average price. Subscribers cannot be entirely to blame.Something is very off in their business model.

The obvious cause is a personality problem at the top of the company's leadership, who has caused transient personnel issues with Exec Directors and Associate Artistic Directors and Artistic Producers. Advertising (the worst creative on Broadway), pricing, and perhaps producing practices must be rethought...I don't really see how their Board can view this as okay when stars like Chris Evans and Common and Straight White Men continually undergross in 2nd Stage shows at the (Helen) Hayes."

But this is a non-profit so you don't have a full picture of their business based on grosses. As someone with decades of experience in non-profit theater, it is often part of the goal to keep ticket prices down. Part of this is likely due to a mission statement about keeping theater accessible. But the other, very important, part of the equation is fundraising. It is not uncommon for major non-profits in the city to obtain 50-75% of their budget through philanthropy. A major selling point when attracting donors is keeping a vast majority of seats at an "affordable" rate. Because the development department can reach out to potential donors and say something like "70% of our audiences are able to attend the shows in the season for less than $100 a ticket. Will you help us underwrite these costs by donating X amount?" COULD 2nd Stage be positioning stars in a way to rake in oodles more money? Absolutely (and I agree, their ad creative is the worst on Bway and incredibly stale). But we have zero idea how much fund raising they are able to accomplish because of their current pricing and subscriber model. We don't get the whole story of a non-profit by simply looking at weekly grosses and capacities.

I think LCT has terrible artwork. Everything about their space is so cool and modern and then their artwork feel so dated and "meh." But I think 2nd Stage is pretty bad too. They should rebrand themselves.

And an all Drag Race Chicago would ICONIC and sell oodles. I mean if Jinx and Ben can sell out theaters across the US, imagine them together with Willam and Alaska? Amazing.