Broadway Grosses: Week Ending 1/29/23 — Page 2

II kinda think that "Off-Broadway" and "Musical" has become an oxymoron. With the exception of Little Shop and the Yiddish Fiddler does any musical really enjoy a commercial for profit run anymore?

Avenue Q and Rock of Ages both had (I'd assume pretty profitable runs) and throw in Toxic Avenger too. And most currently, Titanque.

Who's saying it's time to close Hamilton? A couple people just mentioned that it seems to be less impenetrable than it once was.
I'm honestly not sure what type of discussion you expect to see on a thread about shows' grosses? Of course people are going to be speculating, and in this case I think it led to some interesting discussion about the impact of streaming, etc. Sure, it's annoying when people make the same comment about a show's financial situation over and over, but I don't see that happening here.

nycward said: "II kinda think that "Off-Broadway" and "Musical" has become an oxymoron. With the exception of Little Shop and the Yiddish Fiddler does any musical really enjoy a commercial for profit run anymore?"

An awful lot of musicals have started off-Broadway (obviously). I don't know if their producers all felt that the shows had to move to Broadway because they thought that was the only way they could be economically viable, or because they felt the shows would get more respect / attention on Broadway.

Are some producers making serious errors moving shows to Broadway?? Using recent examples, would ASL have still been running had it stayed off-Broadway? Would KA be selling out if it was still off-Broadway? and etc.

I don't pretend to know the answer, but I think the question is valid.

Little Shop did have a Broadway run eventually.


I think Great Comet would have had a healthy run off Broadway but I think it’s more of a licensing thing and exposure thing.

I think that we are only talking about a handful of musicals that have originated Off-Broadway without a non profit support mechanism that could survive in today's economic environment. I don't think there is much to gain financially from producing a musical off-broadway. I think the goal is always to find a payday with the Broadway imprimatur or perhaps a film or streaming option like Trevor. Kinda sad really.

Updated On: 1/31/23 at 08:35 PM

Ignoring Phantom and The Piano Lesson (due to their exceptional closing/anniversary situations), of the 11 shows with the highest average ticket prices, only “& Juliet” didn’t have a real decline in gross sales. Of the 10 lowest in avg. price, only 2 had real losses.

Is any of this due to Broadway Week? (“Funny Girl” offers 2-for-1 for Benko, only. I didn’t check the others.)

Updated On: 1/31/23 at 08:43 PM

Auggie27 said: "The show is a theatrical phenomenon, but arguably not quite a comparable cultural one -- globally speaking here -- on par with the commercial Phantom profile: mon-English speaking tourists, people who loathe musicals, hell, people who loathe theater show up at Phantom. Hamilton -- demanding a more sophisticated ear ready for a complex libretto, an intellectual curiosity about our gnarly history's origin story, a belief in the brilliant conceit of the show's casting concept and thus niche prism -- is not that kind of entertainment or marker. Those who compare the experiences and long-term industry expectations might do well to focus on their differences. That said, Hamilton ain't going anywhere."

I won’t get into your description of Hamilton because I see it as a much different musical than you do. But I do think you’re giving it a bit of a disservice. It’s definitely an American cultural phenomenon! What you said about Phantom is what I would have said about Hamilton. Most Americans have seen it or want to see it. It breaks the mold so it’s more attractive to those who aren’t typically into musicals. Everyone knows LMM’s name (even as just the Hamilton guy) and can probably pick him out of a lineup. We’ll be seeing American musicals inspired by LMM and Hamilton in our near future (if we haven’t already).

All that said, we seem to be veering off the main topic. I don’t think it is what it was ~5 years ago but it definitely isn’t closing anytime soon. I am sure the numbers will be back up to usual once we get closer to summer!

All of the Hamilton talk kind of ignores the fact that it’s in its 8th year. Yes, there were two years in there it didn’t run, but it’s just settling into a more natural sales pattern for a long running hit. The he market was never going to be able to sustain any show grossing $3-4million every week for decades. And with attention spans getting shorter and shorter, I don’t know how that will affect longevity across the board.

I do tend to agree with those who think its hype outsized it’s merits. Groundbreaking in 2015, maybe but in 2023, no.

Auggie27 said: "mon-English speaking tourists, people who loathe musicals, hell, people who loathe theater show up at Phantom. Hamilton -- demanding a more sophisticated ear ready for a complex libretto"

Jarethan said: "I just purchased tickets for FG in May. Out of curiosity, I took a look at how they are doing this week, and saw that there are literally hundreds of seats available for this afternoon and tonight. Is LM out?

Makes me wonder whether I should have held buying the very expensive seats that I purchased."

I believe there would have been a casting alert on Seatgeek if Lea were out today.

To be fair, even if they speak English, they may not speak it well enough to be able to catch all the lyrics in Hamilton. Hell, even regular English speakers have a tough time following along in Hamilton. On the other hand, it is also hard to follow along in Phantom at points but I'd wager that most people don't really care about the lyrical complexity in Phantom and go more for the music/mood/spectacle of it, where the language doesn't matter as much.

I said it last week, and I shall say it again: Broadway can give a big thank you to Mother Nature for the warm, snow-less January we have experienced. Theater goers are saving $$$ on heating bills, they are encouraged to go out during the mild weather after the holidays, and enjoy dinner and theater with their friends. No one wants to stay cooped up in their homes / apartments in the dreary month of Janaury and experience the 'winter blahs' if they don't have to do so.



We shall see if Mother Nature is kind to us in February, and what effect it will have on Broadway. The forecast for the coming days is not promising, with bitter cold temps and wind-chills in the single digits. It may keep more than a few people away from the box office.