Broadway Grosses: Week Ending 10/2/22- Page 2

[David10086]

Posted: 10/4/22 at 5:40pm

JBroadway said: "I really wonder about Piano Lesson and Leopoldstadt. Similar grosses, neither of which seem particularly strong.

Seems like Piano Lesson isn't drawing the crowds / ticket prices they were hoping for, but maybe buzz just needs time to build. "

 

Have no fear - Danielle Brooks is a scheduled guest on 'The View' the end of this week, so that will give Whoopi a chance to kiss her rear, and tell everyone what 'an amaaaaaaaaazing show' this is, and Brooks is 'amaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaazing' in it - and everyone needs to do themselves a favor and run out and get tickets to this 'amaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaazing' show. She will then mention Brooks was also in 'The Color Purple' on Broadway, and she was 'amaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaazing' in that 'amaaaaaaaazing' show, as well. 

Then Sunny will chime in and say she's seen it three times already, because it really is an amazing show, and she plans on going with her Sorority Sisters this weekend but get drunk on margaritas before the show. 

Sara will bring up she suffers from anxiety, she loves motherhood, and that she has a gay brother, and somehow try to tie these into the conversation about 'The Piano Lesson'. 

Joy will shrug and say she didn't see this yet, but she plans to before it closes (and Brooks will raise an eyebrow, wondering if Joy knows something the cast doesn't know), while Ana will toss some word salad hoping it sounds like a compliment. 

And all will be right with the box office after this segment ! 

 

[Call_me_jorge]

Posted: 10/4/22 at 5:45pm

^this is so good, I can’t stop laughing. I’m embarrassing myself on the train right now. Lmao

[Andres LaFrazia]

Posted: 10/4/22 at 5:54pm

Strange Loop In Major Trouble! Hadestown To Close Next Year?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ufWNnTAMXRk

[WestEndGal]

Posted: 10/5/22 at 10:08am

I’d be interested to know how much diminishing tourism in NYC is having an effect on Broadway, and going forward. The pound and euro, for example, are so weak against the dollar these days, and NYC is insanely expensive as it is. Combine that with ticket prices going up you need a small fortune to visit NYC and Broadway. 

[Sutton Ross]

Posted: 10/5/22 at 12:26pm

And then add the nonstop NYC crime-is-insane stories on Fox News and the NY Post and you have more bad weeks like this for Broadway.

I just feel terrible that you think either is giving you news. They are not. They are entertainment stories and lies. They are Republican/MAGA led organizations that focus on Democratic run cities and find everything and anything horrible about them. They make up stats and remind you that we have a Democratic Mayor. Daily. Odd they never mention the poverty of red states and the crime in their cities. 

Crime is up everywhere, it's not just a New York City problem as if they would lead you to believe. Inflation, weather, no discounts, and people still emerging from a pandemic. Those are the reasons people are not attending theater. 

[David10086]

Posted: 10/5/22 at 12:46pm

Call_me_jorge said: "^this is so good, I can’t stop laughing. I’m embarrassing myself on the train right now. Lmao"

This is what happens whenever they review a play on 'The View'. Whoopi says the show is 'amaaaaaaaaaaaaazing', the cast is 'amaaaaaaaaaaaaazing', etc. and everyone has to see it - and then the show puts up closing notices within a week or two.

So get your tickets now - before Whoopi gives a review this week, and the show closed by Halloween.

 

*  Of course, the best review was when Whoopi reviewed 'ASL' right before the Tonys, and called it 'disturbing at times' and 'not for everyone' (but it was 'amaaaaaaaaaaaaazing', nonetheless). Despite the Tony awards, I guess everyone took her word for it and stayed away from something 'disturbing' and 'not for everyone'. That's how you kill a box office. 

[Wick3]

Posted: 10/5/22 at 12:55pm

bwayphreak234 said: "That $33.25 average ticket price for Cost of Living..."

When I watched it I had no idea there was a shower scene with male nudity. 
I think once people hear that then the show might sell more tickets (similar to what happened with Take me out)

[RippedMan]

Posted: 10/5/22 at 3:21pm

Why are people so thirsty for nudity on stage? Literally go watch porn. 

Also, so weird since Ny Post and Fox News are based in NYC? So why **** on your own city. 

[ErmengardeStopSniveling]

Posted: 10/5/22 at 3:38pm

I wonder how much PIANO LESSON can be helped by rapturous reviews (which I expect it will receive). It should be doing much better considering the star. SALESMAN also badly needs a boost in sales, which could be helped by reviews.

Topdog definitely seems more like an Underdog and I wonder if it will make it through its run. Reviews might help if if they’re really strong, but audiences just don’t care about those two actors when there’s so much other product in the market.

1776 numbers are abysmal, even if the Bway production is a loss-leader for the tour.

[jagman1062]

Posted: 10/5/22 at 3:42pm

I have a question about how average tix price is calculated. I'm not familiar with all the economics of theater, so I honestly don't know. When determining average tix price, does one include the number of comped/papered tickets in factoring, or does average tix price only include the number/cost of tickets actually purchased irrespective of total attendance? Thanks in advance.

[ErmengardeStopSniveling]

Posted: 10/5/22 at 3:52pm

Yes, comps are factored in. So this week at COST OF LIVING they must have had a ridiculously high number of comps (not just press and opening night) and super cheap tickets. It’s pretty tough to get a gross that low.

This is why the gross potential is so important and we don’t have that anymore. 

[HogansHero]

Posted: 10/5/22 at 4:06pm

ErmengardeStopSniveling said: "Yes, comps are factored in. So this week at COST OF LIVING they must have had a ridiculously high number of comps (not just press and opening night) and super cheap tickets. It’s pretty tough to get a gross that low.

This is why the gross potential is so important and we don’t have that anymore."

Also a factor, of course, is that subscriber tickets factor in the total and I don't know how they apportion.

[Wick3]

Posted: 10/5/22 at 5:20pm

Rush tickets are $35 at Cost of Living. For the average ticket price to be below that number, over half the people who watched the show must have been comped.

For me, gross potential stats never meant much to me due to premium  and dynamic pricing.

[JBroadway]

Posted: 10/5/22 at 5:54pm

Cost of Living is making low grosses, and heavily papering. Just like nearly every show that plays at the Friedman. This page might put this is perspective:

https://www.broadwayworld.com/grossestheater/FRIEDMAN

In particular, make note of the 2nd column showing the average gross for each show.

The grosses for Cost of Living so far are roughly on par with what MTC has been doing since the pandemic. Before the pandemic, they were doing slightly better, with most shows averaging in the $200k-$300k range, and potentially a star-driven show that bumps up to a $400k-$500k average. And even then, you still had shows here and there that averaged below $200k.

You might say that's a big difference, and I guess it is, percentage wise. No doubt MTC would rather be averaging $300k than $100k. But it's important to remember that MTC is ALWAYS down at the bottom of the weekly grosses, owing in no small part to the fact that they're operating under a completely different financial model. This is why we have non-profit companies on Broadway: so they can do stuff on Broadway that would never be done commercially, and make it financially accessible to boot.

Also, I'd say this season's stars have somewhat better box office potential than last season's. In the event that Paul Bettany and Laura Linney prove to be significant draws (comparatively speaking), we could be looking at a season that resembles their pre-pandemic numbers overall. Which is to say: 2 star-driven shows that pull in $300k-$500k weekly average, helping to offset the show that averaged under $200k.

[OhHiii]

Posted: 10/5/22 at 6:20pm

Gross Potential is generally a red herring outside of the fact that a show will never really price their house below their breakeven obviously. As another poster said, dynamic pricing and premiums have thrown the relevance of that data point out the window. Let's not forget in 2019/early 2020 Cursed Child's gross potential trended exactly along the line of it's grosses, just a hair below and people inferred what they were doing. A show can manipulate it's GP all it wants really.

[HogansHero]

Posted: 10/5/22 at 7:11pm

What JBroadway says above is both correct and also an important point to which many here seem oblivious. In a perfect world, a non-profit would demonstrate success by raising enough money to give away ALL of its tickets and presenting that which commercial theatre cannot afford to present (because it is too good). 

[jagman1062]

Posted: 10/5/22 at 8:05pm

Thank you for your responses to my question. You've all been very helpful. I certainly understand that the average ticket price for non-profits will be lower than commercial runs because of subscriptions. However, wouldn't Lincoln Center Theater report a more accurate average than Roundabout, MTC, or 2nd Stage? As a LCT subscriber, I'm given the opportunity to buy individual tickets to a LCT production at a set price, which can be easily factored into the average tix price for a given week. The subscription packages offered by the other non-profits are probably apportioned for each show that season, but as someone mentioned above, the formula isn't actually known. Thanks, again.

[chrishuyen]

Posted: 10/6/22 at 3:59am

I've been trying to wait and see if Piano Lesson would start offering rush/lottery, and it seems strange to me that they haven't yet, considering there's a good amount of unsold seats.  Based on Into the Woods numbers, it looks like they've closed the balcony and are still only at 75% which is quite a dip from before, but it's impressive they've still managed to keep grosses above $1mil.  I wonder if the cast album would drive more audiences to see it, even if a good chunk of the cast that recorded it is gone.

I'm not surprised at MJ's success, but I AM surprised that it's so consistently playing to sold out houses.  Ever since the Tonys, there's only been one week it hasn't done over 100% capacity.

[inlovewithjerryherman]

Posted: 10/6/22 at 11:16am

Hadestown is the most eye popping here to me. It seems they are playing to sold out houses, but the grosses are tanking...are they papering?

[JBroadway]

Posted: 10/6/22 at 11:45am

^Not papering as far as I know, at least not widely. More likely we’re just seeing the effects of widely-available discounts, combined with the small size of the house. So even selling at high capacity, with an average ticket price of $90-$100, isn’t going to yield super high grosses.

[AEA AGMA SM]

Posted: 10/6/22 at 1:35pm

JBroadway said: "^Not papering as far as I know, at least not widely. More likely we’re just seeing the effects of widely-available discounts, combined with the small size of the house. So even selling at high capacity, with an average ticket price of $90-$100, isn’t going to yield super high grosses."

That's one of the cases where seeing/knowing the gross potential, and percentage reached, would be a piece in getting a clearer picture (not the whole picture as some posters used to treat that statistic back in the old days, but part of it).

[MadsonMelo]

Posted: 10/7/22 at 12:34am

I know they have recouped, but how much is the weekly nut for ''Hadestown''? 650k or so seems low for this musical.

I just want them to stay open, at least, until February 2023 so they can have the record at the Walter Kerr

[Rainah]

Posted: 10/9/22 at 2:25pm

On the subject of bootlegs and proshots - phones out at shows are annoying and definitely need to stop. But I can't see many people not going to see a show because people often have their phones out.

The rabid tiktok fans don't do much to ticket sales either way. We saw this with things like BMC. If your fans are a bunch of passionate teens around the globe... they can't afford to get to NYC let alone buy tickets. And even when they do, being plugged into fandom means they know all the ways to get tickets at the biggest discount.

I suspect bootlegs in general are similar. The hardcore bootleg community is its own thing. 95% of bootleg footage you see floating around youtube is filmed by the same handful of 4-5 people. They're very good at not being noticed (and not disruptive). TikTok fan with their phone out is going to get crappy footage, post it to their account, and call it a day. The hardcore bootleg community is probably not watching a lot of shows. But that wouldn't change if they didn't have bootlegs. They'd just start collecting something else.

A large portion of the market is wealthy tourists. They know little about broadway, but broadway's a famous part of NYC so they want to see A Broadway Show. They look at a list of shows, most of which they've never heard of, and pick one. Maybe they get a brief one sentence summary. But they're operating on "Oh I've heard of Hamilton, it's supposed to be amazing" and "I saw the Chicago movie, it was fun!" and drop $250 on good seats without googling a discount code. 

For that population, stuff like movie adaptions and proshots can be great to swing them towards picking your show. They want something they've heard of and has a slightly better chance of being good than picking randomly.