Broadway Grosses: Week Ending 2/12/2006

Click below to access all the grosses from all the shows for the week ending 2/12/2006 in BroadwayWorld.com's grosses section.

https://www.broadwayworld.com/grosses.cfm

Why? The Producers turned a profit last week. ($550K is break even).

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Somebody PM'd me after my thread about THE PRODUCERS running costs last week and told me break even is actually $600,000 for the show. That is probably variable, depending on stars and advertising, but I still maintain that NO show on Broadway can afford to run under 60% for very long - and yeah, I would say BAREFOOT, DOUBT and PIAZZA probably will all close in the next couple of months if business doesn't pick up.

Producers bashing?
There has been very little of that around here.
Even if the producers were to close tommorow, they can cry all the way home to their 12 Tonys (about half of which belonged to The Full Monty)

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Talk about being over sensitive.

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I think The Producers attendance numbers are slightly deceptive, given that they're doing no discounting whatsoever. Their average ticket price is still almost $75, which is very solid (especially as compared to Rent, Phantom, Hairspray, DRS, and BATB which are all in the low $60s or the $50s -- the Producers is still outgrossing all those shows except Phantom). Were they offering the same sorts of deep discounts, they're attendance would very likely already be back in the 70s and these discussions about it closing would stop.

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Margo, The Producers does have a discount through Playbill that started for performances on and after Jan 30. That has only been 2 weeks so I guess it waits to be seen if the numbers start to increase.

But, it has been on TKTS at 50% for almost all performances the past few weeks. So, I'm not sure the discounting is making that much of a difference.

Updated On: 2/13/06 at 05:21 PM

Thank you Margo: The Voice of Reason! All those believing The Producers is going to close in the next few months, let alone this year, are vastly offbase in their thinking. The months of January and February have always been the toughest for shows. Given the fact that The Producers still is nearly at 60% capacity (in the large St. James Theatre no less) with an average ticket price of $75 is damn good all things considered.

The movie didn't help things apparently, but I doubt it's going to prove detrimental. I would venture to say too that the DVD is the more reasonable thing that might help sales in the future. Non-theatre going/Broadway-illiterate people were seeing King Kong, Munich, Brokeback Mountain and The Chronicles of Narnia all during the holidays - NOT The Producers. It's not the fact that it was The Producers, but the fact that people were going to see these certifiable blockbusters before they spent $10 on a zany musical comedy. Had The Producers premiered after the competitive Christmas season, I think it could've faired far better at the box office. Was it the greatest movie musical ever made? Absolutely not. But it did what it sought out to do rather wonderfully I believe. It was Mel's and Stroman's love letter to the glorious musicals of yesteryear. Everyone I took to the film enjoyed themselves immensely.

The Producers on Broadway still has a great deal of life in it and I don't forsee it going anywhere anytime soon. I would agree that the show at the St. James could use a freshening up (some of the ensemble look as tired as some of the sets moving in and out...Stro needs to get in there and tighten things up!). But keep in mind, that up until January, the show had been steadily at 80% capacity and above. I don't understand why people want these long running shows to close only to make way for mediocrity that runs at 60% from the get-go and shutters within 6 months. Some may have a personal disdain for The Producers, but then again, I have a disdain for Rent. But I understand that Rent continues to entertain thousands weekly and continues to employ tons of actors and technicians yearly. This goes with The Producers. While I'm not totally happy with the current state or direction of Broadway, what does comfort me is the fact that we do have long running shows that continue to have long lines. Think of Broadway in the 1980s...more shows shuttered just as quickly as they opened in that decade leaving wonderful talent out of work. I think we should be thankful that we do have shows still running. The only qualm I'd ever have with a long running show is if the cast never changed over and was in a slump. But I don't see that so much with the current state of Broadway.
Just my .02 cents!

Updated On: 2/13/06 at 05:34 PM

"With an average ticket price of $75, any discounting would have to be very limited. Otherwise, the ticket average would be down in the $60-62 range like Phantom and Rent. Obviously most people are still paying full price."

Yes I agree. But I am saying that the discounting does not appear to be boosting attendance.

Blaming THE PRODUCERS' box office failure on the timing of its release is like blaming the failure of CHITA's show on the snow - the movie going public just wasn't interested in it.

The film didn't even do well in limited release in places like New York, Chicago, and Los Angeles, so the apathy extended to literate/Broadway people as well. The moviereceived poor reviews and had non existant word of mouth, and Universal in accordance pulled the film from a wider release. I doubt it would have done much better in the summer "teen movie" season.

As in the case with RENT, I'm not trying to "bash" the film or the play for that matter, but if we are going to talk about the business side of the business we have to be honest and deal with the facts.

Perhaps THE PRODUCERS will do well on dvd and that will fuel interest in the show - but the fact remains that the show has taken a dive at the box office that coincides with the film's failure at movieplexes.

Traditionally, when movie musicals of shows still running on Broadway have flopped, the show closes within a year or so:

ANNIE, HELLO DOLLY, THE WIZ etc.

The film of CHICAGO helped the play's box office, but then of course that movie won the Best Picture Oscar.

At any rate, that's why its going to be interesting to see where THE PRODUCERS goes from here. Same thing with RENT (which I think will close within a year of its 10 year anniversary).

Updated On: 2/13/06 at 05:47 PM

why are people so hellbent on Producers and RENT closing?? ugh so annoying.

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