Broadway Grosses: Week Ending 3/13

[Rob]

Posted: 3/14/11 at 3:06pm

Click below to access all the grosses from all the shows for the week ending 3/13/2011 in BroadwayWorld.com's grosses section.

Also, you will find information on each show's historical grosses, cumulative grosses and other statistics on how each show stacked up this week and in the past.

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

[fingerlakessinger]

Posted: 3/14/11 at 3:11pm

Yikes "Addams Family"
I don't think the show can live without Nathan...I THINK...not sure

And Spidey barley makes it's nut...or did it?

[bwayphreak234]

Posted: 3/14/11 at 3:12pm

Ouch La Cage... Pretty good week for most shows!

[Patti LuPone FANatic]

Posted: 3/14/11 at 3:13pm

Wow... I hope the business for "La Cage" picks up. I'm flying out tomorrow to NYC (March 15-Wicked; March 16-Lombardi, Priscilla and March 17- Chicago). Say Hi! from RC in Austin, Texas...

[bjh2114]

Posted: 3/14/11 at 3:15pm

Kathy Griffin made more money in 3 shows than La Cage made in 8 shows... not good.

[chickfila]

Posted: 3/14/11 at 3:26pm

New drinking game - everyone down a shot when you see the words "nut" or "ouch" in this thread.

Not sure why the use of these words by arm chair Broadway investors and producers bother me so.

[bjh2114]

Posted: 3/14/11 at 3:28pm

Haven't you tried to make this joke before?

[chickfila]

Posted: 3/14/11 at 3:32pm

Not a joke. I've already downed two shots.

[bjh2114]

Posted: 3/14/11 at 3:33pm

Haha, good for you.

[averagebwaynut]

Posted: 3/14/11 at 3:38pm

Actually, I'm somewhat encouraged to see that Addams fell by less than $100K. Looking back at the numbers, in Nathan's vacation week last Fall, they fell by $350K. And I think they had at least two lower-grossing weeks while Nathan was actually still in the show.

To me, it seems like a continuation of last week's drop, where Addams didn't take quite the same hit, perhaps because it was Nathan's final week. This past week, they had no Nathan AND no Roger Rees, though it's debatable how much Rees really matters (if at all).

In any case, $721K ain't too bad and without one star salary and/or percentage this past week, figuring they did around $650K net, they probably broke even. Will be interesting to see if they can join the upward trend this week or at least once Rees joins the show next week.

In the meantime, I really hope the Christopher Sieber fan club is in full "red alert" mode because without some help, it looks he's done a heckuva lot of work for a show that won't be around much longer. Shame, as I'm interested to go back and see him in the role.

As for Spidey, I don't think anyone on this board, myself included, is qualified to assess whether it's breaking even on an operating basis -- unless you have access to the accounting statements. My guess is that what they budgeted to spend on a weekly basis and what they're actually spending week to week very likely bear no resemblance to one another. But at best, it's an educated guess. Plus, the "extra" money they are spending could also be accounted for in a number of different ways. Suffice it to say that on an operating basis, they're doing OK...but not as well as they need to be.

[ACL2006]

Posted: 3/14/11 at 3:59pm

LOVING the numbers for Book of Mormon!!! I'm sure their numbers will only continue to climb. I hope the numbers for La Cage pick up now that Seiber is with the cast. I'm suprised Griffin didn't opt to add a few more shows, but I guess there's only so many shows she could do in the limited amount of time the theater is giving her.

Updated On: 3/14/11 at 03:59 PM

[Justaguy2]

Posted: 3/14/11 at 4:47pm

Ouch! My nut has a nutty ouchy ouch on it. That's Nuts!

[beautywickedlover]

Posted: 3/14/11 at 4:50pm

Very good start for "Anything Goes." "Catch Me If You Can" also got off to a nice start. I think word of mouth will help increase its grosses as the weeks go by. "Mary Poppins," "Phantom," and "Mamma Mia" got some boosts since it was the first weekend of spring break.

Updated On: 3/14/11 at 04:50 PM

[GhostLite]

Posted: 3/14/11 at 4:53pm

I think averagebwaynut is putting some nice spin on the AF numbers. AF was the only "open" musical on the boards playing to 8 shows that dropped w/e 3/13. Dropping $90K isn't chump change especially in a week when everyone else is up. The theory above AF drop last week is a continuation of Nathan's final week, and if Roger Rees won't necessarily provide a boost to sales on his name alone (along with Bebe) then where will the audiences come from? Shows like Phantom, Billy Elliott, Mamma Mia along with family friendly fare such as Mary Poppins and Lion King all saw significant increases due to increased tourism (spring break, etc) and the new shows on the horizon will only make it more difficult for AF to climb back up. It's good news to hear that their grosses increase over the next week weeks but is it enough? They are currently playing to 73.33% capacity (by way of example last week played to 75% so they most likely thru some comps in w/e 3/13 to fill some houses). The other thing to watch over the next few weeks is AF average ticket price. Can Roger and Bebe together keep their average where it Nathan had it, or will we see more discounting in the near future?

[averagebwaynut]

Posted: 3/14/11 at 6:09pm

So glad you joined (or re-joined?) the board today and have started off in your first post with such optimism! :)

I'm not sure I'd call it "spin" -- I'll leave that to press agents and other folks who are still involved in the business (which I'm not any longer) -- but yes, I certainly am seeing the glass as half-full vs. half-empty for Addams.

Simply put, Nathan left the show, no one of major note replaced him, and Addams dropped $90K (around 11% of its prior week's gross), to a respectable number at which it can likely continue to run at breakeven.

This stands in contrast to "American Idiot" which dropped $900K and nearly 75% when Billie Joe played his final stint in the show. It stands in contrast to the $134,000+ ($22%) that "La Cage" dropped after Kelsey left (and that was President's weekend, a traditionally terrific week!). Heck, even "Next to Normal" was down $110K ($28%) in the week after Alice Ripley left last summer. Not to mention shows like "Promises, Promises" that didn't even find it worth continuing at all without their stars.

Yes, the rest of the street was up. So maybe Addams will have to resign itself to not being in the top 5-6 shows for a bit, or perhaps anymore. That's entirely possible. Or perhaps it will regain its footing and settle into the same sort of seasonal roller coaster that shows like "Mamma Mia" and "Mary Poppins" are on (albeit earlier in its run than either of those two shows). But for now, I'm encouraged by the fact that they lost one of the biggest musical theatre stars of all time and didn't drop like a stone.

One smaller point: just from a math perspective, I'm not sure I understand your conclusion about comps. Sure, it's possible they comped. I would have no way of knowing (nor would you?). But it seems more likely to me that they simply sold more inventory at a discount this week vs. last week. The percentage of capacity would therefore not show a huge change but it would show up (and did) far more noticeably in the percentage of gross potential.

[GhostLite]

Posted: 3/14/11 at 6:25pm

I certainly hope that AF doesn't drop similar to LaCage and American Idiot, two current productions proving that the title doesn't sell, the right star does. Or the right star in the right show. Mamma Mia and Mary Poppins have each sustained long runs thanks to international tourists and family branding, respectively, so I'm not necessarily sure where AF goes from here. The next few weeks/months will certainly be important in AF's future, in my opinion. Can Bebe hold her own or must the male lead be the star? I don't think the scale has tipped either way on this show yet like it did for AI and like LaCage is showing without a bankable star to keep grosses up. Is AF bankable on product alone? Time will tell.

It's true that discounts could have kept AF's capacity near what it was in Nathan's final week (vs. comps), which is another tell of the show's strength without Nathan. Is it deeper discounting without him, or just more of it, especially during the busy spring?

It sure will be an interesting spring with some of the 2010 shows and what future they hold with the new crop coming in....

[Mr Roxy]

Posted: 3/14/11 at 6:59pm

Will they be looking for a name to replace Rees when his contract runs out? Ditto for Bebe

[wdwfreak]

Posted: 3/14/11 at 7:03pm

I could easily see AF closing at the end of the summer, just like The Little Mermaid did, to end with winning weeks instead of trying to survive the dead of fall.

[averagebwaynut]

Posted: 3/14/11 at 7:08pm

Mr. Roxy makes a good point which could affect WDW's prediction. If they can keep a decent name of some kind in the show, I could see that, coupled with the brand, sustaining them for a while. Maybe not at a wildly profitable level, but perhaps at a modest profit (with some seasonal loss weeks) The tour starting in the Fall should help too.

I think it was announced that Bebe is in through June. So if they are getting a star, we could expect an announcement by what? Say, end of April (so they have some time to build sales momentum on that name)?

[kyl3fong2]

Posted: 3/14/11 at 7:47pm

Are those numbers for "Catch Me If You Can" good? I am really rooting for the show to do well on Broadway.