Broadway Grosses: Week Ending 3/17/19 — Page 3

DallasS said: "quizking101 said: "But I also think that the producers overestimated the amount of Boomers who want to spend $120+ to see a musical retrospective about her life when it’s entirely feasible to spend about the same (or sometimes less) to still see the real Cher on tour"

This is exactly the case I think right now with her big Mamma Mia Abba world tour going on.I would have loved to have seen The Cher Show...I love SJB..I came to NYC the first weekend in February, but as I was planning my trip in early January and buying show ticketsI saw that the real Cher was on tour only a couple hours from me at the end of January and upper level seats were $35.....i ofcourse decided to go see the real Cher and choose different shows for New York."

That's a very good point. I love SJB but for Cher fans with limited budgets I bet they'd much rather see the real Cher perform.

MadsonMelo said: "Cher Shows costs 1M a week? What? Is this King Kong??"



If The Cher Show has a weekly nut of 1M a week someone needs to be investigated for fraud. It would be fiscally irresponsible for a show to have a nut above a million a week. As of now we only know of 2 shows that have had nuts at $1 million dollars. One was Spiderman, a spectacle driven musical, and Motown, which only cost so much due to Barry Gordy's obscene royalties triple dipping royalty deal, on top of the various royalty deals for each song, since they couldn't just do a lump sum royalty deal for all the music like Jersey Boys, or Beautiful.

The Cher Show is probably expensive to run simply because of the costumes. 400+ I think? Set isn't anything grand. But I think the show would benefit if it changed its performance schedule. The weeknight shows aren't selling while the matinees & weekends sell-out. Would the producers consider a Thursday matinee instead of a Thursday evening come the Fall? A Sunday evening instead of a Thursday evening? Wednesday & Sunday evening at 7pm, Wednesday, Thursday & Saturday & Sunday matinees at 2pm, Friday & Saturday evenings at 8pm.

Updated On: 3/21/19 at 08:07 PM

"I don't understand why more shows don't follow Phantom's lead and schedule their weekday matinees on days other than Wednesday. Why continually compete with everyone else, when you could make yourself the only option (or at least one of very few) on another day?"

I agree and think it is a great idea but you would really have to market that fact because people just assume matinees are on Wednesday and Saturday.

SomethingPeculiar said: "Changing a production's playing schedule usually has minimal positive impact...if people really want to see a show, they'll find a way to get there that works with their schedule."

I respectfully disagree. I don't live in NY, but typically visit 1-3 times per year specifically to see shows. When selecting my travel dates, I try to pick days that will provide me with the most show slots. I know that Phantom's Thursday matinee means I can always see it without giving up another show, so they always get my money (literally every time I'm up there). If other shows had matinees on days other than Wednesday, I'd have more slots to fill and wouldn't have to skip some shows that I'm interested in. During my June 2019 trip, I'll be missing To Kill a Mockingbird, Pretty Woman, and The Cher Show; if any of them had a matinee on a day other than Wednesday, they'd be getting my money.

Right, Lot666, but it's a mater of getting 1000-1500 people into the theatre on a different weekday. If a show's already doing well, there's no reason to make that switch. Data probably suggests that an added evening show (Sunday or Monday) will have a more lucrative impact than switching the weekday matinee day, but it's case-by-case.

Phantom is a branded entertainment that appeals almost exclusively to tourists, so it can get away with an unusual performance schedule. I'll also point out that most people don't love Phantom as much as you do, going by your username and the number of times you've seen it.

poisonivy2 said: "Never underestimate the price gouging of royalties. I remember Hello Dolly had a weekly nut of over 800k bc Jerry Hermann charges an arm and a leg for royalties."

Hello Dolly had a high weekly nut because Bette Midler was reportedly making $150K a week + a percentage of the box office and merch (and probably got a bump after winning the Tony, and another bump for her return engagement). And when the star's making big bucks, the authors, director, co-stars, and other key personnel are going to clean up, too. Plus... Big cast, big title, big orchestra, big design, big crew, big advertising, big production, big $$$$.

Updated On: 3/21/19 at 02:40 PM