Broadway Grosses: Week Ending 3/19/23 — Page 2

Jordan Catalano said: "The actual show aside, the “Shucked” marketing team seems to have cracked the code that’s eluded so so many shows in the past. I have no idea what the numbers will look like once the papering and preview discounts dry up, but they’ve managed to do something really special in terms of promotion and I hope future shows take note of how shows need to be sold in the 21st century."

I totally agree! I think the Shucked social media/PR team have done a great job. I also love that they are taking the old-fashioned approach to previews by offering the seats at lower prices (I believe seats are $49 to $69 during previews)...how often have we heard people on this very board complain about paying full price for a preview performance? Because of this, you really can't be looking too closely at their weekly gross, but we should be looking at their capacity percentages...clearly their goal has been putting butts in seats to build word of mouth and, on those terms, I think they've pulled it off!

A BEAUTIFUL NOISE's average ticket has dropped down to $125 now. It was up between $150-$160 for the first three months. Probably typical grosses will hover between $800-$900k from now on. Interesting that when it's up at TKTS, the cheapest tickets have been around $95 but typically are $110-$120. Curious to see if they get a bump during the Spring/Summer.

A few observations (since I was a tourist in New York City last week):

-- I'm not surprised that the capacity numbers for Kimberly Akimbo spiked. The Wednesday matinee was sold out for weeks (still don't know why), and there were fewer empty seats on other days too. Still, there were plenty of empty seats in the rear orchestra on a Thursday night (which are fine seats in the Booth). Pretty clear the producers' strategy was to find a small theater even if it was in the fall, survive the winter, and hope for Tony nominations and awards. While I didn't personally care for the show, it's got a lane to itself, even after the splashy summer musicals open.

-- I am probably one of the few people who paid full price to see Shucked, as we decided to make a late show switch after Lea Michele called out and the only seats left were regular price. Our seats were unnecessarily good. The marketing strategy has been clever. The unknown is whether this will translate once the show isn't so cheap for people who aren't me.

-- The producers of Leopoldstadt may have made a financial mistake, but I'm glad they did, as it is an outstanding play. Seeing it on a Wednesday matinee in the fourth row of the orchestra gave me an illusory perspective of how well it's actually doing now. I agree that a Best Play win probably won't change much, although it may get a small boost as the show's closing performance looms.

-- I didn't see it, but the performance of Parade is very impressive. Might the "cliff" for prestige revivals like this be less of a factor given that it's a limited run?

-- The producers of the Sweeney Todd revival have passed their initial test by creating excitement and high demand for the show. Everyone can say this is what happens with every high-profile revival at first, and that's true to a degree, but the show is still putting up impressive numbers. The big question will come in a few months, after the show settles in. But I was struck, as I've mentioned elsewhere, by what appeared to be a younger, diverse group of people in my side orchestra seats. This may not have been reflected in the rest of the theater. Sondheim revivals are not exactly known for being big blockbusters. This one might break the pattern, but we won't know for a while.

-- As a Hadestown fan, it's nice to see such strong numbers.