Broadway Grosses: Week Ending 4/10/22

God damn paradise square

Six is going to be around forever, and when grosses finally slow one day it will move to Off-Bway and continue to rake in the $$$. It has to have some of the highest profit margins of any Bway show.

Interesting that Tina only played to 58% capacity but had a higher average ticket price than Mr. Saturday Night.

Besides Hugh Jackman, who else could command a ticket price in his stratosphere?

If Paradise Square doesn't re-start performances this weekend it's doomed.

With only three performances last week (due to COVID cancellations), the show only sold $80K in tickets last week. That's the worst of any show on Broadway. Even Hangmen, a play with half the running costs and only having TWO previews, made more money last weekend. And its average ticket price ($69.63) was almost double the average ticket to Paradise Square ($36.89)

Now that previews are over, they're only selling 74% of the house in a theatre that currently has less than 1,000 seats. That's terrible.

Even The Little Prince, which is the only show with a lower average ticket price, managed to sell an average of 350 more tickets PER PERFORMANCE. And they have fewer salaries to pay, meaning their running costs are likely lower. Paradise Square is selling 45-70% fewer tickets per week than Diana did back in December...when Omicron was keeping people away and the show was flopping.

There has to be a logical explanation of how the producers have capital to keep this thing going. And if it isn't Garth Drabinsky, someone else desperately wants to throw away their life's fortune on this...

Those are abysmal numbers for most of the plays. Even AMERICAN BUFFALO, the best of the new lot, isn't great and probably lost money or barely broke even last week.

A surprisingly strong start for Funny Girl - it did better than Mr. Saturday Night, which is interesting.

I'm surprised Mr. Saturday Night isn't doing better - I would've thought Billy Crystal would be a big draw, especially in a musical.

Jane Lynch and Beanie Feldstein are more of a draw than Billy Crystal? Or is it the Funny Girl title recognition that's giving them the boost?

ErmengardeStopSniveling said: "JBroadway said: "Jane Lynch and Beanie Feldstein are more of a draw than Billy Crystal? Or is it the Funny Girl title recognition that's giving them the boost?"

It's the title + stars that's helping FUNNY GIRL. If this were Billy Crystal in DAMN YANKEES or FORUM, the grosses might tell a different story. They've done little to promote the elements of MR. SATURDAY NIGHT beyond "it's Billy Crystal on Broadway."

2 months from now we'll have a better idea of how both those shows are doing with the general public, after initial interest goes down. But I agree, it's quite a surprise that Mr. Saturday Night isn't doing better. It's selling a lot of premium seats, though, as we can tell from the avg ticket price, but those could have mainly been the presale."

Now I want Billy Crystal in a Damn Yankees Revival.

Jane Krakowski or Ariana DeBose as Lola or BUST

ACL2006 said: "Nice week for most. We have Spring breaks this week and next, so the numbers should remain high for most."

I’m a little curious who you think is doing spring break now, I’ve never seen it this late. All schools I know are now gearing up for finals. From what I saw, the spring break rush was about two weeks ago

quizking101 said: "Now I want Billy Crystal in a Damn Yankees Revival. Jane Krakowski or Ariana DeBose as Lola or BUST"

You've got my mind turning. Let's break into the Nederlander overnight and replace MR. SATURDAY NIGHT with an A-class revival of DAMN YANKEE$:

Lola – Ariana DeBose
Devil – Billy Crystal
Joe Hardy – Ephraim Sykes
Meg Boyd - Olga Merediz
Joe Boyd - Clarke Peters
Gloria Thorpe – Jen Simard
Coach Van Buren – Brad Oscar

Directed by George C. Wolfe in screwball comedy mode, choreo by Justin Peck, and a nice big orchestra? Additional jokes or book "punchup" if needed by the Beetlejuice guys.

Updated On: 4/12/22 at 04:19 PM

It looks like the reviews for TAKE ME OUT are really helping sales - its house capacity jumped more than 10% this week - not to mention the average ticket price went up too.

ErmengardeStopSniveling said: "EvanstonDad said: "Good grief that top ticket price for Tina. What bozo is paying $249 to see a show that's less than 60% full? No wonder producers think they can gouge audiences for all they're worth."

I don't know, but it's interesting that they seem to be using a philosophy of "sell the greatest number of premium tickets possible," instead of a bunch of $70 seats. It seems to be working for them."

Tina’s chalet in the Swiss Alps doesn’t pay for itself.

Lumiere2 said: "Even Hangmen, a play with half the running costs and only having TWO previews, made more money last weekend. And its average ticket price ($69.63) was almost double the average ticket to Paradise Square ($36.89)"

And that’s with Hangmen running the $19.65 tickets (including some center orchestra) sale for the first the 3 previews!

barcelona20 said: "Interesting that Tina only played to 58% capacity but had a higher average ticket price than Mr. Saturday Night."

Tina's strategy has always been (to their detriment) to protect a high ATP while sacrificing capacity. They weren't even on TodayTix until maybe February of this year? And outside of their mailer, no discounts. They do go to the booth though. With a title and subject matter like that, tourists in the line are probably a great audience to get day-of.