Broadway Grosses: Week Ending 4/7/19 — Page 3

In its initial run, or The Producers), it was never really dependent on its star for business; when Zero left, it still sold out. Dolly's business tended to depend on who the lead was. Not so, Fiddler.

It did go on to become the longest running show in Broadway history, back when Times Square was as uninviting as it probably ever has been, when tourism was pretty minimal (there were always well-to-do out-out-of-towners, but their numbers paled in comparison to tourists today), pre-internet sales, pre-credit card sales, pre-TV advertising. It really was a phenomenon in its day. I was a kid at the time, and remember being annoyed that it had dethroned HD, because I enjoyed HD much more (I probably was too young at the time to truly appreciate Fiddler).

VintageSnarker said: "How expensive it is to run The Cher Show? For some reason the numbers for that show and Pretty Woman confound me. I can't tell if they're doing well or not."

I have a friend who invested in it, says he fixed costs aren't huge (like $500k?) but Cher's personal royalty cut is enormous - 40%!! Plus theater rent, fees, etc - I wouldn't be surprised if it needed $800k to break even weekly.

No idea re: Pretty Woman, although I think enthusiasm has very clearly fizzled out. I'd be surprised if it lasted into 2020.

Bearing in mind there was no social media back in the late '80s, PHANTOM easily had as much impact as HAMILTON. Sure it didn't have crazed fans declaring eternal love online, but it was EVERYWHERE- in the media, in the mainstream charts repeatedly, and people where willing to pay any price for tickets.

Michael Crawford, ALW and Hal Prince all secured their places in the pantheon with PHANTOM and ALW and Cameron invented a whole new way to sell musical theatre.