Broadway Grosses: Week Ending 4/8/2007- Page 2

[Schuyler]

Posted: 4/9/07 at 7:07pm

HOw much life do you think is left in Journey's End. I promised my Niece I would take her when she is her from LA in June.

[Schuyler]

Posted: 4/9/07 at 7:07pm

HOw much life do you think is left in Journey's End. I promised my Niece I would take her when she is her from LA in June.

[BustopherPhantom]

Posted: 4/9/07 at 7:27pm

Does the "This Week's %" column mark the percent of capacity filled that week, or the percent of the money spent that week made back?

If it represented the capacity one, how could any show go over 100%?

[MargoChanning]

Posted: 4/9/07 at 7:34pm

"Percentage" is percentage of paid attendance against the theater's seating capacity. If that number is above 100%, it means that in addition to every seated being filled, there was also paid standing room business.

[BustopherPhantom]

Posted: 4/9/07 at 7:37pm

Thanks, Margo! Here's another question: sometimes I hear someone saying on these boards that a show is losing money.

How (generally) can you tell? Is there somewhere you can go to find this out?

[courtnyj]

Posted: 4/9/07 at 8:01pm

A show is losing money when it makes less in a week than it needs to cover it's weekly running costs. The weekly "nut" as it is called isn't published.

[MargoChanning]

Posted: 4/9/07 at 8:01pm

While the exact amount of a show's nut (the amount it has to gross weekly to pay its costs) is generally confidential information that's not officially reported to the general public, the information for many shows does tend to get out (insiders have posted this info here and on other boards and Riedel will occasionally put that info in his column). The range can be anywhere from around $200,000/week (occasionally less) for small non-musical plays to over $600,000 per week for the biggest musical spectacles. If you have no idea of the amount, generally speaking (and I mean VERY GENERALLY), shows are often budgeted so that as long as attendance is approx. 65-70% (though this depends on how much it is discounting and how low its average ticket price is as a result) it's probably close to breaking even. If a show's attendance drops below 60-65%, in most cases that means it lost money for that week. But AGAIN, I'm speaking very generally.

Updated On: 4/9/07 at 08:01 PM

[BDavis0092]

Posted: 4/9/07 at 8:11pm

Keep going Company! Just stay open for a little bit longer!

[danhattan]

Posted: 4/9/07 at 8:12pm

Margo-
Would you mind answering one more Margo? People are saying The Pirate Queen numbers are bad. I don't know anything about numbers/percentages/grosses but it seems like they actually did well last week, especially since it was so heavily comp'd for Opening Night etc.

*I also heard from a cast member that PQ had their biggest day at the box office the day after all the negative reviews. As a fan of the show I hope it does well and can rise above the OVERLY negative press.

[jv92]

Posted: 4/9/07 at 8:14pm

Most kids had off for Easter vacation last week. Don't count on that kind of business this week.

[MargoChanning]

Posted: 4/9/07 at 8:22pm

PIRATE QUEEN's grosses look fine to me, for now. While I have no idea what its weekly nut is, a $700,000 gross on 75% attendance seems encouraging, especially considering last week was their opening week when tons of comps are always given out, which usually cause a dip at the box office. With a reported $16 million capitalization, it has a very LONG way to go in order to recoup its investment (if the numbers stay where they are -- probably slightly profitable, but not much more -- and it doesn't become a sell-out hit, it'll take YEARS for it to recoup), but as of right now, it doesn't look to me like it's any danger of closing in the near future. We'll see where the numbers go in the next few months.

[jv92]

Posted: 4/9/07 at 8:34pm

With those reviews and without the words DISNEY PRESENTS above the title, it's bound the close within a few months. They'll be smart if they do.
Updated On: 4/9/07 at 08:34 PM

[songanddanceman2]

Posted: 4/9/07 at 8:38pm

Well done Rent yeeeah

And great to see Legally Blonde of to a strong start

[MargoChanning]

Posted: 4/9/07 at 8:46pm

Well, it doesn't appear that PQ's success or failure will have anything whatsoever to do with those reviews, which 90% of its potential audience (tourists) haven't read and could care less about. There are lots of long running hits who got reviews as bad if not worse than PQ's. I've seen many poorly received shows catch on for some reason and run for years. That's why I said let's wait and see and look what happens with the numbers. It appears to be profitable at the moment and the tourists will start coming back to town in significant numbers in the coming months as the weather gets warmer, so who knows? It could very well end up running for a while.

[mikem]

Posted: 4/9/07 at 8:50pm

Beauty and the Beast had its highest non-Xmastime gross since at least 2002 and probably ever, and it has only had one week below $650K since mid-February. Is Disney sure it wants to close the show?

[danhattan]

Posted: 4/9/07 at 9:09pm

Thank you Margo! Your imput is totally appreciated and refreshing to hear.

Off-Topic but have you seen the show yet? I always enjoy reading your reviews. Your kind of a celebrity on this board! But I have to admit, if I ever met you and you weren't a cartoon Bette Davis I'd be so sad. lol

[MargoChanning]

Posted: 4/9/07 at 9:17pm

I saw it, but since I attended the final invited dress and not a regular performance, I decided to refrain from posting a review. That said, I found that my own personal reaction to the show was more or less in line with most of the critical reviews -- the design and choreography were fine, but I had problems with various aspects of the book and score. At the end of the day it just wasn't my kind of show, though I wish it no ill will.

[FutureAladdinOnB'Way]

Posted: 4/9/07 at 10:05pm

Yay RENT made a big jump and Chorus Line went up too :).Way to go Beauty also!

[FutureAladdinOnB'Way]

Posted: 4/9/07 at 10:05pm

Double Post Updated On: 4/9/07 at 10:05 PM

[MungoGypsy8232]

Posted: 4/10/07 at 8:15pm

Not to turn this into a prediction thread for when Company will close, but with grosses as is for Company, can we expect to see this show perform at the Tony Awards (I remember reading on a thread about how revivals whose shows have closed cannot perform at the Tony Awards)