Broadway Grosses: Week Ending 5/1/22 — Page 2

Ouch to Paradise Square with the lowest avg ticket price for a musical, less than fifty bucks. Looks like they ran out of people to paper the place with, too. OOF.

Sadly, Paradise Square is not long for this world.

I feel like Paradise Square has gotten like..0 promotion. I don't really hear any buzz about it word of mouth either.

OhHiii, it's worth noting that several Sondheim revivals have recouped. Off the top of my head Sunday '17, Night Music '09, Sweeney '05, and Forum '96. But yes, Sondheim's work is esoteric and not necessarily appealing to the masses. That this COMPANY has done so well up to this point is pretty impressive.

I have never let NYC crime scare me but as a young, Asian woman, between the crime and Covid - I’m hesitant to come into the city these days. I live in Jersey and I used to either take the bus or train in, or park at Port Authority all the time and now I drive in and park as close to the theatre as possible. I don’t take the subway anymore.

As for tickets, I bought Into the Woods and Company MONTHS ago, and still plan on going next week but, I’ve got nothing else lined up and I honestly don’t plan on buying anything in the near future.

Updated On: 5/3/22 at 03:47 PM

JasonC3 said: "As someone who usually travels to NYC 5-6 times a year for a week of shows, I've rarely seen such high airfares and hotel rates going into the summer months. It makes me wonder how much impact that might have on shows going forward."

This. I'm coming to the city for an intensive next month, and I'm stumped trying to find somewhere to stay that won't cost my firstborn (not that I have kids, but you know). And I travel to the city quite frequently too, and am very crafty at finding affordable stuff.

As some have said, part of this is simply time of year. Spring breaks are over AND the school year is winding down- which means kids/families are busy with end of year performances/events, and for older kids, end-of- year school projects/tests/teacher trying to fit more in by the end of the year. Might the downturn wind up forcing some shows to close? Yes, especially new shows which don't get many nominations (or down the roads, Tonys). The producers likely have some idea of seasonal trends, and the longer running shows (who have already made back their investment) may be in a position to look at the "long haul"- they may lose money in certian months, but other months more than make up for it.

This is just my opinion but I still think there is MUCH more of a COVID effect than a crime effect...

Consider that people still may not be attending for one or more of the following reasons:
- they are not comfortable being in a crowded theater
- COVID numbers are rising again
- they are concerned about travel for COVID reasons
- they don't want to wear a mask
- they are not vaccinated (as per policy until 4/30)

One of those issues might not make much of a dent but when you take all five into account, that's going to hurt the "general public" tickets. Sure, many excited theatergoers who love Broadway have come back but there is absolutely a sizable part of the 2019 Broadway attending crowd that has not come back yet for one COVID related reason or another.

Updated On: 5/3/22 at 05:42 PM

I live here and from fairly extensive anecdotal evidence this season can attest: it’s far more about Covid than crime. If about crime at all. I know traditional Manhattan theatergoers who’ve yet to return or attended only once. A friend is flying in from Chicago in two weeks and for the first time ever is skipping Broadway. Most local friends have similar stories.

Could all change but the rising travel costs put the focus back on tri-state audiences, the attendees we began the season discussing as the core, foundational group needed for winter weeknights and midweek matinees. Those are my performances and I have found house seats on TDF for both, all season.

Plus, as experts here school us: there are a helluva lot of shows open this jammed of a season closer and only so much demand.

Updated On: 5/3/22 at 06:39 PM

HogansHero said: "I am not sure I have ever seen a thread with as much concentrated cluelessness as is on display in this one. Let's review:

1. To quote the first Bill Clinton campaign war room: "it's the economy, stupid."

2. To paraphrase Alfred Marshall: it's the law of supply and demand, stupid.

3. To attempt to peg this week's numbers to crime does not hold up under even minimal scrutiny: is all of the crime risk inside Broadway theatres?

4. To attempt to peg this week's numbers to covid does not hold up under even minimal scrutiny: is all of the covid risk inside Broadway theatres?

Sorry, friends, but there is no mystery here. We've known since the great reopening that we were getting too many shows for the demand. Then we hit the great April traffic jam. Once again we all knew that too many shows were opening in too short a time frame, with the soft market that we also knew about all along. So what do we get? Shows competing with each other to give away tickets and STILL coming up short. But yeah, clueless friends, keep up the good work.

P.S. Paradise will close whenever whoever is currently financing the misbegotten bleeding (that started week 1 and has never slowed down) decides to pull the plug (or we get to the point that someone else wants the house which, logically, is a way off."

I agree with all that you said but the soft market is and has been because of COVID, not crime. That was my point. I'm not saying it's suddenly a COVID reason in the last week, it's a collective issue that there is a large contingency of theater goers who have not stepped foot back in a Broadway theatre. And like you said, that's more noticeable when there's more shows playing and it's not a holiday/break. But it all still goes back to COVID in my opinion.

Mr. Wormwood said: "I agree with all that you said but the soft market is and has been because of COVID, not crime. That was my point. I'm not saying it's suddenly a COVID reason in the last week, it's a collective issue that there is a large contingency of theater goers who have not stepped foot back in a Broadway theatre. And like you said, that's more noticeable when there's more shows playing and it's not a holiday/break. But it all still goes back to COVID in my opinion."

totally agree. Perhaps I was imprecise but we are where we are because of Covid. I was reacting to the unsupportable notion that the lack of audience this week could be attributed to the most recent covid fluctuations. There is a large market share that has never returned to the theatre post-covid. It was noticeable over the least touristed frames this year, and it is painfully obvious at MTC, RTC, LCT. That's not the share that's making Jackman a champ.

Well I can say as someone who only a couple years ago would make frequent trips into the city to spend a small fortune on shows. I agree completely with the assessment:

-I have no interest going to a show while masks and disclosure of medical information is in place

- No interest in going to a city with such a rise in crime and deterioration (and I say this as someone who for a decade was completely in love with the city

- My theatre friends have said before they have no interest in going until the “evening” atmosphere is back of stage door and no masks etc

- Also the flat fact in the price inflations has made it lesser if importance in life



this comes from myself being a theatre producer up North. I will say until the industry is willing to return in full. There will be a struggle

Interestingly enough, for many years, this week has seen a steep decline in Broadway attendance. This is a very "back to business" week. Spring break season ends, trimesters at colleges pick back up, parents attend graduations, families attend reunions, etc etc...spring is a time for making insular plans.

I expect we'll see a nice rebound over the Memorial Day weekend.

One thing I will say for New York; audiences (be they tourist or local) are seemingly unafraid to go to the theatre. I was looking at Ticketmaster seat maps for Chicago commercial productions/tours and it boggled me a bit.

Updated On: 5/3/22 at 08:46 PM