Broadway Grosses: Week Ending 5/19/19 — Page 2

JSquared2 said: "Mike Barrett said: "I just don’t think Frankie and Johnny could have picked a worse time to open. There’s an insane amount of quality plays this season, some of which are doing/had done really well with grosses. I think if this began in August, as most plays are wrapping up and not heating up, this show could garner more attention. It’s just in the middle of everything right now, so it just gets grouped in with everything rather than standing out at all."

Audra has a TV series, and I'm sure Michael Shannon has a busy film schedule -- I'm sure the producerstook the window they had."

Yes, but doesn’t mean it was right for them still, clearly as the grosses are abysmal. Just curious, and that cast is much larger, but how did The Boys In The Band do last season? I can see it doing better simply based on the show, and the cast. Not that Audra and Shannon aren’t exciting, but for the general public standpoint, sadly Audra I just don’t think is a strong enough sell for a straight play. And Michael Shannon, great as he is, is not someone I’d spend $200 to see. This is not to discredit their performance at all, but with everything else opening right now, this gets completely lost in the shuffle. An August opening for previews I think would have helped a lot.

The Boys in the Band was like attending a party, it was great fun. It was the first play to recoup for the 18-19 season. Hugely successful, top notch talent, and some of the most beautiful men in the world. Can't really top that.

a few quick points:

1. I don't think Seller has skin in the Cher Show; I think he is pretty much along for the ride, in effect exec producing but with a producer share since otherwise it is a rudderless ship.

2. The percentage of gross numbers don't mean a huge amount in isolation. If you set your prices higher, your percentage goes down, and v/v. To me it is of less concern (at least for the moment) than, say, Gary, which has a marginally higher percentage and much worse prognosis. I am not optimistic but I am saying it still has a path for a few days.

ACL2006 said: "A win for Block will also help. The Fall will be the test for this show."

Statistically, acting awards do not move the needle for ticket sales substantially. A solid Tony performance with Cher would have more impact on the b.o. But yes, Fall will be the test.

quizking101 said: "Many shows have since begun to block and tech for the Tonys at Radio City, and Cher is on tour through the end of May"

Which shows are you specifically referring to? The norm is that Radio City rehearsals begin the week before the Tonys, though shows may rehearse at their own theatre before that.

They'll easily be able to plug Cher into a number the week of, she's performed with the cast enough already. Even James Corden probably hasn't done much rehearsing.

Updated On: 5/20/19 at 08:13 PM

DAME said: "But will Bette perform?"

Not without a passarelle

I arrived late Friday night and arrived at the TKTS booth at 7:55 pm. We got tickets to Tootsie, fifth row mezzanine on the sides. The large Marquis was pretty full, the audience a bit younger than I expected. I'm no expert but the numbers seem fine and the audience reaction was what I would want if I was a producer: a lot of laughter.

One of the show's advantages is that it's a cheap ticket. That may not be great for the show's gross potential numbers, but $1.3 million a week seems fine. I don't think Tootsie needs a Tony win, because it has a fallback as the funny musical comedy.

Aside from being new musicals up for Tony awards, Tootsie and Hadestown (which I will see Wednesday) are aiming for different audiences and have appropriately different marketing strategies. Tootsie is aiming for a broader audience, is in a big theater, and doesn't have 'high art' aspirations. Hadestown is in a small theater and is charging big bucks for a unique experience. Hadestown needs the Tony win more, I think.

Meanwhile, the Ain't Too Proud producers don't have to worry about any of that.

How is Mean Girls doing? The music still seems terrible to me but I'm tempted to go while most of the original cast is still in it.

Maybe it'll take a little longer to see a result but I'm disappointed there wasn't a bigger bump for My Fair Lady after they announced their closing. If there's no change then maybe they really did run through the audience who wants to see it. I know there are lots of regional and amateur productions but I'm sad for what that might mean for classic revivals on Broadway and also because the current cast is SO GOOD and people should be seeing those performances/the statement of the show as a whole. I've rarely wanted something to be filmed so badly.

I hope they're cooking up some stunt casting at Waitress to really juice the grosses.

VintageSnarker said: "How is Mean Girls doing? The music still seems terrible to me but I'm tempted to go while most of the original cast is still in it.

Maybe it'll take a little longer to see a result but I'm disappointed there wasn't a bigger bump for My Fair Lady after they announced their closing. If there's no change then maybe they really did run through the audience who wants to see it. I know there are lots of regional and amateur productions but I'm sad for what that might mean for classic revivals on Broadway and also because the current cast is SO GOOD and people should be seeing those performances/the statement of the show as a whole. I've rarely wanted something to be filmed so badly.

I hope they're cooking up some stunt casting at Waitress to really juice the grosses."

I went to Mean Girls recently and it's in great shape. Listen to the cast recording a couple times before going if you're still not set on the score - I honestly believe it is highly underrated on this forum. It is not like "Pretty Woman", a banal pop-trash score with awful lyrics (and I'm a Bryan Adams fan!). It reminds me a lot of Legally Blonde - yes it's trashy but underlying this trashiness is at least a moderate bit of craft and satire.

I like:

* It Roars

* Where do you belong?

* Meet the plastics

* What's wrong with me

* Stop

* More is Better

* I'd rather be me

* I see stars

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