Broadway Grosses: Week Ending 5/3- Page 2

[Kad]

Posted: 5/4/09 at 8:35pm

I was pleased with N2N's gross. Like others have said, it should be an inexpensive show to run. It has awesome audience response. Tony nominations should boost it, and even a great Tony performance will help with sales.

[defyingravity07]

Posted: 5/4/09 at 8:49pm

Also grosses are deceiving, the real number to look at is capacity.

The other way around.

[Candide08]

Posted: 5/4/09 at 11:04pm

I disagree. You cannot compare next to normal to most other shows. If you look at the maximum capacity at the Booth, it's only 6,000/wk. Compare that to a theatre of a similar size like the Jacobs (home of ave q) & next to normal is right on par. Bigger shows 9 to 5 might be making 600,000 but the nut for that show greatly exceeds that of n2n (which you already know).

[defyingravity07]

Posted: 5/4/09 at 11:14pm

You can never gauge how well a show is doing by capacity, it could be heavily comped. Ave. Q is at the Golden by the way.

[Barney Stinson]

Posted: 5/5/09 at 12:12am

Pretty clear you can never look at only gross or only %capacity. If N2N and 9-5 were pulling in the same gross, obviously N2N would be doing MUCH better. Meanwhile, Rock of Ages has similiar % capacity to Hair, but it's safe to say that Hair is doing better.

N2N has to have a very low op cost, but is it THAT low? Even with the small cast, smaller orch, etc, I would surmise they'd need at least $250K a week to BE. Maybe $200K?

[WiCkEDrOcKS]

Posted: 5/5/09 at 12:22am

N2N is an inexpensive show to run but it's just not the most assuring sign in the world that after such great reviews, it's still managing to take in 200,000 to 250,000 a week.

Like I said, it NEEDS that Tony. But BILLY has it in the bag. So, back to my question from after I saw the first preview, how is a show that's just making it by in terms of their weekly nut NOW going to survive this summer and (looking even further ahead) into the fall and winter.

I'm a huge fan of the show and I wish it all the best but I'm also trying to be objective, fair, and realistic. It's just the way it is...hit shows: small investments, huge investments, plays, musicals, it doesn't matter, hit shows in general are VERY hard to come by. VERY, VERY hard. And if recognizable named like SHREK and shows starring Jane Fonda are looking like they'll be financial flops, how is a little show that could like N2N going to be a hit? It's just very unrealistic.

Would I love to be proved wrong? Hell yes. I, along with many others, thought SPRING AWAKENING would flop but then again it was clearly aimed at a younger audience and was, in a way, a bit of an easier sell than N2N. Cute kids, teen angst, full-blown rock score, posters with kids jumping up and down with microphone stands, etc etc. N2N is much darker and more depressing, more more "hitting close to home" as it deals blatantly and specifically with issues in today's world, it's much more "adult." And N2N needs to totally rework their ad campaigns and fix their marketing strategies.

But my point is that if N2N is doing what we all think it is and just barely making back its weekly nut or just short of its weekly nut after all of these great reviews, it's going to need a bit more than word of mouth to sell (it's not 9 TO 5, a much more obvious word of mouth hit)...and what will that be?

Again, for the umpteenth time, I'm not doing this to rain on N2N's parade. It's a phenomenal show and I love it and am so proud of the creative team for the journey its taken to get where it is now. But I'm trying not to let that cloud my judgement on whether or not it will be a success.

End of rant. I'm preparing to be attacked, so let 'em rip.
Updated On: 5/5/09 at 12:22 AM

[JazzSquare55]

Posted: 5/5/09 at 12:48am

Why would you be attacked?

Your post was very insighftul, intelligent, and well-written.

You are a passionate fan but you are NOT naive and you are very realistic... this is great.

I honestly think it is too bad that most people can't think the same way.

[CSonBroadway]

Posted: 5/5/09 at 6:47am

WickedRocks- That was great.
Usually people will always hypnotize themselves into thinking their favorite show will be okay, even if the grosses are horrid.

[millie_dillmount]

Posted: 5/5/09 at 7:36am

Glad to see Hair is doing well! Hopefully I will see it over the summer...