Broadway Grosses: Week Ending 6/18/23- Page 2

[BossBroadway]

Posted: 6/20/23 at 6:08pm

How does the loan taken out for SLIH work? Is the total added to the capitalization, or just the interest? Is it somehow built into the weekly running costs, or paid off before recoupment or added to the loss at the end of the run?

I'm pretty sure the loan for SLIH was from Mariah Carey...because it's initial investment was $16.5 million before she joined and after it was $19 million. I'd imagine they would pay that off first since it's more of a loan situation, but they're probably putting some money away for the other investors. 

I wonder if what truly killed Hadestown's chances of lasting was resigning Eva and Reeve for a long term contract.

This is definitely what killed them. It's started to feel stale and it needs new life. They need new leads. Not even a stunt cast, just new cast members to keep the broadway community coming back. 

[DAME]

Posted: 6/20/23 at 6:08pm

I believe with Funny Girl .. the stars return from vacation helped.. but the Tony show performance also had a positive effect.  Looking at what is available on SeatGeek.. I suspect the Lea performances available on TKTS might be winding down.  That is not to say that there isn't good availability.  So if you are wanting to see it with Lea at decent prices go now.   Benko has other performances scheduled in addition to her Thursdays.  So there are good options out there.  Just know what you are buying.   Nice to see all these shows getting bumps.  Especially Kimberly.

Updated On: 6/20/23 at 06:08 PM

[spicemonkey]

Posted: 6/20/23 at 6:13pm

Do we know how long Eva / Reeve will be staying with the show

and I agree, this show needs new leads.

[chrishuyen]

Posted: 6/20/23 at 6:16pm

If the show's really closing in January (which I suspect unless anything major changes), I think Reeve and Eva would stay with it til the end.  And it seems like one of them wouldn't leave without the other.

[perfectpenguin]

Posted: 6/20/23 at 6:18pm

spicemonkey said: "Do we know how long Eva / Reeve will be staying with the show

and I agree, this show needs new leads."

I don’t mind Eva. Reeve needs to go. I’ve said from day one he’s the weak link of the cast. I won’t see the show unless it’s an Orpheus understudy. There’s also a Hades understudy who’s primarily a worker that’s not good. And a Fate who’s just going through the motions and hopefully doesn’t resign. 

[ACL2006]

Posted: 6/20/23 at 6:23pm

spicemonkey said: "Do we know how long Eva / Reeve will be staying with the show

and I agree, this show needs new leads."

I agree. their average ticket price has been around $100-$110 all year. However, the majority of 2023 they've been over 90% capacity. So they're packing the theater but with low ticket prices. A name to replace either Reeve or Eva would boost the show.

[alovingfan]

Posted: 6/20/23 at 6:37pm

DAME said: "I believe with Funny Girl .. the stars return from vacation helped.. but the Tony show performance also had a positive effect. Looking at what is available on SeatGeek.. I suspect the Lea performances available on TKTS might be winding down. That is not to say that there isn't good availability. So if you are wanting to see it with Lea at decent prices go now. Benko has other performances scheduled in addition to her Thursdays. So there are good options out there. Just know what you are buying. Nice to see all these shows getting bumps. Especially Kimberly."

Yes.  I bet next week is the last week we get Lea nights at the booth.  I also hope Benkos last show gets a booster from her cult.  It would be nice for Funny Girl to end at a full 100% capacity.  

[Voter]

Posted: 6/20/23 at 6:40pm

Eva and Reeve: “we won’t leave this show unless it closes!”

 

producers: “about that…”

[SmokeyLady]

Posted: 6/20/23 at 6:44pm

alovingfan said: "DAME said: "I believe with Funny Girl .. the stars return from vacation helped.. but the Tony show performance also had a positive effect. Looking at what is available on SeatGeek.. I suspect the Lea performances available on TKTS might be winding down. That is not to say that there isn't good availability. So if you are wanting to see it with Lea at decent prices go now. Benko has other performances scheduled in addition to her Thursdays. So there are good options out there. Just know what you are buying. Nice to see all these shows getting bumps. Especially Kimberly."

Yes. I bet next week is the last week we get Lea nights at the booth. I also hope Benkos last show gets a booster from her cult. It would be nice for Funny Girl to end at a full 100% capacity.

"

Benko nights have been a hard sell.  This show needs its star.  I can't see how this show makes any money on the road.  Hello Dolly had a very difficult time with Betty Buckley as the name above the title.  

[perfectpenguin]

Posted: 6/20/23 at 6:59pm

What do you mean by “Lea nights at the booth”?

[Bette's Turban]

Posted: 6/20/23 at 7:49pm

perfectpenguin said: "What do you mean by “Lea nights at the booth”?"

I think she means Lea performances being sold at the discount booth. 

[ErmengardeStopSniveling]

Posted: 6/20/23 at 7:57pm

Show Me said: "How does the loan taken out for SLIH work? Is the total added to the capitalization, or just the interest? Is it somehow built into the weekly running costs, or paid off before recoupment or added to the loss at the end of the run?"

I’m not going to get into who put up the loan — it could have been Shubert themselves, and likely was not Mariah C — but what’s most common to keep a show running is a Priority Loan. A priority loan gets paid back before any money goes back to the investors. So if (for clean numbers) in one week a show grosses $700K and it cost $500K, then $200k goes to the loan provider. And a PL could be any amount, but is usually a few million.

A PL is usually (but not always) done post-opening when an infusion of cash is needed. Tho some tricky producers finance part of the show via PL (Great Comet did this).

It’s pretty rare that a show with a PL ultimately recoups on Broadway. Gents Guide and Smokey Joe’s are the two most famous examples of failing shows with a PL that turned around.

[Sutton Ross]

Posted: 6/20/23 at 8:02pm

spicemonkey said: "Do we know how long Eva / Reeve will be staying with the show

and I agree, this show needs new leads."

They were wonderful when I saw it...in September of 2019. Eva said she is never leaving the show until she's dead and Reeve is her partner. It's adorable and people might go see them because they are in a couple in real life? I don't know but some fresh leads wouldn't hurt. 

 

 

[Patti LuPone FANatic]

Posted: 6/20/23 at 8:54pm

I do hope I get a chance to visit NYC before Funny Girl ends.  I specifically want to see Julie Benko.   

[n2nbaby]

Posted: 6/20/23 at 9:29pm

It’s hilarious that some people are saying Hadestown’s grosses are dipping because Reeve and Eva are still in it. I haven’t seen it since a month after it won the Tony, so I’m not sure what their performances are like now - but 97% of the people going to see Hadestown don’t even know who anyone in the cast is lol

[BossBroadway]

Posted: 6/20/23 at 9:43pm

Hadestown's grosses are depleting for multiple reasons. One of them being that it's been running for a few years and the tour started right when Broadway reopened. The people that were tourists have already seen it. Now, those seeing it are return attendees. But, they're starting to get tired of the same performance over and over again. Bringing in new leads will give the show a new life, new audience, and higher ticket prices. Return attendees will pay full price for this show if there's someone new in the cast, especially if it's the two leads. Hadestown doesn't need a stunt cast, they just need a new cast. Those who think Hadestown is in good shape are laughable. It's peak tourist season and they're barely hitting 700k. 

[Ke3]

Posted: 6/20/23 at 10:05pm

I wonder more often about what staying with the show so long will do to Eva's career trajectory. She did a movie very early on but essentially all she's done is Saigon and Hadestown.

[PipingHotPiccolo]

Posted: 6/20/23 at 10:26pm

BossBroadway said: "

I wonder if what truly killed Hadestown's chances of lasting was resigning Eva and Reeve for a long term contract.

This is definitely what killed them. It's started to feel stale and it needs new life. They need new leads. Not even a stunt cast, just new cast members to keep the broadway community coming back."

I really can't follow this thinking. There are a few hundred people who might go back to see the show with Eva's and Reeve's replacements (and I am one of them), but thats it. Do people really think that the people who post on this board represent more than a tiny fraction of a percentage point of Bway attendance? 99% (literally, 99% at least) of the people who see Hadestown have no idea who Reeve or Eva are, and would happily see it with or without them.

There is simply no possible way to compute any relationship between Eva/Reeve being "stale" and ticket sales.

[RippedMan]

Posted: 6/20/23 at 10:39pm

I saw Hadestown on Bway and didn’t get it. Sure, Sheilds is  veteran but not a fantastic singer, and, to me, I did not like Reeves at all. I saw it on tour with Levi as the narrator who SANG that role. And with a lead couple you carried about and I loved it. So I’d agree. It’s just stale. And Reeves should go. But it’s also had a great run and will live on regionally. 

[BossBroadway]

Posted: 6/20/23 at 10:42pm

A show running as long as it has with a popular national tour means that ticket sales will go down, especially when the leads have stayed the exact same. Even Josh Groban or Ben Platt's sales in their respective shows would decrease after 2 and a half years. Most people seeing Hadestown have already seen the show. It's not running off of being a former best musical winner. It's not even running on tourism. If it was, it wouldn't be barely hitting 700k. Regardless of the reason of Hadestown's lack of sales, it's nearing the end of its lifespan. 

[bear88]

Posted: 6/20/23 at 10:52pm

I’m mystified by this whole Eva/Reeve chatter, perhaps because my daughter and her boyfriend saw the musical on Tony Awards Sunday. My daughter saw the show on Broadway in 2019 and loved it, was underwhelmed by the tour except for a few performers (the show gets a little lost in larger venues), and really enjoyed it nine days ago - especially Eva and Reeve. 

The box office numbers aren’t strong, but it’s still plodding along at a time when all the excitement is with the new shows. I assume it closes in January at the latest. Noblezada is still in her 20s. She’s not ruining her career by staying with a successful Broadway musical and getting to spend time with her boyfriend. As for Carney, people have been complaining about him for years. I have seen another actor in the role. It’s not that different.

The average tourist doesn’t care who is in the show.

 

[Mr. Wormwood]

Posted: 6/20/23 at 11:04pm

Yeah, the Reeve/Eva talk is just silly. I didn't like Reeve in the part either but the number of people seeing Hadestown who actually know or care who is playing those roles is a tiny, tiny fraction of the overall attendance. The show has just been open for awhile now and it's not a Hamilton or Lion King. If it does close up shop in the next few months (which I think it will), it's just because it has run its course, not because of the leads. Come on.

[AKarp2013]

Posted: 6/20/23 at 11:45pm

It's so strange to think of Hadestown as being a long-runner considering it's only been running for roughly three years when you discount those lovely 18 months when the world ended.

I would say that a January 2024 closing seems appropriate for the production. Announce a closing over the summer, make a strong profit in its final months, and go out with a bang over the holidays.

Then again, I was convinced not too long ago that it was going to shudder in January of this year.

[EDSOSLO858]

Posted: 6/20/23 at 11:57pm

Frankly, I stopped caring about Hadestown in New York after André, Patrick, and Amber left the cast. Not unlike Dear Evan Hansen, there was something very special about that original company, and when some of the OGs started leaving, it lost its luster. 

It's had a great run and will probably be one of the 80 longest-running shows in history by the time it closes.

[PipingHotPiccolo]

Posted: 6/21/23 at 12:15am

BossBroadway said: Most people seeing Hadestown have already seen the show. "

This is off the charts disconnected from reality, and is leading you to a number of wildly incorrect assumptions. If you want to believe that more than 1% of Hadestown's audience are repeat viewers--let alone repeat viewers who would e repeating more frequently if only Eva/Reeve would move on--be my guest. Some people think the Earth is flat. What can ya do

Of course, as someone who has seen the show twice i would happily go again to see the right Hermes, Eurydice, Orpheus team. And i'm hoping the show runs long enough that I get to!

But a rush of sold out performances if, say, Nicholas Barasch replaces Reeve? Lol.