Broadway Grosses: Week Ending 6/19/22 — Page 2

Broadway.com posts top and bottom 5 rankings of capacity and gross and I just saw this past week's. The Music Man the 4th most grossing show of last week STILL. Pretty fantastic. If they can get some solid replacements this fall, the show will have legs to stand on till spring IMO.

Time to ask the silliest question of the day.



Is there any chance or possibility, even the slightest, that PHANTOM or CHICAGO could ever stop having an audience? Are these shows just gonna keep running forever? As Broadway continues to morph and change, could there be a reality one day where we say goodbye to one of them?

I think the only way Chicago closes is if Barry or Fran Weissler pass away. The latter is 94 and the former is 83, so they are pretty much up there in age… not sure though if they have a successor lined up already for their ventures who could possibly keep this going.

Yeah, I think Plaza Suite has made its money for all involved and they're ready to bounce.

Phantom and Chicago are interesting because they probably have so much money in reserve to keep themselves going. I'd wonder how much each has in their "savings."

Take Me Out was a non-profit run.


As for Plaza Suite, I’d be very surprised if it doesn’t end its run having turned a profit. Partly for the obvious reasons: good grosses, small cast, single set (albeit a very nice one), etc.

But also:

Any commercial show with a limited run won’t get produced unless they do the financial math, to make sure they actually CAN recoup in a short amount of time - even if the potential grosses are overly optimistic (as I’m sure they are, in most cases). So in the case of Plaza Suite, you have to wonder: what better grosses could they have possibly imagined for themselves, that they wouldn’t recoup even with these numbers?

I mean, unless they were on a REALLY razor thin edge, in which case maybe the COVID absences prevented them from crossing the finish line - or maybe the additional costs associated with the pandemic. But I highly doubt their margins were that narrow, especially if they got SVOG money.

Yeah, Plaza Suite's recoupment is all but a done deal (I just don't like to speak in absolutes on this board, in general).

I'm much more curious about Macbeth. They've seen a noticeable dip in their grosses, but $900k/week is still nothing to sneeze at for most plays. Even so, it has to be much more expensive to run than Plaza Suite or Lehman. One huge A-list star, plus another major actor, plus a full cast of principle contracts, and probably a larger stage crew.

But on the other hand, I'd guess the capitalization isn't too high. As a point of reference, Sam Gold's King Lear was $5MM, and I'd guess this one is somewhat less. Maybe $4MM? And let's say their running cost is like $600k/week? (totally guessing here - would love to be corrected if anyone has a better sense). And they've grossed something like $12MM. Seems like they should recoup shortly, if they haven't already - even with their dip in sales.

HogansHero said: "I am curious why you think Macbeth would be less than Lear. I see 2 things that weigh in the other direction: inflation and Craig. I think without knowing what his deal looks like, it's hard to predict anything."


Hadn't considered inflation, so fair point. As for Craig - why would he be lumped into the capitalization? His salary would be part of the weekly running cost, no?

Anyway, as always I could very well be wrong, but it just seems like a cheaper production to me. More sparse staging, etc. - though I know that can be deceptive. Also, didn't Rudin have a habit of spending a crap-load on marketing?

Updated On: 6/23/22 at 08:22 PM

“It is inconceivable to me that PS will not return a nice profit for its investors. It’s average gross must be $1.5MM over its run; even with the Brodericks getting huge payouts, how could it not. Better put, if it does not return a good dividend for its investors, why should anyone who is not a philanthropist or willing to lose virtually all of his/her investments just for the fun of it, ever invest again”

Is it possible that in these types of limited run shows , the stars would agree to not take huge payouts to insure that there’s a profit margin that would entice investors? Obviously the Brodericks don’t need the $ and were committed to both honoring Simon and the chance to work together.

in watching this video taped at the Library of Congress and some earlier interviews, I get the feeling they really wanted to honor Simon’s work and stayed committed to this project passionately through Covid even to the extent of postponing other projects. Perhaps Covid and the opportunity to be part of the return of NYC theater also was part of it for the stars and the investors, who also don’t need the $.
https://youtu.be/YT6FFoOUujU

Updated On: 6/24/22 at 03:16 AM

David10086 said: "MCW1227 said: "
Is it possible that in these types of limited run shows , the stars would agree to not take huge payouts to insure that there’s a profit margin that would entice investors? Obviously the Brodericks don’t need the $ and were committed to both honoring Simon and the chance to work together.

in watching this video taped at the Library of Congress and some earlier interviews, I get the feeling they really wanted to honor Simon’s work and stayed committed to this project passionately through Covid even to the extent of postponing other projects. Perhaps Covid and the opportunity to be part of the return of NYC theater also was part of it for the stars and the investors, who also don’t need the $.
https://youtu.be/YT6FFoOUujU"

I'm going to stretch this a bit, and ask if the two stars also thought these roles would be an easy nomination / win for a Tony for each of them ?"

I mean, personally this whole endeavor screamed “Vanity project/Tony bait” and had the 2020 season gone as planned, it very well May could have happened - but the swath of new plays and revivals that came in guns blazing this season - daring to change the face of Broadway and what it could be - easily overshadowed a milquetoast revival of a 50 year old Neil Simon play

Interesting to hear that perspective.

Of course we can never know for sure, but to me this didn't read as a Tony-bait production. Vanity project? Very possibly, but not necessarily Tony bait.

It's true that the Tonys have a MUCH better track record than the Oscars for awarding comedic performances, but conventional wisdom still says that if you're really gunning for awards, go dramatic. Go serious. Go for substance. And this even feels like one of Simon's lighter pieces.

I also wonder if playing 3 characters sort of dilutes the performance, from an awards standpoint? I don't know - maybe I'm imagining that.

Plus, Broderick doesn't seem like the type to be going out of his way for a Tony at this stage of his career. Maybe SJP wanted one, but if so, why center the project on them as a couple? Why not pick a project that would put her center stage? Sure, they're not technically competing against each other, but does create a split focus for awards voters.

Obviously this all speculation about very abstract inferences, but I don't know, it just doesn't feel like the best project to go with if they really wanted to knock the socks off the Tony voters and get SJP her 1st Tony.

It seems more likely to me that they wanted to return to Neil Simon and flex their comedy chops, together as a couple, and this piece was a good fit for them.

In that interview, SJP indicated it started as an evening at Symphony Space, organized by JBH. Scott Wittman suggested they do Plaza Suite and apparently the evening went very well. At that time they considered if they could do a Broadway run and brought the idea to Elaine Joyce.

I don’t feel that it was a Tony award thing since going up against dramatic performances is an uphill climb but I guess we’ll never know.I thought it a bit odd that they weren’t Tony presenters though. Maybe it’s as simple as they wanted to work together. Maybe not the best choice of plays but they both were wonderful and looked like they were having a great time. Glad it has been successful.

MCW1227 said: "In that interview, SJP indicated it started as an evening at Symphony Space, organized by JBH. Scott Wittman suggested they do Plaza Suite and apparently the evening went very well. At that time they considered if they could do a Broadway run and brought the idea to Elaine Joyce.

I don’t feel that it was a Tony award thing since going up against dramatic performances is an uphill climb but I guess we’ll never know.I thought it a bit odd that they weren’t Tony presenters though. Maybe it’s as simple as they wanted to work together. Maybe not the best choice of plays but they both were wonderful and lookedlike they were having a great time. Glad it has been successful."

No one will EVER convince me they chose Plaza Suite as a possible vehicle for winning a Tony Award. It is a dated play, with a particularly awful Act 2. In the original production, Maureen Stapleton did get nominated for a Tony, but George C. Scott did not, and it was not a great year for actors...Martin Balsam won for a (good) over-the-top performance in a third act of You Know I Can't Hear You When the Water's Running. (Albert Finney should have won). SJP has always seemed like a savvy person to me...she had to have known that in 2022, NO ONE would ever be getting an acting nomination for Plaza Suite.