Broadway Grosses: Week Ending 6/25/23 — Page 2

Good Night Oscar really seems to be disproving all those who said Sean Hayes isn't much of a draw any longer.

Dylan Smith4 said: "hearthemsing22 said: "I don't know why A Beautiful Noise grosses constantly surprise me? I guess it's a big tourist hit?"

You also have to understand that the 50+ age groups are the ones coming in droves to see this!"

Can confirm, at least in my family. My desire to see the show is close to zero, but both of my parents are just about dying to see it this summer. The Tony's performance really got them excited all over again.

A few quick things.

1. The large theatres (e.g., Marquis and up) sometimes have a decent number of tickets to sell even with the high number of opening night comps. (And some producers are less generous than others.) Also, because you are not inviting everyone to the party, a lot of people who might have already seen the show and would rather not do it again to sit upstairs in a barn.

2. Re that 4 matinee schedule, is that a concession or am I mis-remembering the contract?

3. Re what sells and when, there are obviously shows with a demographic that makes matinees better (e.g., ABN) and those that make them deadly (HLL) but another phenomenon is that, in summer, there is an inversion for some demographics on weekdays vs weekends. While tourist shows do well on weekends, shows that target local and regional audiences actually can do better during the week.

I'll say it again that I wish more shows spread out the two show weekdays to give options to see more shows in less time. Like honestly, I have no interest in A Beautiful Noise but if it was playing a Thurs matinee this summer, I might choose to go see it since it wouldn't be taking the place of one of my others on the schedule

hearthemsing22 said: "Mr. Wormwood said: "I'll say it again that I wish more shows spread out the two show weekdays to give options to see more shows in less time. Like honestly, I have no interest in A Beautiful Noise but if it was playing a Thurs matinee this summer, I might choose to go see it since it wouldn't be taking the place of one of my others on the schedule"

That'd be great for you. But how many other people would do that? How many other people would be interested? I have a friend who said tours took away Wednesday matinees because they weren't selling. Do you honestly think Broadway would do any better if there were two weekday matinees? And then how would you do the weekend schedule? How would Saturday and Sunday performances work?"

I understand that if it was a more viable option, more shows would do it. Hence, why I said I WISH that happened. I understand the realities of why it doesn't. But sometimes shows do it from time to time so I'd love to see it catch on at some point.

I wonder how much longer Grey House has. It doesn't seem like it's ever really found its audience and the reviews were fairly middling. I guess we'll see if they can tap into any of the summer crowd, but it seems like they'll need a major pivot in marketing or something if they want to continue through the fall.

Mr. Wormwood said: "hearthemsing22 said: "That'd be great for you. But how many other people would do that? How many other people would be interested? I have a friend who said tours took away Wednesday matinees because they weren't selling. Do you honestly think Broadway would do any better if there were two weekday matinees? And then how would you do the weekend schedule? How would Saturday and Sunday performances work?"

I understand that if it was a more viable option, more shows would do it. Hence, why I said I WISH that happened. I understand the realities of why it doesn't. But sometimes shows do it from time to time so I'd love to see it catch on at some point."


It all depends on the show. HAMILTON and LION KING and WICKED could have all their showtimes at 1pm and 10pm and they'd still be fine.

Changes to a playing schedule often come at a moment of desperation, and if a show is doing badly it won't make a big difference; ABN is in the unique situation of being a "sleeper hit" that could improve but is still making money each week.

Broadway has worked hard over many years to create an infrastructure surrounding the Wednesday matinee to allow shows to succeed: Group sales agents have sort of conditioned buyers that weekday matinees only happen on Wednesday. TKTS Times Square opens at 11am on Wed but is closed until 3pm on Thur, so that won't drive any sales to the Thur shows. It will require other ways of drawing in day-of buyers (flyering teams at the booth on Weds with b.o. discounts for Thurs, etc). I wonder if it became a free-for-all with mats being equally split between Tue/Wed/Thur/Fri, the numbers for all might go down. School groups would probably benefit the most from a 12pm curtain so they can get back back before the end of the actual school day, but schools aren't the primary audience here.

From the cast-standpoint, 6 shows in 4 days can be a lot more tiresome than 5 shows in 4 days, especially for a vocally-challenging show (HARMONY and BEAUTIFUL NOISE will have 2 shows Thurs, with just a matinee on Weds). That's not a reason not to do it, but it's a consideration.