Broadway Grosses: Week Ending 7/22/18- Page 2

[Miles2Go2]

Posted: 7/23/18 at 5:56pm

I really figured Kinky Boots would announce a closing date before School of Rock did. Even if KB’s weekly nut is relatively low, I wonder how much longer they can keep going especially as they are investing more in stunt casting (which doesn’t appear to be working).

Carousel’s highest grossing days also seem to be behind it.

And I know last week, Hogan said Summer’s grosses are still surpassing its weekly nut, but we’ve seen shows (I.e. SOR) that have already recouped that closed after consistently grossing similar low percentages.

I’m going to go ahead and predict that Pretty Woman will enjoy prolonged critic-proof high box office ala Mean Girls.

[RippedMan]

Posted: 7/23/18 at 6:17pm

SOR is a far more expensive show to run than Kinky Boots. They've got kids, a giant set, etc. Kinky Boots is pretty basic. They've actually done a very good job with stunt casting, and I'm surprised SOR hasn't tried stunt-casting to boost sales. Get a talented kid in there, or some rock star for Dewey. 

[ACL2006]

Posted: 7/23/18 at 6:21pm

KINKY BOOTS is rumored to be closing in January. No stars have been announced for the Fall. It's been reported that a certain new show wants the Hirschfeld.

[HogansHero]

Posted: 7/23/18 at 6:38pm

HBBrock said: "Also, Hogan.....I didn’t say the grosses weregood. I was honestly expecting the grosses to be significantly worse.

Let ussee how the next few weeks look."

well I can't argue your (and Sauja's) expectation was wrong but I guess I was expecting something around what they go. And yes, we will hide and watch. I think both fail, but with a Davenport show, one never knows how that will play out. It seems he has access to some blind fountain of money, so closing will likely depend on the Shuberts' needs. (Which is why he is there to start with.)

 

[Miles2Go2]

Posted: 7/23/18 at 6:39pm

Thanks, RippedMan and ACL2006. Good points both. I’ve heard the same rumors about another show eyeing the Hirschfeld. In regard to stunt casting for SOR, I suspect it’s difficult to find a big enough star who is willing to gain weight, do an aerobic performance several times a week, and can credibly play the guitar, sing and act.

Regardless, both shows have had very respectable runs and both recouped. I had a very enjoyable time at both. Plus, SOR gave ALW another hit after most of his other recent new work failed to resonate with critics and audiences. And even though I know it was often preaching to the choir, I like to think that maybe KB opened a few hearts and minds.

[20806]

Posted: 7/23/18 at 7:13pm

GTBBT is hardly any different to what you would expect given that all tickets (that were paid for) cost $40 and the house was (apparently) mostly full. See whether they can sell once the deep discounting ends. Which will take a while to happen I suspect.

[Kitsune]

Posted: 7/23/18 at 8:39pm

Miles2Go2 said: "I’m going to go ahead and predict that Pretty Woman will enjoy prolonged critic-proof high box office ala Mean Girls."

Seconded. I went to the first two previews of Pretty Woman. The majority (albeit not all) of the audience was women in their 40s to 60s. I overheard multiple conversations with people excitedly recounting their favorite moments from the movie.

I really enjoyed Head Over Heels, flaws and all. It makes me sad that it's not finding an audience.

[massofmen]

Posted: 7/23/18 at 9:56pm

Beautiful is done by Jan

[busylizzie238]

Posted: 7/24/18 at 3:34am

Sorry if this has been discussed before - but are there any predictions on how long Once on this Island will run for? I'd ideally travel to see it early next year when I've saved up enough. But I'd consider coming sooner to avoid missing it completely. 

[dramamama611]

Posted: 7/24/18 at 7:19am

The prognosis isnt good, lizzie. It MIGHT make it to January, but, sadly, an August closing would not shock me.

Another thing to keep in mind: theater (and hotels) get much more expensive from Thanksgiving to New Years, and much harder to find discounts.

I hope you get to see it, it's really special .

[busylizzie238]

Posted: 7/24/18 at 8:18am

ah that's a shame, but good to know - thanks!

[7thbighero]

Posted: 7/24/18 at 9:46am

dramamama611 said: "The prognosis isnt good, lizzie. It MIGHT make it to January, but, sadly, an August closing would not shock me.

Another thing to keep in mind: theater (and hotels) get much more expensive from Thanksgiving to New Years, and much harder to find discounts.

I hope you get to see it, it's really special .
"

I feel like a closing announcement would have already been made for an August closure, but it’s still in the realm of possibility.

But i agree that it doesn’t have too much longer 

[a-mad]

Posted: 7/24/18 at 10:41am

Luminaire2 said: "a-mad said: "Pretty Woman appears to have a solid start for two performances. Frozen may still be re-selling a lot of tickets at a cheaper rate, but they've been over $2 million for several weeks now, so maybe its not the disaster some make it out to be. By this point in their runs both Little Mermaid and Tarzan were showing definite signs of weakness."



And a reminder... frozen still gets the full ticket price, resellers are just losing money. So it doesn’t really effect the show if the scalped tickets are selling for a cheaper amount, they made their money."

^ yep, I get it.  I guess my point was that Frozen's grosses continue to inch up each week.  I know that re-sellers bought up huge chunks of tickets when they went on sale, and the grosses reflect that, but as more time passes I would think those pre-sales would begin to shrink and we have a better idea of demand for the show.  bdn223 gave a great analysis earlier in the thread.  Also, i've been looking on Ticketmaster a bit lately and it seems like the hundreds of seats that were being sold for $60-$70 by re-sellers a few weeks ago are few and far between now.  Not to say that seats are still being sold for less than what the re-sellers paid for them, it's just not as big an issue as it was at the beginning of the summer.  I would think that word-of-mouth is helping, not hurting, the show - as everything I've heard from people I know who have seen the show (and not anyone on this board) has been extremely positive.

 

[Rainah]

Posted: 7/24/18 at 11:08am

Seems like this fall/winter is going to be a slaughter. 

Already posted notices or are limited engagements scheduled to close

School of Rock
Hello Dolly
Bronx Tale
Spongebob
Springsteen
Play That Goes Wrong
The Boys In The Band
Straight White Men

Otherwise

Carousel and Beautiful both have weak grosses and I could see closing (Fall/winter depending on advance, doesn't Beautiful usually do better in the off months than most?)

Getting the Band Back Together and Head Over Heels both seem dead on arrival 

Kinky is likely a january closing so Moulin Rouge can take the Al Hirschfeld Theatre. I think Once On This Island will last till January, if only because we'd have a closing notice by now if they were closing by labour day, but a labour day close is still possible. There's also a rumour of Waitress finishing up in January, though their grosses are still steady. 

Summer seems to be doing alright, time will have to tell if they can keep up their grosses in spite of bad WOM.

But even without those, by February 1st we could be missing 14-15 of the shows currently up on the board. Which, if nothing else, will leave room open for 2018-2019 to be a crowded and hopefully quality new season. Bring enough new shows in, and some of them are bound to be good. 

 

Updated On: 7/24/18 at 11:08 AM

[Miles2Go2]

Posted: 7/24/18 at 11:15am

Straight White Men is a limited engagement. It closes on September 9th.

[Rainah]

Posted: 7/24/18 at 11:36am

Miles2Go2 said: "Straight White Men is a limited engagement. It closes on September 9th."

Ah, thank you! I googled a bit but didn't see this info. Like I said, I'm a musicals girl at heart so I don't keep up with plays to the same degree

Will edit the post

[Miles2Go2]

Posted: 7/24/18 at 11:41am

No problem. It’s hard to keep up! I am hoping with all these empty theatres that Jagged Little Pill transfers. I just hope they don’t rush it as the consensus from Boston is that they need to do considerable work on the book.

[Rainah]

Posted: 7/24/18 at 12:45pm

Miles2Go2 said: "No problem. It’s hard to keep up! I am hoping with all these empty theatres that Jagged Little Pill transfers. I just hope they don’t rush it as the consensus from Boston is that they need to do considerable work on the book."

I think it's rarer and rarer these days to see significant changes from a tryout and a broadway run, unfortunately. Same with Moulin Rouge; they clearly need significant edits to the book if they want to have a successful transfer, but I just don't think that's going to happen.

(Meanwhile, Hadestown is on their 3rd tryout and fiddling with stuff that worked just fine in the original...)

What does everyone think will fill all these empty theatres?

Moulin Rouge is coming for sure (Rumour saying the Hirschfeld)
Dreamgirls is apparently still a go for spring
King Kong at the broadway
The Prom at the Longacre now, which says to me either something else wanted the Cort or renos are finally going ahead
The Cher Show at the Neil Simon
Kiss Me Kate (Winter)
And Hadestown is still supposedly a go for spring, I'm hoping so but they've pushed back before.

And a ton of plays all taking theatres that pretty much only do plays, many for limited engagements so I'm not going to bother listing 'em all. To Kill A Mockingbird at the Shubert is the big one. 

Other than that I've heard buzz for Jagged Little Pill, Ain't Too Proud, and possibly Tootsie or Crazy for You. 

I could see Hadestown eyeing the Lyceum, which would work well with PTGW extending to Jan, and they were supposedly in talks with the Shuberts at one point. Or possibly the Belasco? Or the Kerr, if they're exploring other options. They'd be smart to go for a smaller, more intimate theatre, it's an intimate show. Though... the Citadel was 700, NT will be 1160, they could be seeing if they could gear it up to a bigger theatre, similar to what they did with Comet. 

[brightbroadway]

Posted: 7/24/18 at 4:26pm

Tootsie is a definite transfer, they are already advertising it as Spring 2019 Broadway Arrival. My bets on the Marquis or Kerr.

[Phillytheatreguy10]

Posted: 7/24/18 at 4:41pm

Moulin Rouge seems much more suited to the Winter Garden- even the marquee seems better for it- why would they cram a large show into the Hirschfeld, I get the rumors, but I don't understand why they wouldn't want more prime real estate. A quick Google search has seating capacity for the Colonial at 1700, The Hirschfeld at 1424, and The Winter Garden at 1526- The Hirschfeld has little to no space to build out their proscenium like it is at The Colonial- color me confused as to why they want The Hirschfeld.

Updated On: 7/24/18 at 04:41 PM

[Miles2Go2]

Posted: 7/24/18 at 4:44pm

I agree that a show that seems to sell itself on grand spectacle would seem like a natural for a larger theatre, but the bigger the theatre, the higher the rent, I suppose.

[VotePeron]

Posted: 7/24/18 at 5:04pm

^ I'm assuming the association with Jujamcyn or Jordan Roth is what makes the Hirschfeld more valuable, rather than a Shubert house like the Winter Garden. 

Also, let's not forget there were multiple claims that Jujamcyn really wanted Curse Child in the Hirschfeld. Apparently they have a history of being a little delirious about cramming spectacles into that house.

[ACL2006]

Posted: 7/24/18 at 6:17pm

The Hudson and Sondheim will (likely) be open for the Spring. CRAZY FOR YOU in the Sondheim? JAGGED LITTLE PILL to the Cort? HADESTOWN to the Hudson? AIN'T TOO PROUD to the Marquis?

[HogansHero]

Posted: 7/24/18 at 6:22pm

I think JLP is gonna want more. 

[Solipsist234]

Posted: 7/24/18 at 6:23pm

ACL2006 said: "The Hudson and Sondheim will (likely) be open for the Spring. CRAZY FOR YOU in the Sondheim? JAGGED LITTLE PILL to the Cort? HADESTOWN to the Hudson? AIN'T TOO PROUD to the Marquis?"

Here's what I think will happen (since you're so hyped up on which show might be going where): Crazy for You to the Lunt-Fontanne, Jagged Little Pill to the Brooks Atkinson, Hadestown to the Cort, Ain't Too Proud to the Sondheim, Tootsie to the Marquis, Dreamgirls to the Imperial, and The Secret Garden (possibly/hopefully) to the Hirschfeld (if Moulin Rouge! doesn't come in this season.)

I'm pulling for a limited engagement of Love Never Dies at the Winter Garden, but Hadestown could very well end up there.