Broadway Grosses: Week Ending 8/20/23 — Page 2

A BEAUTIFUL NOISE is really leaning into gimmicks to try to upsell the bridge-and-tunnel crowd.

- They have a promo for a $100 Uber credit with the purchase of select pairs of premiums (I suppose better for them to shell out $100 to Uber than sell those for a lesser price)

- They're doing a $200-per-person bus trip organized by the show from the Garden State Mall in Jersey. Includes travel and show ticket (dinner on you).

BroadwayRox3588 said: "I think a lot of people underestimate how truly enormous Lea Salonga is in the Philippines. She's basically Taylor Swift over there.


Sure, and if the show were playing in the Philippines, that might actually mean something.

OhHiii said: "ErmengardeStopSniveling said: "I reckon HLL's drop has more to do with softening interest in the piece, a decrease in tourists, and people getting ready to go back-to-school. Only 5 shows had grosses that increased last week from the week before.

Lea Salonga has never been a ticketseller in any other Broadway show and hasn't been widely advertised in HLL."

HLL's decline is ALL to do with Lea's departure. Her Filipino fanbase isavid. And while she isn't a ticket seller for other shows, her inthisshow is different.

Also, I thought Josh Groban only did the one Wednesday matinee performance, wasn't he out the evening perf last Weds? Could be misremembering Thursday, though.

The word on the street is not many shows are eager to throw their hats in the ring this Fall and are holding out for Spring. Smart business sense, but it seems like this fall is going to be rather sparse in terms of new shows. I'm frankly surprised there aren't any star driven plays announced. With the strikes, you would have thought Broadway would've jumped on the phones immediately."

I find the incoming fall inventory dreary as hell. Re recent shows that I haven't seen, I have no interest in HLL (can't stand David Byrne music), The Shark is Broken, The Cottage.

I have 6 slots in October (my semi-annual trip) and have only filled two (Harmony and Merrily), and I only purchased Harmony because of the NYTimes review of the off-Broadway run. Re the first show at the MTC, I am figuring that I will wait to see the reviews or BW word-of-mouth before I jump in. Nothing else holds any interest for me at this point. I have my name on a list for the new Sondheim, but have no real expectations there.

I agree with the prior poster that I would have expected to see some announcements re limited runs of some popular movie and tv actors in revivals of classics.

Last fall and winter did not see the usual doldrums as seen in many years. Hopefully, that will be the case again. If not, SLIH, ABN, Shucked, HLL and KA will not make it past October, unless their producers are willing to continue to lose money, in hopes of What?

Updated On: 8/22/23 at 06:50 PM

ErmengardeStopSniveling said: "A BEAUTIFUL NOISE is really leaning into gimmicks to try to upsell the bridge-and-tunnel crowd.

- They have a promo for a $100 Uber credit with the purchase of select pairs of premiums (I suppose better for them to shell out $100 to Uber than sell those for a lesser price)

- They're doing a $200-per-person bus trip organized by the show from the Garden State Mall in Jersey. Includes travel and show ticket (dinner on you)."

Here Lies Love is offering free childcare at the September 23 matinee. I see it more as marketing creativity rather than a gimmick.Hopefully, the shows will find something that works.

quizking101 said: "No wonder ONE MORE TIME announced their closing yesterday - probably to get ahead of the view that’s it’s, by the numbers, pretty dead in the water. Truly a shame because it’s a fun show and people need to embrace fun more (and producers need to embrace more common sense).


No. No one needs to embrace Vegas crap renting Broadway theaters.

Updated On: 8/22/23 at 09:41 PM

I agree that Lea Salonga's appeal extends beyond the territorial border of the Philippines but lets be real: she didnt sell out Once On This Island, she didnt sell out Allegiance, and she isnt going to be selling out Here Lies Love either.

This could be my memory playing tricks on me, but...

When HERE LIES LOVE was at the Public, the buzz for Ruthie's performance as Imelda was nearly equal to the buzz for the immersiveness. It was also something of a comeback for David Byrne.

Now on Broadway, the leading lady's performance is professional but not otherworldly. The advertising sort of underplays Imelda's role and David Byrne's involvement unless he's surrounded by Filipino people for optics purposes. We've also seen a lot more immersive theatre since its days at the Public. And when you combine all that, I have to wonder how that impacts the WOM and its ticket-selling problems.

Updated On: 8/22/23 at 11:20 PM

Not saying Lea Salonga can single-handedly save a show like HLL, but her being in it in a cameo engagement didn't (and wouldn't) hurt. Her largest fanbase are Filipinos and they're aware she's in it. And based on what I've been reading on other sites/boards, her number usually gets the largest applause to the point of overshadowing the lead stars. Most importantly, the data itself show that ticket sales went up when she started her run, then dropped after she left.

I know Allegiance was a huge flop, but honestly if Salonga wasn't in it, I feel like that show would've closed in 1 week because of the subject matter and the poor to middling reviews. I'm surprised that show even made it to Broadway given the zero mainstream appeal.

And it's hard to put Once on this Island's poor ticket sales on Salonga's shoulder given that she was barely advertised being in it.

I hope Lea Salonga comes back to the show.

David Byrne fans came out to see American Utopia. I think if they market his name more, his fans would go see HLL too.

Sammy232 said: "Wick3 said: "I hope Lea Salonga comes back to the show.

David Byrne fans came out to see American Utopia. I think if they market his name more, his fans would go see HLL too."

On Saturday she posted on her Insta story "last show for now" while winking at the camera, so I would think she is planning to return after old friends?"

It certainly wouldn’t hurt, especially in the winter doldrums.

While American Utopia was an unmitigated (and surprise) success, people got the experience of seeing David Byrne himself live and in action. Optically, it does not look good if they were pushing the all-white creative team for a show about Filipino history and starring and all-Filipino cast.

I like what they’re doing now where Byrne is making some appearances, but it’s keeping balance with the other main cast (Mainly Ricamora and Salonga, but also Llana and Jacobs) making the rounds.

Also, at the stage door last night, Conrad told us that he had a bad flu that knocked him down the entire week, so yesterday was his first show back.

My assumption has always been that Lea will return to HLL in March or April and stay through the Tonys.

But they’ll need to improve the numbers first.

Also wonder how the uptick in COVID cases will impact the standing section. You are really up close and personal with people, and in close close proximity to the actors.

RUkiddingme said: "OhHiii said: "RUkiddingme said: "No. No one needs to embrace Vegas crap renting Broadway theaters."

Actually, like it or not, Broadway does need mass market shows with big IPs for it to even exist. Without them, more artistically ambitious work wouldn’t exist on Broadway either. Y’all whine about this movie adaption that jukebox musical, but in reality, commercial theatre is still just that. *Commercial*"

I'm ok with commercial theater - decent commercial theater. The crap happening at the Marquis right now is not commercial theater. It's a bad vulgar cash grab that doesn't belong in a Broadway Theater. If we the audience tell producers we accept it, they will produce more. If we reject it, they will do it less."

If you look at threads on this board, you'd see that quite a few folks love the show and think it's a blast. Is it Shakespeare? No, but art is subjective.