Broadway Grosses: Week Ending 8/9/15 — Page 3

"I thought NPH disappeared into the role of Hedwig. I consider his performance a true transformation."

Are you responding to someone saying his show is more of a variety type show? You do realize they are talking about NPH's new show on TV and not his performance as Hedwig?!

I am basing my view on Darren bringing in more families because of the clearly younger age of his followers on social media who ultimately seemed to have more passion than box office prowess, many of whom said their parents weren't taking them to go until a specific date on the posts I saw. And when I went to see the show, aside from the hot European twink who didn't speak much English next to me... *swoon*... the people in front of me were a family there at the clear direction of their daughter, as well as the same situation happening in the two rows behind me. It's not science or box office analytics, but everything I encountered reinforced that belief system.

I also think he was meant to bring in more Gleeks than "Broadway community," since that is where he has more of a fan base. Taye was also meant to bring in his fans, which would also be unique from Darren's, etc.

But I'm not discussing any of their performances, just the celebrity/stunt casting nature of the show. We've ranked the Hedwii to death in enough other threads already.

"Hogan, where are you getting the idea that NPH would return? I don't see any reason to why he would. He gave an acclaimed, sold out performance, won a Tony, dropped the mic and moved on. Why would he go backwards in his career when he has a new venture?"

I don't see him going back either. I know he has a new project coming up. He's hosting a variety show. He put himself through hell doing Hedwig. He lost a ton of weight, he said he was on intravenous antibiotics-I swear I read that somewhere. All that licking the floor cannot be healthy. It's so physically demanding. I just don't see him coming back.

Even if this particular project does only last two weeks, I already know of at least two separate television projects that he is in discussions to join. He will not be returning to HEDWIG.

funny funny funny.

I have a hunch he'll be back, some of you have a hunch he won't. We will know soon enough.

It's not a "hunch" if one already knows of the two projects he has verbally committed to and is in talks of formally committing to (post-variety show) in the coming weeks/months.

Liza,

since I don't know, I can't say whether those not-yet-formalized projects you've read gossip about kill my hunch or not. It is beyond my skill set to "know" something that has not been decided yet. In show business, as the saying goes, if you had a dollar for every project that is announced and not brought to fruition, you'd never have to announce anything ever again.

""Changing the subject, is anyone surprised that Penn and Teller was the 5th highest grossing show on Broadway last week? Over $1.4 million."

If The Illusionists were selling that room out with no names, seems pretty on target that P&T, who got their start in NYC and have been at it for 40 years now, should be able to sell tickets for a very short run."

True. And it's a much better show than The Illusionists. I saw it the week it opened and found it extremely entertaining. If it was here longer than 6 weeks I probably would have gone back.

"Hmm, my last post doesn't appear, when I view the page, but it does when I reply?! Quirk of the new system?
UPDATE: It shows up now, of course."

This is a recent development I've been getting this a lot lately too.

""It makes sense that for every following Hedwig actor, the numbers will go down somewhat."
Why does that make sense? Isn't every new Hedwig a chance to bring in a new audience AND get people who saw it before to compare a different actor's take?
I do find it interesting that JCM was originally viewed as keeping the show running during the slow winter months without a big name in the role, since there were enough Hed-Heads to keep it afloat. And, since him, that narrative sort of ended, since the two following Hedwii didn't lift it back up as expected."

If each new Hedwig had been properly reviewed I think a lot would be different. As is, all people had to go on were set expectations by actor and word of mouth. Hedwig is such a different show from actor to actor. The reviews NPH and Lena got have nothing to do with the shows Darren and Taye did/do.

I'm no expert I'd guess that the numbers go down a bit at first with each new guy because people wait to hear what the new Hedwig is like and it takes time because it's all by word of mouth. And then it's all whose account ppeople go with and whose they don't. Some people are saying fans dragged their families to see Darren, while I saw mostly groups of friends from 18 to their early thirties. I only saw one teen+mom combo.

re the missing messages, it seems there are times the next page is not generating immediately. However, if you manually insert the next page number into the URL, it (sometimes) brings up the page that is not available by clicking.

Some silly TV show is just a sidebar that he was hired to do, and you can be sure they are not paying him what Hedwig could and would.

I don't think that it is necessarily accurate to characterize his upcoming series as a "silly TV show" that "is just a sidebar that he was hired to do." The silly TV show might end up being spot-on, actually, but that would be more a matter of taste, not a statement about the relative value of the show to the network that is airing it and that he has contracted with to do it.

The show has been billed from the start as a variety show. (See here, for instance, where a comparison is drawn to Saturday Night Live: http://variety.com/2014/tv/news/neil-patrick-harris-variety-show-oscars-1201340400/) Many of the elements it will reportedly contain would require a significant amount of work to get it ready to air. I suppose the question of how much of NPH's time that would take up depends on just how involved he will be in the process of generating ideas, writing, and shaping the show to put his personal stamp on it. The mere fact that a show airs live for one hour a week doesn't say anything about how much time and effort is required during a full week to put it together for airing.

That said, it is only going to have 10 episodes this coming television season with a premiere date of September 15. That means it would most likely be done around the end of November. If he is, in fact, interested in another go at filling Hedwig's heels, he might be able to do a run starting in December if they have someone else to take over for a short time after Taye finishes. Or, as you suggest, he might be able to do both the TV show and Hedwig simultaneously if his involvement with the TV show is just to appear on Tuesday nights and do what others have prepared for him to do and say (and, almost certainly, sing).

I do not know what his Hedwig salary would be. I do know that in his last TV series he was being paid $225,000 per episode in 2013-2014. With his name recognition, his resume, his years of starring on hit shows, and his history of awards and award nominations, it is nearly certain he would command at least that much per episode of the new television series and it is quite likely he'd be making significantly more than that since he will be the sole headlining star of the TV show with his name being the major draw to bring viewers to the screen.

Updated On: 8/11/15 at 12:47 AM

Not having any information to counter anything you say, I'll accept it. I'd be surprised if they are paying him that much for a new show of this type, but I do think the producers of Hedwig would give him a deal that, if he can regain the grosses he had before, would exceed that. (And they would still reap a substantial reward.) All of that said, if my hunch is right, he'll be coming back because he wants to take another spin, not just for the paycheck. We shall see.