Broadway Grosses: Week Ending 9/22/19 — Page 2

WestEndGal said: "LxGstv said: "JBroadway said: "Is there any particular reason that a select few of this week's shows had 6-figure declines? In particular, Waitress went down almost $300K, while shows like Frozen, Wicked, Aladdin, Betrayal and Tootsie also went down over $100,000. Presumablythe kids hadalready gone back to school before this week, so that wouldn't explain it. Maybe it'sjust the beginning of lower fall pricing, but for some of these shows the price drop also came with a noticeable capacity drop."

Not sure about the other shows, but Waitress clearly got a nicebump from havingColleen Ballingerand Todrick Hall, this is the first week since they left... hence the drop..."

Yeah Waitress is back to pulling the low numbers is was doing before Colleen and Todrick’s 4 week. I thought Jordin Sparks as Jenna would give the show more of a boost tbh.

"

Admittedly I'm not local to NYC, but both times I've been there since Jordin was announced I saw virtually no advertising about her. But then this is the same marketing team that used the London cast for its billboard...

ggersten said: "Jarethan said: "Mike Barrett said: "I really wonder what Frozen looks like a year from now, nearly a year after the 2nd film has released. Will it bring the show back into the mainstream or will people feel it’s now dated because of the sequel? Likely depends on how Frozen 2 does. I say we have 2 years max left though at the St James. Plenty of time to work Hercules or a Beauty And The Beast revival into that space :)

Unless Frozen 2 is a MONSTER HIT and reinvigorates the box office incredibly (not likely IMO), I can't imagine this show lasting beyond August 2020, and I really question whether it will make it that long. The show is only opened for 18 months or so, and just hit its worst week yet. Itis inconceivable to me that it could another last 2 years, i.e., longer than it has run to date, unless Disney is willing to take big losses to keep it opened.Not sure why they would do that, although there may be a reason."

Here's The Little Mermaid's 20 months for reference....Little Mermaid Grosses

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Frozen is going to outlast The Little Mermaid (even if it closes in January, it will have made it to 22 months) but the run will be FAR shorter than Disney Theatrical would have liked. Frozen 2 looks really impressive (I doubt it will be an outright flop, even if it struggles to emulate the cultural impact of the original), but I feel like it will confirm my belief that Anna and Elsa’s adventures are better suited to animation. Seeing the original is a quicker, cheaper and more convenient way of refreshing your memory...

The good publicity generated by Frozen 2 could provide Frozen with an excellent December and a decent Easter, but there is a risk that the tour will benefit more from the Frozen 2 effect. With the Frozen fandom exhausted and both students and families busy, Disney will probably decide it is not worth keeping it another September. I also think they will want to focus on ensuring the international productions do better. Would closing it early allow the creative team to put more work into the West End version? (Shrek lasted longer in Drury Lane, and Frozen could also do well there if it is edited and revised...)

Seeing Slave's Plays number makes me even more mad I had to pay full price because they comped half the theatre the night I went and only 2 single seats were left.

ErmengardeStopSniveling said: "Bettyboy72 said: "Seeing Slave's Plays number makes me even more mad I had to pay full price because they comped half the theatre the night I went and only 2 single seats were left."

Sorry, was that youronlynight available to see it during the run?I only ask because this isa play with no stars, risky subject matter, a Broadway debut playwright, and a 50% gross in its first week –– none of which necessitates full-priced tickets."

It was my only free night so I got painted into a corner. My own fault. It was on TKTS every other day I was there.

ACL2006 said: "No show will survive on that."

Absolutely true.

Also absolutely true: no show's fortunes can be intelligently prognosticated based on 5 performances.

Damn Hadestown just keeps going up and up.

Oklahoma! is floundering. We got seats on friday about an hour to curtain, paid $60 each and ended up sitting front row (in the area without tables in front). Still a decent number of unsold seats. Great view and totally worth it, but I feel bad for the show.

Honestly forgot Lightning Thief was opening until I walked by the theatre.

JLP has cool marquee and style at least, feels very different than anything else and I could see that helping it stand out.

Anyone know what the nut for Tootsie is? The Marquis has to be more expensive than smaller theatres right?

Princeton2 said:
Not sure what the 'good marketing' is people are talking about for Frozen 2. I've not seen anything different so far to what they do for most of their movies."



The trailers and teasers for Frozen 2 give the impression that they are taking the story in a bit of a darker direction, with more of an epic feel to it. They make it look like an exciting adventure that digs deeper into the magical lore of the story. Also the aesthetics are quite beautiful. Based on the reactions I've seen around the internet (which happen to align with my own reaction), it seems like the trailers have made people really excited by the prospects of the film; even people who are kind of "over" Frozen seem to be drawn back in by the seemingly fresh take. I think that's the "good marketing" they were referring to.

VintageSnarker said: "msmp said: "Admittedly I'm not local to NYC, but both times I've been there since Jordinwas announcedI saw virtually no advertising about her. But then this is the same marketing team that used the London cast for its billboard..."

I feel like Waitress has done a great job with marketing. Most, if not all, the Jennas got billboards and/or ads all over the city. I don't know how they're feeling about using their ad budget since they announced closing though. And I suspect Jordin's casting wouldn't see a dramatic increase in sales even if they had ads all over the place."

The Waitress London marketing has def been questionable lol but sure I think for the most part they’ve always marketed Waitress pretty well in NYC. But like you guys say, maybe they’re just not spending a lot on marketing now that it’s closing. Alison Luff and now Jordin Sparks are the first Jennas I think to have not gotten their own big billboard in Times Square, and they haven’t even bothered having their playbills ready to go for the start of their runs! With Jordin, what’s weird is that if they’re gonna bring in a ‘name’ and presumably be paying her a larger salary than say Alison, then surely they need to throw a bit of money into advertising her, or else what’s the point? When Sara or Kat, for example, were Jenna their images were everywhere, and I’m sure that helped with the tourist trade.

SouthernCakes said: "They def chose the wrong director. The shows a mess. You’d think Olaf would have a show stopper but he’s kind of disregarded most of the time. "

Apparently the Lopezes claimed on a YouTube commentary that they wanted to expand “In Summer” but felt it ultimately worked best in short form. Olaf is a difficult character to get right, especially with the focus on being darker and more serious, but that means they should put more effort in, not less...

Again, to repeat my point, Grandage’s dry, serious and reverential approach is great for Shakespeare and drama, but all wrong for Frozen. It needs someone who recognised that Frozen’s success was due to its willingness to be big and bold and take risks. Don’t play it safe...

bdn223 said: "SouthernCakes said: "They def chose the wrong director. The shows a mess. You’d think Olaf would have a show stopper but he’s kind of disregarded most of the time. "

I would bet money Schumacher is kicking himself for letting Timbers go, especially after seeing what he did with Beetlejuice and Moulin Rouge. I could see Schumacher being hesitant of letting a relatively green/unestablisheddirector, without a hit to his name, have control over Disney’s new cash cow. If I had several directorialdecisionsMicheal Grandage made had to be run all the way up the corporate ladder to Iger, and Schumacher feared Timber’s might not be able to handle that. Add to that I wouldn’t be surprised if Timbers wanted a larger budget and that was a breaking point. If there is one thing Timber’s has proven its that he knows how to make going to a production of his an experience and not simply a night at the theater. Even his smaller productions of Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson, and Peter and the Starcatcher turned their respective theaters into a dive bar and the found object proscenium. I honestly would love to see Disney let Timbers take over the West End production."

They won’t, because Michael Grandage is a West End icon and Timbers isn’t, but some changes to the creative team would help things a bit...