Broadway Grosses: Week Ending 9/24/23- Page 2

[BETTY22]

Posted: 9/26/23 at 6:45pm

OUCH! Here Lies Love is losing a lot of money each week.....

[thasanction22]

Posted: 9/26/23 at 6:56pm

barcelona20 said: "Can Merrily sustain a $225 ticket for the entire run?"

for the entire six month run? a resounding "obviously, yes".

[Jakeevan942]

Posted: 9/26/23 at 7:04pm

JSquared2 said: "ACL2006 said: "Yet the producers of WICKED refuse to put the show up on TKTS. I believe that, for a while, they've been closing off the back of the mezzanine for weeknight performances. Why not just offer those seats on TKTS?"



It's all about perception. Most producers and marketing people believe that once people know that discounts are available, that's the end of full priced tickets. The producers would rather take the short term loss that risk losing far more in the long run.

"

Wicked has made enough money as a global product that the show can weather a few weeks of just doing break-even business. They don't want to diffuse the brand by going to TKTS, discount codes, etc, which is why we haven't seen either of those things from the show since the first year. 

And regardless, I'm sure they'll get quite a bit of major market, national press out of Wicked Day weekend for the 20th anniversary this year, which should bring a renewed focus to the musical.  

[EDSOSLO858]

Posted: 9/26/23 at 8:01pm

Jakeevan942 said: "JSquared2 said: "ACL2006 said: "Yet the producers of WICKED refuse to put the show up on TKTS. I believe that, for a while, they've been closing off the back of the mezzanine for weeknight performances. Why not just offer those seats on TKTS?"



It's all about perception. Most producers and marketing people believe that once people know that discounts are available, that's the end of full priced tickets. The producers would rather take the short term loss that risk losing far more in the long run.

"

Wicked has made enough money as a global product that the show can weather a few weeks of just doing break-even business. They don't want to diffuse the brand by going to TKTS, discount codes, etc, which is why we haven't seen either of those things from the show since the first year.

And regardless, I'm sure they'll get quite a bit of major market, national press out of Wicked Day weekend for the 20th anniversary this year, which should bring a renewed focus to the musical. "

And the movies, of course, if we decide to play the longer-term game. 

[bear88]

Posted: 9/26/23 at 9:45pm

barcelona20 said: "Can Merrily sustain a $225 ticket for the entire run?"

My guess is no, but prices will stay quite high through the holidays. It started as a limited run and sold a lot of tickets then. I am not sure what happens in the dead of winter. By the spring, if it hasn’t closed, it will have competition.

Broadway can use all the hits it can get.

[kdogg36]

Posted: 9/26/23 at 10:07pm

I know this is off-topic, but with the discussion of Wicked, I wanted to share something I thought about recently.

If Sondheim's most fruitful period had occurred 33 years later than it did, Company would have premiered the same year as Wicked.

And this year we would be talking about the off-Broadway premiere of Assassins.

In the meantime, we would have also witnessed the debuts of Follies, A Little Night Music, Pacific Overtures, Sweeney Todd, Merrily We Roll Along, Sunday in the Park With George, and Into the Woods.

Will we ever see as productive a two-decade span from one Broadway creator as we saw from 1970 to 1990?

[Call_me_jorge]

Posted: 9/26/23 at 10:24pm

Does Here Lies Love have some sort of Angel investor? Didn’t the lead producer, Hal Luftig, recently file for bankruptcy? How are they able to keep this going?

[Mr. Wormwood]

Posted: 9/26/23 at 10:58pm

That Wicked number almost seems like a mistake (not saying it is, just saying it's such a randomly big drop). I guess we'll see what happens next week. Obviously the show is fine but I'll be curious what happens next week.

I will be shocked if the following shows are still running in Feb 2024: Here Lies Love, Kimberly Akimbo (sadly), Purlie Victorious, Some Like It Hot. Along with the planned closings and the unofficial knowledge that Sweeney will close when Groban leaves. 

Really incredible start for Merrily. Pretty decent showing for Gutenberg too.

[quizking101]

Posted: 9/26/23 at 11:31pm

PV is only scheduled to run through January anyway. Someone posted elsewhere that they have an extension option through March but, barring a Big Bethel miracle, that’s not happening

[DrMonicaDeMoneco]

Posted: 9/26/23 at 11:39pm

Call_me_jorge said: "Does Here Lies Love have some sort of Angel investor? Didn’t the lead producer, Hal Luftig, recently file for bankruptcy? How are they able to keep this going?"

Don’t they have a bunch of celebrity investors? Even so, are they really going to go down with this sinking ship? Why are they just now doing press? It’s a tad too late 

[LuckyDipster]

Posted: 9/27/23 at 5:06am

lopside said: "Has Future done anything on TV?"

As well as performing on GMA, they have done a load of interviews on smaller shows such as this one.

 

[RaisedOnMusicals]

Posted: 9/27/23 at 11:00am

I actually saw the show this past Sat night (9/23) along with my wife (who is not all that familiar with the film) and we were both wowed. It's just pure entertainment from start to finish (and what a finish, it blew our minds). The scenic design is spectacular, so kudos to the design team. The show never drags, and the original music, while not "memorable" in the classic sense, advances the show and never stops it. The Winter Garden was essentially sold out, which I guess isn't surprising for a Saturday night. I was curious if others were enjoying the show as much as I was, so I turned around a few times to catch the audience and every single person I was able to see had a smile on their face every time I looked. I think it'll be that show people will want to see if they just want to be entertained for 2:45. 

[Wick3]

Posted: 9/27/23 at 11:16am

Here Lies Love will be doing some stunt casting. Hopefully the grosses will go up a bit now that Vina Morales is performing there for a month. 

 

[bwaylyric]

Posted: 9/27/23 at 11:59am

Wick3 said: "Here Lies Love will be doing some stunt casting. Hopefully the grosses will go up a bit now that Vina Morales is performing there for a month.

"

They’re gonna need Bruno Mars to play Marcos and Olivia Rodrigo to play the new role of young Imelda. 

[Wick3]

Posted: 9/27/23 at 12:53pm

Just Olivia Rodrigo alone is enough. Her tour next year easily sold out and if they can get Olivia during the low season this show would easily sell out.

[DrMonicaDeMoneco]

Posted: 9/27/23 at 1:18pm

Wick3 said: "Just Olivia Rodrigo alone is enough. Her tour next year easily sold out and if they can get Olivia during the low season this show would easily sell out."

It’s going to be to late.

[Sutton Ross]

Posted: 9/27/23 at 1:48pm

 

It's just pure entertainment from start to finish (and what a finish, it blew our minds). The scenic design is spectacular, so kudos to the design team. The show never drags, and the original music, while not "memorable" in the classic sense, advances the show and never stops it. The Winter Garden was essentially sold out, which I guess isn't surprising for a Saturday night. I was curious if others were enjoying the show as much as I was, so I turned around a few times to catch the audience and every single person I was able to see had a smile on their face every time I looked. I think it'll be that show people will want to see if they just want to be entertained for 2:45. 

And this is exactly what people want right now, pure fluff and fun. There's nothing wrong with that and it's reflected in the grosses of shows week after week what the masses actually want. Always interesting to see. 

[RippedMan]

Posted: 9/27/23 at 2:41pm

But they're not making any money really. They're basically doing what Kimberly Akimbo is doing which is covering the running costs, but not really making much of a profit. 

[OhHiii]

Posted: 9/27/23 at 2:51pm

RippedMan said: "But they're not making any money really. They're basically doing what Kimberly Akimbo is doing which is covering the running costs, but not really making much of a profit."

This is quite literally how 80% of Broadway shows run on Broadway. Even those that recoup. They operate on the slimmest of margins. 

[quizking101]

Posted: 9/27/23 at 3:15pm

bwaylyric said: "Wick3 said: "Here Lies Love will be doing some stunt casting. Hopefully the grosses will go up a bit now that Vina Morales is performing there for a month.

"

They’re gonna need Bruno Mars to play Marcos and Olivia Rodrigo to play the new role of young Imelda."

Darren Criss would make a pretty damn good Aquino, but the problem is that would mean replacing probably the most notable name in the cast (Conrad Ricamora)

[RippedMan]

Posted: 9/27/23 at 3:36pm

Totally, I get that. I'm just saying people thinking like "Oh wow it's making a million" which is good, and it is, but it also costs a ton to run.

[OhHiii]

Posted: 9/27/23 at 4:36pm

RippedMan said: "Totally, I get that. I'm just saying people thinking like "Oh wow it's making a million" which is good, and it is, but it also costs a ton to run."

yeah the $1mil club is no longer as much a of a sign of a hit because more often than not lately, shows are costing so much more to run than even in 2019/early 2020. 

[RippedMan]

Posted: 9/27/23 at 4:59pm

I don’t know the math but I think at this rate it would have to run like this for 5-6 years to make any money which is wild. But clearly they’re fine since they’ve already financed a whole tour.

[Huckster2]

Posted: 9/28/23 at 2:11pm

Unless we are producers,  i not sure any of us know the true running cost of any show, especially now-a-days with the cost of everything But producers don’t make any money until investors are paid back in full.  So shows even with a minimum profit will stick in it for the long hall. I would think a new show wouldn’t expect anything better than 18 to 24 recoup.  I think the, producers, would be happy with that 
One other revenue stream Bttf would have a better success at than,  I think,  other shows is the Merch. I would think the merchandise sales are better than other shows.  And those t shirts aren’t cheap|   But obviously that to would only represent a minimum profit in grand scheme 

[JSquared2]

Posted: 9/28/23 at 2:23pm

Huckster2 said: "Unless we are producers, i not sure any of us know the true running cost of any show, especially now-a-days with the cost of everything But producers don’t make any money until investors are paid back in full.

 

Sorry, but that's just plain wrong.  The "lead" producer(s) get a weekly producing fee, and very often also a weekly office fee.  Not a ton of money, but they could easily get $10K-$15K per week (starting during rehearsals (or earlier).