Posted: 10/1/19 at 11:39am
JBroadway said: "the impression I got was almost as if Second Stage believed they were "above" advertising their huge, bankable names. Like they wanted it to be all about the art, and put all of their artists on equal footing. And yet they went out of their way to get recognizable names. Trying to have their cake and eat it too, maybe. And then they ended up renting out the Hayes for the entire season following. Again, probably for a variety of reasons, but I'd be surprised to learn that lack of money wasn't a key factor."
I don't know if it's thinking they're "above" advertising, but other Broadway non-profits have realized that the rigid corporate branding of an off-Bway theatre (i.e. same font for all the show titles, actors billed alphabetically below the title, etc) simply doesn't work when advertising a Broadway show. There's too much competition to cut through on Broadway –– and obviously 2nd Stage doesn't have a robust enough subscriber base to fill up the Helen Hayes, even in previews.
And the ad agency (RPM) shouldn't be blamed. The agency operates under the guidance of whoever is acting as the "producer" (the managing director and/or artistic director).
The artistic success of the shows means little when the numbers are as poor as this. And it will come back to bite 2nd Stage –– why should any playwright want to work at a Broadway non-profit that primarily sells discount tickets and has such low averages (2nd Stage Broadway stats: gross of $362,071, gross potential under 60%, ticket price $86)? Obviously they're not the only Broadway non-profit that's struggling, and due to subscriptions the gross potential will never be as high as a commercial show, but it shouldn't take 3 shows over 1.5 years to figure this out.
Updated On: 10/1/19 at 11:39 AM
