Broadway grosses

[cmleidi]

Posted: 10/14/03 at 8:40pm

Could some please explain how grosses work? I thought I knew how it worked, but reading the charts baffle me. For instance, TAKE ME OUT made 254,070 this past week, and made $233,320 the previous week. Yet it says that its gross was down by one percent this past week. I don't understand it because the tickets are usually sold for around fifty one dollars, and if the ticket prices are roughly the same, and the theatre made more money, how does the gross go down?

Updated On: 7/11/11 at 08:40 PM

[magruder]

Posted: 10/14/03 at 9:07pm

"What do you do, with an M.A. in English?"

Just kidding.

The percentage figure that Playbill quotes is for attendance. Take Me Out played to 65.7% the week prior, and 64.6% last week, a 1% drop in attendance. Still, the show made more money, which means that though less people saw it last week than the week before, they must have paid more for their tickets on average to account for the higher gross.

Updated On: 10/14/03 at 09:07 PM

[Mattio98]

Posted: 10/14/03 at 9:15pm

bravo to marguder for the Avenue Q reference!

Posted: 10/14/03 at 10:45pm

but it is a BA right not and MA? Oh I have to listen to Avenue Q again..... I love this show.

[newyorkuniq]

Posted: 10/14/03 at 11:27pm

I have only lived here a year but have seen just about every show, the only one to totally knock me out was Avenue Q. I saw it the first night of previews so it's probably even better now.

[magruder]

Posted: 10/15/03 at 4:54am

It's 'B.A.' in Avenue Q. Cmledi mentioned an M.A. in English, and, well, I saw an opportunity. (Lest anyone think I'm being catty, I have a B.A. in English...)

[lass]

Posted: 10/15/03 at 7:24am

I have a B.A. in English too. That's why I work in health care now.

[Hank]

Posted: 10/15/03 at 10:11am

Holy cow! I'm surrounded by English majors, here at home and now on this site.
For the record, I was a business marketing major, and I was kind of wondering myself how grosses work. I think I got it figured out. On the upper left corner of the ticket stub is the price paid for that ticket. The price varies because some tickets are sold at full price, some with discount codes, and some with tkts at half price. Also, some shows have super premium seats that go for much more. You add up how much everybody paid for their tickets for the 8 shows for that week, and you have your gross.

[sabrelady]

Posted: 10/15/03 at 10:39am

Hey Lass! I have a double major in Eng & History so of course I Work as A Reg. Nurse now !

[WOSQ]

Posted: 10/15/03 at 10:41am

'I graduated with a degree from the School of Hard Knocks' which sounds like it ought to have been written by Carlotta Campion....

The things we do not know when looking at the grosses as they are printed on-line are what the potential gross for a show is--ie if all the seats were sold at full price, what the total amount would be--and what the weekly breakeven for a show is.

100% sold is great, and Hairspray is selling out with no promotional discounts at all. If a show sells 100% of the seats but no one pays full price, they won't make that much money. Who pays full price for Phantom anymore except on a Saturday night?

Some shows have a very high breakeven each week. The bigger the cast and the more complicated the physical production, the bigger the cost. Aida probably has a big operating cost, so does Millie, Beast, Gypsy, and The Producers. Movin' Out has roles that are double cast and a set that moves in a major way. Every time something moves, think that it cost money to make it move.

On the other hand there was Proof: 4 actors on stage, one set where nothing flew or even moved. No wonder it ran over 2 years even with plenty of discounts.

Ain't Misbehavin' for the last 18 months of its run was a perfect example: cast of 5 (no stars) plus 5 understudies, small band, plus crew, a simple set and one costume each. It made a few dollars each week and everybody was happy.

Chicago is a very cheap musical to run.

[lc1965]

Posted: 10/15/03 at 10:56am

Part of the problem of determining from the publishes grosses whether a show is doing well financially is that the nut of a show is a closely guarded secret. Even those who say they know are usually full of it.

[lc1965]

Posted: 10/15/03 at 10:58am

you'd actually be surprised how many people pay full price for phantom at each performance. people will pay full-rpice to secure preferred seats in advance, if it's a gift, out of ignorance, because they live out of town & don't know how affordable bway can be.... lots of reasons. still, that's a bloody expensive show to run!

[cmleidi]

Posted: 10/15/03 at 12:37pm

I'm sure a lot of people don't know about ticket discounts and half-price offers, but sometimes, you just pay full price because you want a good seat AND you don't live in New York. I live in Ohio, and I want my tickets and seats lined up before I leave. I was tired of paying the ridiculous handling and service fees so this past Friday I went around and bought my November and December tickets from the box office and used my discount codes (if I had codes). I went to each theatre and scoped out the seats for the time I was returning. I returned and purchased the best available tickets. It saved me close to eighty dollars. The only person who gave me fits about this comparison shopping was the ass at the NEVER GONNA DANCE box office who asked me why I was there if I were not going to purchase a ticket.

By the way, I'm also in the healthcare field. I'm in hospital administation. I'm a patient liaison. Updated On: 10/15/03 at 12:37 PM

[tkts]

Posted: 10/15/03 at 1:52pm

Cmleidi brings up a great point for us non New Yorkers. Most of the time we have seen all the things that are using the discounts. My next trip in early '04 will be for The Producers (seen it, but want to see it with Lane/Broderick), Oz and Wicked. All will not be using discounts by then. The only new show I might want to see that will be using discounts might be LSOH. That of course depends on if they make it to then or not. We out of towners like to have things etched in stone.

Updated On: 10/15/03 at 01:52 PM

[cmleidi]

Posted: 10/15/03 at 2:05pm

The issue of discounts is a complicated issue though if you don't live in NY. If you do live outside New York, your resources are limited. Even if I do use discounts, I'm still paying the sight to ten dollar service fee per ticket. If you want to see a show right away, you're not always able to get a discounted or half-price ticket. Aa few days after I bought my ticket for RETREAT FROM MOSCOW, half price tickets were made available. It was too late for me. Do I wait for dicounts to show up or do I buy a full-price ticket to ensure a good seat on a date that's convenient to me? I'm already planning for my theatre trip in early December so I don't have many options when it comes to using discount codes. Most of the codes I find are expiring in November.

It does irk me that if I had only stayed two more days I could have purchased a $5. ticket to WONDERFUL TOWN instead of paying eighty plus dollars for my one ticket. Of course, the hotel room would have eaten up any benefit.

[cmleidi]

Posted: 10/23/03 at 3:16am

IS there any website that lists the total amount of money a production has grossed during its run?