Fast recoupment for THE RIVER

[jo]

Posted: 12/19/14 at 4:56pm

Reported by BWW and also by THE HOLLYWOOD REPORTER!

Recoupment within less than 2 months from start of previews!

THR notes that it is even more remarkable given the size of CIRCLE IN THE SQUARE and the pricing policy which allowed quite a number of seats @ $95 and $35.



http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/hugh-jackman-rushes-river-profit-759560





Updated On: 12/19/14 at 04:56 PM

[Fantod]

Posted: 12/19/14 at 5:05pm

3.2 million in 7 weeks!? Wow, that's insane, especially with only 696 seats available per night

[bfreak]

Posted: 12/19/14 at 5:08pm

It's also for the past few weeks been on TKTS for 40% or 50% off almost every day!

[jo]

Posted: 12/19/14 at 5:20pm

Average ticket price to-date ( per BWW report on grosses) is $ 153.80.

https://www.broadwayworld.com/grosses/THE-RIVER

[Everlast85]

Posted: 12/19/14 at 5:31pm

People would pay just to stare at Jackman, so no surprise here!

[bfreak]

Posted: 12/19/14 at 6:01pm

lol

[Phantom of London]

Posted: 12/19/14 at 8:20pm

You sure this has been on TKT's?

[bfreak]

Posted: 12/19/14 at 8:29pm

Yes, almost every day. I was surprised myself, but they must be reserving some seats for it.

[Melissa25]

Posted: 12/20/14 at 1:32am

Check out Stubhub. The scalpers must be dumping. There are at least 15 tickets less than $30 each for the Sat and Sun matinee this weekend. Wow. Was this show that bad?

[bfreak]

Posted: 12/20/14 at 1:54am

Melissa25 is correct also, except I'd fear that those could possible be fake tickets at prices as low as they've been. And no, the show really wasn't that bad. I found it to be interesting and thought-provoking with some good performances.

[Melissa25]

Posted: 12/20/14 at 11:18am

Actually Stubhub guarantees all tickets. I have never had a bad experience with anything i purchased through them.

[bfreak]

Posted: 12/20/14 at 12:35pm

That's what I always thought about StubHub (even though I've only used it a couple of times) but recently I was reading a lot of reviews that said when they went to the theatre the tickets didn't scan, and they were fake. They said that StubHub then gave them their money back, and looked to see if they had any other tickets and if they do they just give them to you for free. Who knows what's entirely true, though. To be safe, I just generally use the official site.

[jo]

Posted: 12/20/14 at 6:21pm

Interestingly, most of the media reports on the recoupment by The River noted that this was achieved despite the affordable pricing policy instituted for this show -- 2 front rows - with more than the usual number of seats ( riverbank seats) priced at $ 95, and about 40 seats available daily for only $ 35. The Access seats ( available every Monday for the week's performance) and the Rush seats available for the day's performance were also made available to all demos ( not only for students).

That broadened the audience and maybe also staved off some of the scalper business, as people had a lot more access to reasonably-priced seats.

Ironically, has this worked out to the early recoupment of THE RIVER?

[Sutton Ross]

Posted: 12/20/14 at 6:23pm

"Was this show that bad?"

Yes, yes it was.

[Melissa25]

Posted: 12/20/14 at 8:55pm

Thanks. Think I will pass on it.

[justoldbill]

Posted: 12/21/14 at 11:18am

If one shells out $175.00 for Hugh Jackman, one might hope that he hangs around for breakfast.

[atuomala]

Posted: 12/22/14 at 1:10pm

I've used Stubhub and have only had one bad experience out of a dozen, and that screw-up was by my fault, but they were quick to refund my money. I recently used it for a last minute performance of It's Only A Play and paid $30 for a mezzanine ticket. You just need to look at the PDF carefully and make sure that it's consistent with the PDFs that Telecharge sends out. If anything looks off, say something about it. Anyways, I found The River to be an interesting show, but the play lacked a plot structure. It maintains a fairly steady rhythm that you think is going somewhere when really it doesn't. I enjoyed the staging, and Hugh Jackman of course, but the show recouped because of its star power. Ugh, commercial theatre.

[bfreak]

Posted: 12/22/14 at 1:16pm

What do you mean by PDF? I know a PDF is a document but I don't know exactly as to what you're referring to.

[atuomala]

Posted: 12/22/14 at 1:28pm

PDF is the file in which the ticket is printed on. If the ticket is sent to you electronically, it should be a PDF file.

[bfreak]

Posted: 12/22/14 at 2:21pm

Thank you.

[WOSQ]

Posted: 12/22/14 at 3:03pm

Back to the quick recoupment of The River; sometimes the big salaried or per centaged people take a lower number until recoupment, and after recoupment they they take a disproportionately larger amount. Jackman could be making 7.5% until recoupment and then 12.5 or 15% afterwards. Both of these percentages would be against a minimum. I say this could be the way things happened.

Consider the following:

With at least one of Kate Hepburn's last two plays she worked for scale which was then about $400 a week until recoupment, and she persuaded the director and author to waive their royalties until the investors made their money back. "A Matter of Gravity" recouped in 3 weeks after the first tryout stand in Philly. Afterwards the three of them (Hepburn, Noel Willman, Enid Bagnold) enjoyed higher than normal percentages. The truly amazing thing is that all of this was done on a handshake deal with producer Robert Whitehead (the late husband of Zoe Caldwell). This was all written up in Variety.

I don't know about the second play, The West Side Waltz.