Fastest RECOUP times for Broadway Musicals and Plays

[silversurfer2]

Posted: 12/20/12 at 4:45pm

What with NEWSIES stating it has Recouped it's investment in only nine months...I was wondering what other productions have had a quick Recoup time?
Pardon if this has been discussed previously.

[jacobsnchz14]

Posted: 12/20/12 at 4:46pm

It didn't take too long for WICKED to recoup, if I remember correctly. It took longer than NEWSIES, though.

[Kad]

Posted: 12/20/12 at 4:48pm

The revival of Glengarry seemed to recoup extremely quickly.

[SondheimFan5]

Posted: 12/20/12 at 5:04pm

ONCE recouped quickly

Mary Poppins recouped 1 year

[ACL2006]

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

The A Chorus Line revival re-couped in just 19 weeks(roughly 4 months).

[silversurfer2]

Posted: 12/20/12 at 5:33pm

Wow-was that the recent revial of ACL ? Did not know that...thanks

[broadwaydevil]

Posted: 12/20/12 at 5:40pm

The one and only, yup.

[OKBroadwayFan]

Posted: 12/20/12 at 6:30pm

Per Playbill, Wicked took 14 months to recoup
http://www.playbill.com/news/article/89524-Wicked-to-Recoup-Entire-Investment-By-End-of-2004

[binau]

Posted: 12/20/12 at 6:33pm

We can't forget THE BOOK OF MORMON - 8 months.

[TheGingerBreadMan]

Posted: 12/20/12 at 6:34pm

^^ Beat me too it. I read that in my Grimmerie, and was trying to recall if it was 14 weeks or 14 months.

[Jonwo]

Posted: 12/20/12 at 6:44pm

Wicked's recoupment was fast considering it was a large scale show, Avenue Q and Hairspray recouped in 10 months and Jersey Boys recouped in 7 months. How long did The Producers take to recoup?

Newsies' recoupment wasn't a surprise but I do wonder whether it did cost more than the reported $5m to stage, maybe nearer $8-9m which is average for a Broadway musical but small compared to Disney's other shows.

[wonkit]

Posted: 12/20/12 at 8:59pm

The Doyle revival of Sweeney recouped in about six and a half months.

[D2]

Posted: 12/20/12 at 9:34pm

In 1975, the producers of SAME TIME, NEXT YEAR announced the show had recouped its investment on opening night and distributed checks to their investors at the party.

[RippedMan]

Posted: 12/20/12 at 10:04pm

I would think something like Glen Gary... could recoup fairly quickly since it's not a huge investment and the advance is going to be pretty healthy.

[bdn223]

Posted: 12/20/12 at 10:19pm

The HAir revival recouped in 3 months...

Jonwo I have to agree either their running costs are a lot higher than we all expect or their investment is much larger than they are reporting. On the other hand though all of their promotional performances (Dancing with the Stars, The XMas Day Parade in WDW) those could add some major money to the investment costs. Also having a new advertising skeme with Cott after the whole Coffman photoshop logo can add some money as well. Updated On: 12/20/12 at 10:19 PM

[Jonwo]

Posted: 12/20/12 at 10:30pm

I was surprised Glengarry recouped quickly considering it was only doing 7 shows a week until two weeks ago whereas Death of a Salesman took slightly longer to recoup and was only did 7 shows a week as well. Both shows cost $3m to stage so I imagine running costs aren't that high apart from the salaries of the leads.

I imagine Disney probably invested more money when it transferred to Broadway but probably not a huge amount and also I would imagine when it went from a limited run to a open ended run, there would have been increases in running costs as well.

It's interesting that Newsies has yet to announce a national tour now it's recouped but I imagine it'll be announced in either January or February.

Updated On: 12/20/12 at 10:30 PM

[bobs3]

Posted: 12/20/12 at 11:18pm

I think SAME TIME, NEXT YEAR sold the film rights before the opening and was able to recoup before opening night.

There was a play in 1980s (name escapes me) that sold the film rights before the opening and gave the investors checks for 70% of their investment on opening night.

[dented146]

Posted: 12/21/12 at 1:39am

Also Jersey Boys recouped in about 9 months and I believe The Drowsy Chaperone was even a little quicker. Six or seven.

[dramamama611]

Posted: 12/21/12 at 6:43am

Pretty sure Spring Awakening recouped pretty quick too -- 7 months sticks in my head, but that has great chances of being a false memory.

[anmiller07]

Posted: 12/21/12 at 8:29am

I think In The Heights re-couped in about 10 months, and RENT took about 4 months.

Updated On: 12/21/12 at 08:29 AM

[WOSQ]

Posted: 12/21/12 at 9:58am

Same Time, Next year officially took 3 weeks.
Tribute, the same producer's (Morton Gottlieb) next play, paid off opening night. It had a huge star (Jack Lemmon) and had made money during the out of town tryout.
In both cases, and probably a few more, they were overcapitalized and had reserve funds that were never needed. Those were the first part of the recoupment.

The original Boys in the Band paid off in 10 days. It too had a large reserve and a shortened rehearsal period since they had all done a workshop of the play earlier.

David Merrick had a history of keeping shows out of town to try to make back some money before New York. Stop the World and Roar of the Greasepaint were both financial hits before they opened; I think Oliver made a large portion back on a lengthy West Coast tryout, and even Pickwick which was a 2 month flop, made about 50% of its investment back.

[Smaxie]

Posted: 12/21/12 at 10:40am

History Boys recouped in six weeks.
History Boys

[Ed_Mottershead]

Posted: 12/21/12 at 2:24pm

How about the Nathan Lane/Matthew Broderick revival of The Odd Couple? As I recall, it was sold out through the entire run before it even opened.

[AC126748]

Posted: 12/21/12 at 2:30pm

There was a play in 1980s (name escapes me) that sold the film rights before the opening and gave the investors checks for 70% of their investment on opening night.


Agnes of God?

"You travel alone because other people are only there to remind you how much that hook hurts that we all bit down on. Wait for that one day we can bite free and get back out there in space where we belong, sail back over water, over skies, into space, the hook finally out of our mouths and we wander back out there in space spawning to other planets never to return hurrah to earth and we'll look back and can't even see these lives here anymore. Only the taste of blood to remind us we ever existed. The earth is small. We're gone. We're dead. We're safe." -John Guare, Landscape of the Body

[flahooley2]

Posted: 12/21/12 at 5:45pm

THE BRODERICK/LANE ODD COUPLE HAD A 21 MILLION DOLLAR ADVANCE BEFORE THE FIRST PREVIEW.