Has performing a number on the Tony telecast ever REALLY saved a struggling show?- Page 2

[bwaylyric]

Posted: 4/4/18 at 1:46pm

"

What was the Rock of ages mishap?"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4RnEWPt-x8Q

[Bwayfan292]

Posted: 4/4/18 at 1:50pm

Thank you!

edit: oof.

Updated On: 4/4/18 at 01:50 PM

[R. GreenFinch]

Posted: 4/4/18 at 2:02pm

Ha, I forgot about that. Gotta love NPL's joke, too. 

[Impeach2017]

Posted: 4/4/18 at 4:09pm

Not the Tonys, but Wish You Were Here was famously "saved" in 1952 by an elaborate staging on the Ed Sullivan Show.   Of course, that was a simpler time long ago. 

[bowtie7]

Posted: 4/4/18 at 7:02pm

Camelot is also regularly said to have received a major boast from the Ed Sullivan Show. Actually, I would think many shows were helped by the Ed Sullivan Show, which had a huge national prime-time audience.

[green waver]

Posted: 4/4/18 at 11:09pm

Impeach2017 said: "Not the Tonys, butWish You Were Herewas famously "saved" in 1952 by an elaborate staging on the Ed Sullivan Show. Of course, that was a simpler time long ago."

Which perfectly segues into a related future thread- what musicals were given a huge boost by their inclusion in The Sullivan Show, which unlike the Tony telecasts was a ratings powerhouse for twenty years?

[poisonivy2]

Posted: 4/4/18 at 11:16pm

I know that I have bought a ticket for a show based on a Tony performance. Examples: Fun Home and Waitress were shows I didn;t have much interest in before their Tony performances but bought tickets after seeing their Tony performances.

Waitress:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oAN3qyHfKOo

Fun Home:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pMAuesRJm1E

[KKeller6]

Posted: 4/4/18 at 11:46pm

Peter Pan with Cathy Rigby was going to close in '99 ( I think that was the year). The show was at the Gershwin as were the Tony's. So the flying rig was all set up. They did a number and she flew directly into the camera and the next day there was a huge line and the show finished out its run for the summer.

[blaxx]

Posted: 4/5/18 at 2:27am

Unless there have been direct studies showing the connection between the telecast and ticket sales, there is no way to know. I never heard of any production crediting the Tonys telecast and not the awards for recoupment, or saving their investment in any way. 

For the past two decades, all best musical Tony winners but one have recouped their investment. So, you can say it is the award itself that can pretty much guarantee its financial sucess, 

[binau]

Posted: 4/5/18 at 2:32am

And before a skeptic claims that the kind of musicals that win the Tony Award for Best Musical tend to also be financially successful in the first place (which might be true), we have two perfect examples that almost show a cause and effect relationship of winning the award on ticket sales (Fun Home and Gentlemen's Guide). If I were a producer, I'd be doing everything I could to win that award. It does seem like it will make a show a guaranteed hit! (except Passion, apparently). 

[blaxx]

Posted: 4/5/18 at 2:34am

qolbinau said: "And before a skeptic claims that the kind of musicals that win the Tony Award for Best Musical tend to also be financially successful in the first place (which might be true), we have two perfect examples that almost show a cause and effect relationship of winning the award on ticket sales (Fun Home and Gentlemen's Guide). If I were a producer, I'd be doing everything I could to win that award. It does seem like it will make a show a guaranteed hit! (except Passion, apparently)."

 

Passion won in 1994. I think nowadays it's a safe bet to say that Best Musical Tony = Your Investor's Money Back