Has there ever truly been a show that had a total financial turnaround after the Tony's?

SMOKEY JOE'S CAFE and A GENTLEMAN'S GUIDE are, famously, the only two musicals that took out Priority Loans and then later recouped. Gent's Guide was completely saved by the Tonys and was on life-support before that. Smokey Joe's didn't win any, but it had a bunch of nominations and a good telecast performance, and it managed to find an audience and run a staggering 2k performances.

More logically, producers look at shows' runs in terms of benchmarks, and the Tonys are a big benchmark –– not just for the earnings potential, but also because it's mid-June right before tourism season begins. They probably have a solid plan to get them to the Tony Awards date, and then after that it's a moment to reevaluate and determine what the cost of keeping the show running will be.

Updated On: 5/13/22 at 02:37 PM

In the recent Spring Awakening documentary the creators talked about the show being in financial danger until the Tony nominations.

I don’t believe it was a huge turnaround, but I seem to recall The Band’s Visit saw a marked improvement in business after sweeping the Tonys.

I'd add in Fun Home too.

And that's good to hear about Strange Loop! I don't know why Paradise Square isn't catching on even remotely. Maybe it's the bland title and imagery?

Grand Hotel

YvanEhtNioj said: "Yeah Paradise Square is pretty empty tomorrow night too. i honestly wouldn't surprised if a closing notice came next week after the grosses are released. I agree that the imagery is super bland. Even walking by the Barrymore, the marquee / logo looks faded and unappealing."

But then I watched "Let it Burn" on YouTube and I'm like dang that's gorgeous, I'd love to hear more. So I'd totally buy a ticket.

binau said: "I am curious if any Tony award *except* best musical has a meaningful impact on box office. It’s quite clear best musical has an impact (see examples in this thread) but I’ve never clearly been able to see a relationship between other awards and box office."

It truly all depends on the show.

Something like LuPone's GYPSY opening in the spring, getting rave reviews, winning 3 acting awards, and having a dynamite Tony performance certainly helped –– but it still didn't make it through its full run and lost money.

Best Play can see a smaller bump too.

If a show with a star in it is still running, it can be good publicity for people who learn "hey, this star is on Bway right now, we can get tickets!"

Titanic.

I wonder if Paradise Square can/will hang on until the Tonys telecast to try to get a bump in sales from their performance. It doesn’t have a chance of winning Best Musical, but a good performance could pique interest.

Hairspray0901 said: "The first show that came to mind for me was GGLAM as well. I’d also say Come From Away and Waitress benefited from their Tony performances, even though they didn’t win and ran for much longer than people had anticipated."

I disagree. CFA sold out pretty much from its first preview. Waitress also did well from the very beginning, if not as spectacularly as CFA.

It's hard to isolate this one variable because winning a Tony usually means you also have good reviews and positive word-of-mouth. However, I remembered this article in the New York Times back in 2010 when Next to Normal announced its recoupment. It said,

"Daily ticket sales tripled after the reviews, Mr. Stone said, but “Next to Normal” did not start breaking even until the week in early May when it earned 11 Tony nominations. The musical was grossing more than $300,000 by the middle of the month, and jumped to more than $400,000 after winning best actress for Ms. Ripley and best score and tying for best orchestration (with “Billy Elliot&rdquo at the Tony Awards in early June. That $400,000 threshold would prove to be a lucrative milestone (given the modest weekly running costs) that it would maintain until late September."

https://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/29/theater/29normal.html

Now, much of the article notes that the financial success of the show was due in large part to its unusually low running costs for a musical (although in recent seasons we've seen more and more musicals of that size). It didn't suddenly start making a million dollars a week, and there were always cheap tickets available. But, clearly, the Tonys were one factor, along with rave reviews and great word-of-mouth, that made this niche musical succeed during the darkest days of the recession.

Plays could get a boost from the Tonys, but the show's producers have never found an effective way to present play excerpts.