How is Broadway selling?
How is Broadway selling?
How is Broadway selling?#1
Posted: 9/14/21 at 12:01pm
Excited, but cautious about Broadway returning full swing tonight. Do we have a sense about how shows are selling? Of course, I know there is a lot of excitement and I'd imagine sales are good in the coming weeks, but looking a month or two out?
How is Broadway selling?#2
Posted: 9/14/21 at 12:07pmA quick look at “Six” and “Hamilton” show those are selling extremely well.
How is Broadway selling?#3
Posted: 9/14/21 at 12:13pm
Note for a good number of Broadway shows it is possible to get a full refund up to 48 hours before performance.
How is Broadway selling?#4
Posted: 9/14/21 at 12:50pm
We are not going to be able to answer that questions for a while in any meaningful way. As Wick3 notes, the heavy presence of secondary sellers, combined with the availability of refunds makes it anybody's guess. The first weeks of many/most shows will be well sold even if it is unsustainable, plus the resale patterns on Stubhub tells us quite a bit. (Have a look at Hamilton, which is obviously the high water mark, for this week.) The only thing we can say with reasonable assurance is that shows that are not selling well in the first instance are not selling well. I think we will have some clarity in a month or so after a show (re)opens, when we will also have enough reliable gossip to thwart the stupid idea of trying to keep the ugliness a secret.
How is Broadway selling?#5
Posted: 9/14/21 at 1:16pm
Out of curiosity I checked on the performances I am going to in early November. Over 50% of the seats are still available for Phantom and Tina. Moulin Rouge is doing a bit better - Orchestra is reasonably well sold but Mezz is mostly available. Hopefully, people are waiting to see what happens with the Delta variant and/or just not planning that far out.
How is Broadway selling?#6
Posted: 9/14/21 at 1:16pm
for kicks I was checking out Hamilton tickets and there are some resell tickets priced lower than sale price. For example, one matinee had box seats for $239 and resale was under by $30 in parts of mezz.
How is Broadway selling?#7
Posted: 9/14/21 at 1:25pm
It is worth noting that 50% of Phantom's November seats would have been available any year, pandemic or not, this far in advance.
How is Broadway selling?#8
Posted: 9/15/21 at 10:24pm
Without saying too much (because I really can't), companies are actually taking on more house, merch, and other infrastructural staff. So clearly the shows are selling.
How is Broadway selling?#9
Posted: 9/15/21 at 10:55pm
soulmistin said: "Without saying too much (because I really can't), companies are actually taking on more house, merch, and other infrastructural staff. So clearly the shows are selling."
What you’re talking about is EDI hiring —which has no correlation to ticket sales.
How is Broadway selling?#10
Posted: 9/15/21 at 10:55pm
soulmistin said: "Without saying too much (because I really can't), companies are actually taking on more house, merch, and other infrastructural staff. So clearly the shows are selling."
What you’re talking about is EDI hiring —which has no correlation to ticket sales.
How is Broadway selling?#11
Posted: 9/15/21 at 11:12pm
I also wonder how many comp tix the producers are giving out.
How is Broadway selling?#12
Posted: 9/15/21 at 11:26pm
JSquared2 said: "soulmistin said: "Without saying too much (because I really can't), companies are actually taking on more house, merch, and other infrastructural staff. So clearly the shows are selling."
What you’re talking about is EDI hiring —which has no correlation to ticket sales."
For those of us not in the business- what is "EDI"?
How is Broadway selling?#13
Posted: 9/15/21 at 11:31pm
Equity, diversity, and inclusion (sometimes referred to in a different order). It's not specific to theatre.
https://ideal.com/diversity-equity-inclusion/
How is Broadway selling?#14
Posted: 9/16/21 at 5:56am
soulmistin said: "Without saying too much (because I really can't), companies are actually taking on more house, merch, and other infrastructural staff. So clearly the shows are selling."
Each theatre has a certain number of fixed house staff, so if they hiring, that means they lost staff over the course of the pandemic (for whatever reason) and need to replace them. While it's true that bar staff do get decreased for less than full houses, if they are hiring it means that they have lost a number of employees. They'll want the maximum number available for staffing. Same for merchandise staff. It doesn't actually mean there will be steady work for all of them. And of course, backstage staff is completely unrelated to ticket sales.
How is Broadway selling?#15
Posted: 9/16/21 at 6:09am
FWIW, TKTS reopened on Tuesday and only Lackawanna Blues and Pass Over have been up there. Only 7 Bway shows in total are playing now, but that'll increase tomorrow with Six & American Utopia restarting.
How is Broadway selling?#16
Posted: 9/16/21 at 6:26am
Phantom4ever said: "It is worth noting that 50% of Phantom's November seats would have been available any year, pandemic or not, this far in advance."
Pre-pandemic, producers could generally guage their viability based on these advanced sales. If a show typically is less than half-sold three months out, but is 80% or more by performance date, these numbers would not be a concern. Most tourists usual wait until they are in the city before buying their tickets (unless it's a *hot* show like Hamilton). However, we are still in a pandemic. It's still not clear if there is any danger for some of these shows. Just a week ago, Wicked had very good availability. Now, the next two weeks have limited availability. But it opens up again in October.
As Hogan said, we'll probably need a month or so of performances (for each show) to start to see the sustainability and true nature of the sales of these shows. The producers are behaving as if it's business as usual. Discounts are now being released, slowly, and that might have some impact as well. This is really a wait-and-see game now.
Broadway Legend Joined: 12/4/07
How is Broadway selling?#17
Posted: 9/16/21 at 6:35amTo be fair, I doubt many people are planning too far in the future....many likely feel safer until their plans are close by.
Broadway Legend Joined: 12/10/04
How is Broadway selling?#18
Posted: 9/16/21 at 9:51am
When the tri-state area and surrounding domestic sales start to slow (which will happen soon) then we will know. International tourism is a huge demographic in Broadway tix sales.
International tourists aren't flocking to a country that was just deemed a hotspot by the EU.
Its gonna get dicey unless the US slows down its cases. (Hey red states..maybe get vaccinated) The EU has warned its nations about non essential americans traveling to their nations. See below:
"The European Union recommended on Monday that Americans should be banned from nonessential travel to its member states after a rise in Covid-19 cases in the United States.Countries within the 27-nation bloc, which includes France, Italy and Germany, have been advised to reinstate coronavirus-related restrictions and halt the arrival of tourists from the US and five other countries.
The guidance, which also now applies to Israel, Kosovo, Lebanon, Montenegro, and the Republic of North Macedonia, is non-binding for EU member states. That means it remains up to each individual EU country to decide whether to allow "nonessential travel to the EU for fully vaccinated travelers."
-Aug 30th.
I don't imagine a ton of EU tourists are excited to come to a country where they are saying "think twice before letting americans into your country"
I hope i am wrong.
How is Broadway selling?#19
Posted: 9/16/21 at 10:30am
A couple of quick thoughts based on some of the above.
1. Some shows (e.g., Phantom, Chicago) rely very heavily on not only international tourists but group sales. Those buses that clogged the theatre district with school trips are not happening now.
2. The EU cautions are based on travel to the US in the aggregate whereas someone can rationally plan a trip to NYC without the same concerns. Some will, although realistically it is a fraction of what would be needed to make Broadway look anything like what it did 2 years ago in terms of international tourism. (And Asia is of course also a huge impact for some shows.)
Over the summer, walking around, there seemed to be a lot of tourists. But they were mostly drive-ins and in addition to the fact that they are not a major ticket-buying market, they have become less present now that school is back in force.
How is Broadway selling?#20
Posted: 9/16/21 at 11:16amYup I recall when watching Phantom back in early 2020 it was a mix of student groups and tourists from EU, Asia, and Brazil.
How is Broadway selling?#21
Posted: 9/16/21 at 12:48pm
I would think, at least for the re-opening shows, unless they were already in financial trouble before the pandemic, shows will stay open through the holidays. Depending how things are going with COVID at that point, the holidays may create at least some uptick in visitors to NYC, some of which may see shows. Plus, even for something like Phantom, at least some tix will be given as holiday presents.
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