How often do plays recoup?

As a disclaimer, I am not well-versed in Broadway production finances, although I am trying to think more about it. It surprises me how long it takes many shows to recoup their initial investment. Profit margins, even when the show is drawing well, seem to be slim, causing it to take a long time--seems like close to a year for most--for most larger productions to break even.

Given how few shows last longer than a year (for every Wicked, there are 20 Cry-Babys), I guess producers are risking losing money on most productions to occasionally hit it big with a cash cow that will line their pockets for years.

That said, given how short most runs of plays (as opposed to musicals) are, especially shows that are considered limited engagements before they start, how often do they recoup their initial investment? Granted, I would think that plays tend to have both smaller initial costs (smaller sets, less rehearsal time, no composer) and smaller marginal costs (smaller casts, no orchestra, less sound/special effects). However, I doubt you'll ever see a play that packs a Broadway house for years like the top musicals do.

That said, how often do plays recoup, and how are they a sound investment for almost any producer?

Doubt recouped in under four months. I remember that The History Boys recouped in six weeks.

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Totally depends on the play, the theatre, the length of the run, the marketibility of the actors, etc. As Smaxie noted, THE HISTORY BOYS recouped its entire investment in six weeks; PROOF did it in ten weeks. LIFE x 3, playing at the 700-seat Circle in the Square, recouped by the end of its almost four month run. It took THE PILLOWMAN its entire engagement (nearly six months) to recoup; BUG, playing Off-Broadway, took eleven months (its entire run) to recoup an investment of less than $300,000.

THE VERTICAL HOUR recouped its $3 million investment on the strength of its names, whereas shows like PROOF or THE HISTORY BOYS did it through great reviews and word of mouth. (This is, of course, partly conjecture on my part) This isn't a science; shows recoup for different reasons, at different paces. It's amazing that, in the last 3-5 years alone, so many plays have recouped, let alone made a profit.

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There are no hard and fast rules when it comes to recouping an investment. THE DROWSY CHAPERONE recouped an $8 million investment in seven months. It took AVENUE Q nearly a year to make back $3.5 million. WICKED took fourteen months of 100%, full-price capacity to recoup $14 million. Still, all of these shows managed to make a tidy profit, regardless of how quickly (or not) they recouped. On the other hand, a show like SUNSET BOULEVARD never recouped, despite running for nearly four years on Broadway.

It's not a science. You can never really know in advance what will fly and what will fail.

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People do it out of love for the theater.

And then there are the ones looking for a tax write-off.

And the others who have so much dispensible income that they can lose pocket-change like $20,000 every now and then.

Updated On: 3/23/08 at 08:33 PM

I guess that means Sunset Boulevard had high weekly costs (an expensive cast, lots of staff, etc) such that it had high enough grosses to stay open for so long but still didn't recoup, so its weekly marginal profit was low?
for Sunset, didn't some of the legal troubles affect its gross? or did that money come from...somewhere else?


I also didn't realize Drowsy recouped after only 7 months; not bad!

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High risks, high rewards are for hedge funds.

Once you have money, then you want power and fame. Most investors on broadway are in it just to join the club

Curtains no t recouping has to do a lot with several different things. One is how full the house is and another major one is how much they are getting for tickets and other things like that.

There are shows that have ran for five years and still didn't recoup. Remember a show is only considered a hit if it recoups. It can run for years on end and still not recoup thus not be considered a hit.

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Recoupment on Broadway though is not the end all, be all. We do get bent out of shape classifying productions by Variety's definition of hit/flop status. Some shows - like say the original Sweeney Todd as an example - eventually did pay off their initial investments, albeit years later. Even though the original Broadway production failed to recoup its investment while it ran, does it still classify as a flop if it eventually returned its investors' investment? I'm not sure.

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