Legally in Trouble?

[BrianIdol]

Posted: 8/14/07 at 6:12pm

Is Legally Blonde in financial trouble? The attendance percentage is only 80% this week...i know it's a big theater, but still - this opened VERY recently and I would think this is it's prime time...anybody know/think this is a bad sign?

[Thesbijean]

Posted: 8/14/07 at 6:20pm

Are you kidding? Did you see how much the show grossed at 80%? Almost $950,000. Any show would KILL to be at 80% and make almost a million a week.

Legally Blonde will be around for some time, definitely through next year at the least.

[luvtheEmcee]

Posted: 8/14/07 at 6:21pm

Since when is 80% a sign of trouble? No, it's not selling out, but it's not exactly a red flag, either.

[bjh2114]

Posted: 8/14/07 at 6:29pm

People don't seem to get that it's the money that matters, not the seating capacity.

[WickedGeek28]

Posted: 8/14/07 at 6:29pm

About 5 years 80% was GREAT. Now with shows like Wicked and the Disney hits, people are jaded and think if it's less than 100.15% full the show in danger.

[Katurian2]

Posted: 8/14/07 at 7:04pm

Eactly. And the Palace isn't exactly a small theatre. Actually, it's pretty much enormous.

[jakebloke]

Posted: 8/14/07 at 7:58pm

I think with those numbers it's fine, but I have to say when I saw it 2 weeks ago, the mezz was 1/2 empty, and the balcony was only about 1/3 full. (I sat in both) It felt kinda wierd. I thought during peak tourist season, this show would be almost full. Then again, it is a huge theater,

[StageFan2]

Posted: 8/14/07 at 8:10pm

Blonde is in no trouble right now Brian. Like most shows during the summer tourist season, it's doing well. The gauge for Blonde, like other shows, will be September. I expect some of the shows to fall off by 10% or more. I think we can expect to see some of the more popular summer shows to drop sharply. Blonde was slipping before the summer, I think that tread will continue. I don't expect it to be playing next summer - but I've been wrong before and I'm sure not an expert. It's all opinion and prediction and neither are definitive.
Updated On: 8/14/07 at 08:10 PM

[Just_John]

Posted: 8/14/07 at 8:10pm

Plus it's never at TKTS anymore. So all 80% of the theatre has payed full price.

[Dollypop]

Posted: 8/14/07 at 8:41pm

"Payed"="paid"

[songanddanceman2]

Posted: 8/14/07 at 9:10pm

Everyone is having to pay full price for blonde and they are still getting 80 percent attendance so once the summer is over all they have to do is put the tickets on TKTS and they will do fine.

Posted: 8/14/07 at 9:18pm

I know this is off topic, but how much longer do people think RENT'll last?

I hope Blonde stays on for just a little bit longer. It's so adorable that it deserves a bit of a good run.

[wicked4life51]

Posted: 8/14/07 at 10:03pm

in finacial trouble are you nuts
did you see how much it has been making these past couple of weeks
and plus its not going anywhere its MGM people really haha

[RentBoy86]

Posted: 8/15/07 at 12:08am

Plus, I think this show will tour well, though I can't imagine a replacement cast that is as great as the OBC.

Who all is leaving and where are they going? I know Leslie Krtizer is going to "A Catered Affair," but where is Dequina Moore going (or is that her name?)

[Anakela]

Posted: 8/15/07 at 12:21am

DeQuina's already gone- she left to film a movie.

[Wanna Be A Foster]

Posted: 8/15/07 at 12:39am

Out of the 39 Broadway houses, The Palace is the third largest, with a seating capacity of 1784. Those are A LOT of seats to fill per performance. The only two theatres larger are the Hilton, with 29 more seats, and The Gershwin with 149 more seats.

LEGALLY BLONDE is bringing in a ton of money and have very few discounts. To fill the Palace to 80% is not a small feat, especially with such a high average ticket price.

[Smaxie]

Posted: 8/15/07 at 12:54am

Palace is 5th largest, currently. Legally Blonde is reporting a capacity of 1691 seats. The New Amsterdam is currently holding 1791 and the Broadway 1718.

Foster, I think you are working with the IBDB seating capacities, but the numbers fluctuate depending upon the production demands. Also, the Gershwin lost a good 100 seats or so when it was renovated. It is currently holding 1809.

Updated On: 8/15/07 at 12:54 AM

[AnnaK<3LMIP]

Posted: 8/15/07 at 1:03am

I don't think it will be running for that much longer either. It has its fanbase, yeah, but once you've seen it you've seen it. I don't think it's good enough to appeal to the public to come back again and again.

[Wanna Be A Foster]

Posted: 8/15/07 at 1:04am

I was working with the nytheatre.com capacities.

My bad.

[songanddanceman2]

Posted: 8/15/07 at 9:02am

Im shocked, i didn't realize that broadway theatres only held that many in the big houses.

The regional theatre i work at in the UK which is out of the west end holds 2000 people.
It is true though that the palace is a big theatre so to fill to 80 percent is not a poor thing

Broadway will be blonde for some time yet

[WickedBoy2]

Posted: 8/15/07 at 9:22am

Most Broadway houses are small compared to London. Theatres in major cities outside London have huge theatres with much larger capacitys than most of Londons and Broadways.
These figures are from local Government sites so will vary greatly depending on individual shows.
Birmingham Hippodrome 1850
Bristol Hippodrome 1951
Liverpoll Empire 2381
Sunderland Empire 2017
Manchester Palace 1998
Manchester Opera House 2000
and a biggie here -Blackpool Opera House 3000

There are other large theatres around the country but id be here all day. Remember these are not set figures so dont get picky!

[WickedBoy2]

Posted: 8/15/07 at 9:29am

Most US cities have some amazing theatres with capacities upwards of 2000 going up to 5000 in the case of some of the old Fox Theatres like in Detroit.

[WOSQ]

Posted: 8/15/07 at 9:40am

In addition to keeping track if the dollars, remember that an empty seat in the always-hard-to-sell 2nd balcony counts the same as an empty seat in the easier to sell orchestra.

If a percentage 'dips' to 80% probably a huge number of those deadwood seats are way-the-hell-and-gone up there.

Right now the grosses have been much better than the reviews would have it. Word-of-mouth must be good.

[WickedBoy2]

Posted: 8/15/07 at 9:42am

Just dont send it to London please.

[songanddanceman2]

Posted: 8/15/07 at 10:25am

Wicked those figures for the manchester Opera House are wrong, the opera house has less seats and a much smaller stage than the palace. xx