The State of Broadway — Page 2

kdogg36 said: "I think some of you have correctly identified theater owners as a big part of the problem. So I'm going to take a big swing and say that Broadway theaters should be municipalized. The city should buy them and rent them out at cost.

This ideamight seem extreme, but I don't think it's crazy at all if you compare it to how sports facilities are financed and managed in many US cities. Here in Baltimore, both the Ravens and Orioles stadiums were built by the stateand are leased to the teams for nominal amounts. The theory is that the teams generate local economic activity as well ascivic pride, so it's appropriate for the government to pay for these facilities.

I think that's probably baloney in the case of Baltimore sports teams, but it's a much easier case to make for Broadway theater. The importance of Broadway forthe local economy and for the city's image is undeniable. Municipalize Broadway theaters."

I like this idea, but would rent still be obscenely high with broken-up monopolies?

malcs98 said: "EDSOSLO858 said: "This entire industry needs an overhaul, and not just from a monetary perspective.

Most likely our landlords simply get greedier, producers simply wring their hands, nothing is done, and all that we're left with are intimate plays and solo shows,a smaller handful of long-runners, and maybe the occasional musical if we're lucky.

Remember that Broadway is driven by ego and self-aggrandizement from the top down and has been for over a century."

Exactly and they refuse to adapt which is why other theatre institutions and individuals need to step up and take broadway's place. I believe we're about to see a theatrical revolution of small off broadway and regional theaters and theater companiesboth in NYC and across the country being the prime landscape of American theater. It's the reason why certain shows like Mexodus (which I think is one of the best and most importantpieces of musical theatre out there right now) doing a regional theater tour instead of going on broadway.

At this point,I'm not really excited about anything coming to broadway this coming season (except for maybe Wanted Paddington and Warriors)"



Other Desert Cities, Evita, Paddington, Warriors and Sound of Music will be BIG hits this season!

The real shame is we're all paying for less. The orchestra is thin, the sets are practically non existent, and entire productions are often scaled down to the bare bones. Yet shows continue to flock in and attendance keeps climbing overall. And everyone keeps claiming they are losing money. And still they continue to come in. Go figya. It's all a scam. Their profit is already accounted for, in fees and royalties. The producers are all multi- multi millionaires.Lin- Manuel Miranda is worth $100M. Cameron Macintosh and Andrew Loyd Weber are billionaires. I feel sorry these lads can't make any money in theatre. Buncha hypocrites.

How about this. Start by bringing productions in that make money. Stop bringing in garbage that no one is interested in. Pay some stars real money. Get some commercials out there. Blaming salaries of the regular working people is complete PR from the real culprits in all of this. The producers. Never once have I seen any of them waiting in line for a chicken parm hero from Luigi's( RIP) at lunch with me. The downtown location, of course. You've never known real greed and gluttony if you've never worked for these jackals.

Maybe Broadway can't support 45 new productions every year. Maybe producers have to be a little more cautious about bringing shows in. But, of course, that's less chance to steal the money invested in these shows

What to do... what to do.... it's a real conundrum.

The commercials for Titanique have been endless. All throughout the day on ABC. I’ve also seen plenty of Schmigadoon commercials. There is definitely money for marketing. Whether it’s being used effectively or not is a different story. But also you can’t force a horse to drink water.

I just browsed through my 20+ years of Telecharge orders. It was only 10 or 15 years ago when advance discount codes were readily available for so many shows, dynamic pricing had yet to become so commonplace, and premium was usually one subset of center orchestra.

You could get great seats for a significant number of shows with starry casts for $100-$150 without much effort. Some random excerpts:

$125: Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf (2020)
Center Orchestra Row D

$139: The Ferryman (2019)
Center Orchestra Row G

$103: Oh Hello on Broadway (2017)
Center Orchestra Row O

$89: Mandy Patinkin and Patti Lupone (2012)
Center Orchestra Row L

We'll obviously never get back to those times given how much conditions have changed. But when prices twice these amounts are the norm for seats in less desirable locations and for shows that don't have a "must see" vibe or word of mouth, it becomes so much easier to spend your monies elsewhere, assuming you even have them.

finally made an account because I didn't see a response to the above and it's something that never get talked about. I only learned recently that producers are forced to use certain vendors for set, costume, and other production materials. doesn't ANYONE have insight into this element of the production costs?

if we're going to be fed a bunch of capitalist claptrap like "duty to investors" and "fiduciary responsibility" and take them at their word that these are "commercial enterprises" then why don't they act like one and INNOVATE? they love to bemoan the cost of lumber, so why not try new materials--unless they can't due to some unspoken rule or agreement? they love to complain about "unions" but how exactly, and which ones? because dressers aren't paid for the time between matinees and evenings on 2-show days, actors equity minimum is a little over $2700 (I think?) which, given the shortening lifespan of a show, is more than fair for a living wage in one of the most expensive cities in the world.

theatre owners are definitely the elephant in the room: 1) how much they charge for rent (specifically the tiered rent structure where, the more you make at the box office, the higher your weekly rent is, which is insane when you think about it), 2) how they also charge for "theatre upkeep" costs like cleaning, staffing, sometimes down to the toilet paper (and whether they're passing that expense onto the production), and 3) the fact that they come on as producers as well, so they're waiting at the profit trough, too, when/if it ever comes. anecdotally, I've heard of owners "pausing" or "delaying" rent payments till a show gets on its feet, but do they tack on a vig, too?

THANK YOU FOOR CREATING THIS TOPIC.

We are all here because we love theatre (Broadway) so much that we talk about it on our off-time. A lot. Yet it is quite obvious the model is VERY broken I think about this constantly and thus far, the best, most thorough analysis of it is being done on Substack by Jared Harbour.

Here is his most recent post, discussing how monopolistic (?) the industry is:

Inbreeding Depressionopen.substack.com

It's worth reading in full because it's such a multifaceted issue. I know with 100% certainty that there are artists out there creating incredible work - but it never gets to the Broadway stage for all of these reasons. And the people in charge of the system have no desire to change it because they are profiting off of it. I don't know what the solution is, but I know the first step is as deep an understanding of the problem as possible.

So again: thank you for starting this conversation, and let's arm ourselves with information and knowledge.

Fred Mason said: " think Broadway also has a brand problem as wellas a quality problem. Probably the only industry on the planet that tries to keep it’s premium upscale expensive reputation while simultaneously begging people to come in."

Emerging from lurkdom to agree with this 100% and I think that this is at the heart of why Broadway is struggling now. Attending live theater used to be entertainment for the common person. I remember as a child my parents always finding a way to take us to see shows of all kinds. I attended Broadway shows, various symphonies, and even ballet and opera. I remember school trips where we went to see Gilbert and Sullivan and Shakespeare. I was raised with an appreciation and love of theater.

And while it was always a luxury, it was an affordable luxury. When I was in college and I wanted to get my parents special gift for their anniversary, I was able to buy orchestra seats for Chicago (when it was at its peak) on my retail, part-time paycheck. That is unthinkable now. Now instead of catering to NYers who want to see shows, the focus is on well-heeled tourists (who are willing and able to pay top dollar to see the shows that they really want to see), and luxury experiences. Want those cafe-type seats at Cabaret? Expect to cough up over $1000 per person. There is no show in the world where I would be willing to pay $1000 for a single theater ticket, no matter who was on stage. Then you get the plague of dynamic pricing, where some shows will simply try to charge whatever they think the market will bear. Schmigadoon! wins the Tony and then jacks up their prices by $100 for orchestra seats (even when the show was having a problem selling out those seats before the price increase). There is plenty of blame to go around.

Now I almost never see a show unless I can get rush of TKTS tickets, because that makes it more affordable for me. Most people I know only see shows that they can get at a discount. And I do think that shows are shooting themselves in the foot by making it unaffordable for the average theater fan. I get that expenses have increased tremendously, but it is very clear that the rush to pad pockets at every level is one of the reasons that ticket prices have shot up the way they did.

Broadway is not the only industry struggling now. We see concert tours cancelling dates because they are unable to fill venues at the ticket prices they were demanding (because not everyone is Beyonce or Taylor Swift). Movie theaters often fail to fill up for even highly-anticipated shows. Scalpers and the secondary market often drive up ticket prices even more despite efforts to rein that in. The entire entertainment industry has put itself in an affordability crisis.

I don't know what the answer is, but there is a reckoning coming. There is something inherently broken when even the shows that win the big theater awards end up closing at a loss. And so long as prices keep families and young theater fans out, this will only get worse. I hope that people smarter than me and with more understanding of the industry come up with some real solutions.

mlledir said: "THANK YOU FOOR CREATING THIS TOPIC.

We are all here because we love theatre (Broadway) so much that we talk about it on our off-time. A lot. Yet it is quite obvious the model is VERY broken I think about this constantly and thus far, the best, most thorough analysis of it is being done on Substack by Jared Harbour.

Here is his most recent post, discussing how monopolistic (?) the industry is:

Inbreeding Depressionopen.substack.com

It's worth reading in full because it's such a multifaceted issue. I know with 100% certainty that there are artists out there creating incredible work - but it never gets to the Broadway stage for all of these reasons. And the people in charge of the system have no desire to change it because they are profiting off of it. I don't know what the solution is, but I know the first step is as deep an understanding of the problem as possible.

So again: thank you for starting this conversation, and let's arm ourselves with information and knowledge."

This is a fascinating read with a lot of data I've never seen before. Thanks for sharing it!

I am glad that there seems to be a growing recognition that focus needs to turn to the theater owners who have spent decades quietly shaping the industry to their advantage and who have managed to evade public scrutiny while shallow finger pointing and debate happens on social media.

Landlords don’t owe anybody anything. The only recourse producers have is to stop producing or to build their own theaters. Landlords usually get a percentage of the box office which means they also have skin in the game, it’s not a rental fee adding to the running cost. Pointing fingers at them is a little bit of a scapegoat for much deeper issues like lack of audience interest.

Fred Mason said: "Landlords don’t owe anybody anything. The only recourse producers have is to stop producing or to build their own theaters. Landlordsusually get a percentage of the box office which means they also have skin in the game, it’s not a rental fee adding to the running cost. Pointing fingers at them is a little bit of a scapegoat for much deeper issues like lack of audience interest."

You think they have no role in that? They choose which capitalized productions get a Broadway theatre. I concede they have slim pickings since shows of commercial value without a star attached are harder and harder to capitalize in the first place. But it wasn't long ago that shows could capitalize at a lower number, which always ended up creating this backroom pageant of producers jockeying for a theatre and trying to curry favor with landlords to get chosen. But I'll set aside that hornet's nest to address why landlords have a major role in audience interest or the lack thereof: the customer experience. It's been astutely noted elsewhere that they market Broadway as a premium experience, but what you get is podunk.

Why do they put off refurbishing theatres for as long as possible? And why is it that when they actually do refurbish, the seats are still uncomfortable, the sight lines are still terrible, and the ushers still don't enforce etiquette? I'd be curious if they've ever studied how to actually make a better experience, like determining the minimum number of seats that would need to be subtracted in order to offer decent seats with adequate legroom and full sight lines. I can't imagine it would force many theatres to dip below the regulated 500-seat-or-more size mandated, but maybe I'm wrong. Maybe they shouldn't accept any responsibility for their role in a lack of audience interest and we should just keep licking their boots.