bdn223 said: "dearalanaaaa said: "I wonder how long it is until the big winners (Leopoldstat, Kimberly Akimbo, and Parade) get off of TDF? There was such a large rush line at both but I still see them listed on TKTs today. How disappointing for how wonderful those shows are, but maybe the Tony after effects and summer need to kick in. I feel like most shows are listed besides Sweeney and the usual suspects (hamilton/lion king/aladdin)."
Kimberly Akimbo was only on TKTS for the matinee, and is no longer on TDF, which is to be expected for a show that was not SRO prior to the Tonys. I would expect we see it occasionally pop up on there for a matinee, for the next week or so before it hopefully disappears from them for the rest of summer. Considering the Booth is 74 seats less than the Circle in the Square, 156 seats less than the Lyceum, and 330 seats less than the Barrymore where other recent Tony Award winning Nerdicals have played (Fun Home, A Strange Loop, andThe Band's Visit),it will be interesting if the lower capacity will help Kimberly Akimboin the long run. If we are comparing it to the other nerdicals though,Kimberly Akimbois definitely more family friendly thanFun HomeandA Strange Loopand significantly more accessible to general audiences thanThe Band's Visit.
Kimberly Akimbo is in a unique situation though as unlikeFun HomeandA Strange Loop, it did not open just before the Tony eligibility cutoff limiting losses for just a week or 2 prior to award season. But then unlikeThe Band's Visitwhich also opened in the Fall it was not this massive theatergoer must see event during the winter. Its honestly crazy to look atThe Band's Visitsgrosses as it peaked not after sweeping the Tony Awards, but instead the holiday season the month after it opened, where it spent 2 months bringing in an average of $1.1M. Even in the 7 weeks that followed its 10 Tony wins it only averaged $1.07M before grosses grosses began to fall by approximately 1% each week until the first week of the new year where they fell by nearly 50% in a single week, and then never recovered.
We can also add A Gentleman's Guide to Love and Murderin there as the last nerdical to open in the fall and struggle to make it to the Tony's where it came out victorious, but I don't thinkthe market is the same as it was whenGentleman's Guideopened a decade ago and so the odds of it being able to sell out through the rest of the year seem slim. My guess is it will play likeFun Homeand play well through the summer before demand starts to taper off."
Gentleman’s Guide seems like the best comp in terms of a show that opened in the fall and struggled for months until it won Best Musical. Kimberly Akimbo doesn’t need to turn into an epic blockbuster to turn a profit. Selling out the theater at higher prices, including premium seats, should serve the producers quite nicely.
The show should have a solid summer, but we’ll all be watching the grosses. I am sticking with my uninformed guess that the show will make it to January but not much beyond that. I could be wrong, though.
