What Was the Biggest Monetary Flop? — Page 2

I'm curious... if the current Sweeney will finish "in the black," and it's the only other Sondheim show besides Forum to do so in its Broadway run...

...why exactly is that? Were the cost of all other Sondheim shows THAT high? Or are ticket prices so high now that they can actually turn a profit on Broadway with shorter runs?

The run of the current Sweeney is around 320 this week, and it's closing soon.

Night Music ran 601.
The original Sweeney ran 557 (in a much larger theatre), but it had that giant foundry set.
Into the Woods originally ran 761.

So, how is the revival Sweeney managing to turn a profit with such a short run? I know costs are high these days, even for "minimal" production value like this. Still it doesn't add up, unless its due to the ticket prices.

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So isn't that one of the fastest recoups in recent history?

3.5 mil isn't "Wicked" costs, but it's still not chicken feed to take only 19 weeks for it to recoup.

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Scarlet Pimpernel might hold the record for Broadway. Between the three versions, I believe it lost over $20 million.

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Odd Couple did very well before the show even started rehearsals. So well, in fact, that all of the profits from souvenir sales (hats, shirts, posters) went to BCEFA and Hurricane Katrina charities.

Remember that the original Sweeney had 27 actors (plus understudies) and 27 musicians, while the revival had a total of 10 actor/musicians (plus understudies) and a weekly nut of around $315,000, making recoupment a fairly fast affair during the months they weren't discounting.

As for fast recoupments, I think either Spelling Bee or Q recouped in 18 weeks as I recall (one was 18 and the other was 24, but I can't remember which was which). And as for plays, recent all star revivals like Odd Couple and Three Days of Rain both recouped more or less before they opened. And History Boys and Faith Healer both recouped in about two months.

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ALSO!!!!!!!!! Why did they mount it in the first place if the overheads would be so enormous?

According to Sondheim, Night Music and Company did not recoup during the run. Although he tends to think of all of his shows being flops...

I don't know much about the revivals recouping.

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Sunset was a classic case of bad producing by Webber and his company. Not only did they spare no expense in mounting the show making for an astronomical initial capitalization (that was all but impossible to ever repay), but the weekly running costs were so high that I've heard the show had to be close to a sellout in order to even see a slight profit (I was told that they could only break even if they had 80+% attendance with no discounting whatsoever -- for most shows that figure is in the 60s). Things were fine as long as Close was in it, but went south very fast after she left and the show was hemorraghing money every week as "star" after "star" took over the lead role.

Yes, ego was at play in all of this and Webber and company kept holding out hope that each new leading lady they brought in might turn things around, but things actually kept getting worse. In the end, it nearly bankrupted Webber's Really Useful Company (he had to lay off most of the staff) and while I've never seen an officially confirmed number as far as how much it lost, I've heard that it was well over $10 million.

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I had no idea that Broadway was so "in the money" these days.

I guess you CAN thank the jacked ticket prices for that.

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Annie Get Your Gun with Bernadette recouped in less than a year.

The Civil War never went to Broadway...it only toured...

The Civil War went to Broadway. It got nominated for Best Musical.

In My Life was destined to crash and burn the minute Joseph Brooks concocted that...well, I can scarcely call it an idea.

Lord knows how much money Lestat lost.

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And The Civi War lost its entire $8 million investment on Broadway.

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