Broadway Grosses: Week Ending 3/17/19- Page 2

[quizking101]

Posted: 3/19/19 at 4:13am

Wick3 said: "I agree on the CHER SHOW. I saw the show a month ago and noticed the wings of the mezzanine was empty empty. I'm guessing those were priced too high.

I expected Harry Potter to do better this week given it's the original cast's last week."

I was kind of shocked at the capacity for The CHER SHOW too. I think it has the potential to run at least until the end of the year. (SJB is contracted until November) But I also think that the producers overestimated the amount of Boomers who want to spend $120+ to see a musical retrospective about her life when it’s entirely feasible to spend about the same (or sometimes less) to still see the real Cher on tour

[Here I Am]

Posted: 3/19/19 at 4:28am

Oh no! I’m hoping the warmer weather/Tony nominations keep THE PROM with us for a while longer!!

[poisonivy2]

Posted: 3/19/19 at 7:30am

I saw the Prom last Friday. I adored the show and hope it picks up steam soon ...

It's an absolutely wonderful show. I wrote more about it here:

https://humbledandoverwhelmed.blogspot.com/2019/03/theater-diaries-kiss-me-kate-and-prom.html?m=1

[dramamama611]

Posted: 3/19/19 at 7:43am

MOST people are clueless to "original cast" status.  And they don't really care.  In the case of HP, like Hamilton (and many others), the SHOW is the star, it matters not who is in it to most of the ticket buying public.

[Miles2Go2]

Posted: 3/19/19 at 8:04am

When I first stsrted coming to NYC (not until 2010, believe it or not, for work; it was love at first sight), I was just thrilled to be seeing my first Broadway show(s) and didn’t pay that much attention to whether I was seeing the original cast or not. I know the first time I saw American Idiot (my first show on Broadway!), it was with the original cast. I’m not sure if I saw the original cast of Billy Elliot (my second show of my first trip) in September 2010. But after that over my next few trips, my next few shows (La Cage aux Folles, Spider-man: Turn Off the Dark, Evita [although I had an understudy for Peron, Once) included the original Broadway casts although by the time I saw The Book of Mormon in November 2012, some of the original cast had left (but I don’t recall even thinking about that while I waited in 40° weather for 6 hours for my SRO ticket).

Sorry, I got caught up in reminiscing. My point was to agree with dramamama611; most casual theater goers don’t pay attention to whether they’re seeing the original cast. The only time that would change would be if a big star (Bette Midler, Bradley Cooper, Hugh Jackman) was out for a performance.

[magictodo123]

Posted: 3/19/19 at 8:13am

dramamama611 said: "MOST people are clueless to "original cast" status. And they don't really care. In the case of HP, like Hamilton (and many others), the SHOW is the star, it matters not who is in it to most of the ticket buying public."

You're so right...when I was at Mean Girls on Ashley and Tee's last night, I mentioned that to a bunch of people. Most of them had no idea (except one who freaked out--I think she really wanted to see the OBC before it changed), but otherwise I think people just care about seeing the show. This is also one show that has amazing understudies/standbys. I also agree about Hamilton. I saw it maybe a month ago, but I also saw it with the OBC and the show was truly what made me fall in love, not who was in it (although they WERE all amazing). 

[Wick3]

Posted: 3/19/19 at 8:13am

dramamama611 said: "MOST people are clueless to "original cast" status. And they don't really care. In the case of HP, like Hamilton (and many others), the SHOW is the star, it matters not who is in it to most of the ticket buying public."

I agree HP is really the star; but for Hamilton, the original cast brought that show to another level. People were paying thousands of dollars to see them on their last performance and people were sleeping outside the theater for a week just to get cancellation tickets. None of that happened for HP OBC's last performance.

[Wick3]

Posted: 3/19/19 at 8:14am

BritCrit said: "bdn223 said: "I think the real question of the week is Why were Frozen's grosses down? Its not a good sign."

In all fairness to Frozen, attendance was pretty good compared to recent weeks. But ticket prices fell pretty sharply, which isn’t great for a show so reliant on high-priced seats. Things will probably get better soon (I don’t think Frozen is in danger until it falls below $1 million) but the fact it has fallen behind Aladdin is not a good sign..."

I recall someone telling me that FROZEN had a Tuesday matinee instead of one of its regular performances last week. Not sure why but perhaps that may have been part of the anomaly that affected its numbers.

[KathyNYC2]

Posted: 3/19/19 at 10:30am

Frozen did not have a Tuesday matinee last week. They had an 8 pm show instead of a 7 because another event was in the theater. . The only other difference last week I believe was a 1 pm Sunday show instead of 3.

[Jarethan]

Posted: 3/19/19 at 12:17pm

haterobics said: "So if a show is doing well, the conventional wisdom is that a movie would kill its grosses. But if a show isn't doing well, a movie would help its grosses?

Seems like it should always do the same thing, no?"

If you are inferring that from my post, I do not agree.  I do not feel that The Lion King will be hurt a speck by the movie; if Frozen were released right now, I bet it would spur interest in the show, i.e., tickets would become harder to get within a reasonable time. 

On the other hand, Phantom was still doing very well when the movie flopped, and was not impacted an iota. I don't think a good movie will hurt the stage box office; I do not believe a bad movie will help box office.  (All of this IMO  is about Broadway...I don't know about the road).

[Wick3]

Posted: 3/19/19 at 12:34pm

thank you Kathy for the clarification. I'm not sure why FROZEN numbers decreased but I just read the news that they plan to go to London and Australia in addition to the national tour so the popularity is there.

As for movies and broadway shows, I'll admit I've never seen The Sound of Music on Broadway (1998 revival) simply because I felt the movie with Julie Andrews was perfection.

I recall sometime in early 2000s there was talk of Macintosh pulling the plug on Phantom even though it was still doing well. I thought it was because of the upcoming movie but either way I'm glad Phantom didn't close. It's practically a NYC institution. Friends who visit NYC for the first time always want to see Phantom, Lion King, or Wicked as their first broadway show.

[Mike Barrett]

Posted: 3/19/19 at 12:59pm

Do we know the weekly cost for The Prom? Honestly if its around 450-500k, I can see them easily staying open until the Tony nominations at the very least and hope that helps their grosses. 

[Bettyboy72]

Posted: 3/19/19 at 1:16pm

People are broke and so many shows are over priced. I had three friends walk away from seeing The Cher Show bc they wanted weekday orchestra seats and it was $249. A friend took a side partial view discount orchestra seat for Cher only to see the center section half empty. It's just stupid. Lower prices, get butts in the seats and eliminate discount codes. 

The bottom has to fall out of this pricing at some point. Unless the show is an insane hit or features a big star, producers need to budget for lower prices. 

The Cher Show needed to open after her death or retirement. Cher is alternating between a world tour and DC Casino dates. What would compel someone to see The Cher Show. The producers should have gotten Cher to lay low during the run. 

Also, I think SJB is sensational in the role, but they need to keep her off daytime TV. Put Michaela and Jaord on. It didn't translate well. The Kelly & Ryan performance felt really sad and flat. SJB deserved a better format for the work. 

[itsjustmejonhotmailcom]

Posted: 3/19/19 at 1:36pm

Bettyboy72 said: "People are broke and so many shows are over priced. I had three friends walk away from seeing The Cher Show bc they wanted weekday orchestra seats and it was $249. A friend took a side partial view discount orchestra seat for Cher only to see the center section half empty. It's just stupid. Lower prices, get butts in the seats and eliminate discount codes.

The bottom has to fall out of this pricing at some point. Unless the show is an insane hit or features a big star, producers need to budget for lower prices.


It looks like there are plenty of weekday orchestra seats for $159 (lower with codes.) Without having access to the data that the producers see, we have no way of knowing if they are pricing it appropriately or not.

 

[Wick3]

Posted: 3/19/19 at 1:36pm

Bettyboy72 said: "People are broke and so many shows are over priced. I had three friends walk away from seeing The Cher Show bc they wanted weekday orchestra seats and it was $249. A friend took a side partial view discount orchestra seat for Cher only to see the center section half empty. It's just stupid. Lower prices, get butts in the seats and eliminate discount codes.

The bottom has to fall out of this pricing at some point. Unless the show is an insane hit or features a big star, producers need to budget for lower prices.

The Cher Show needed to open after her death or retirement. Cher is alternating between a world tour and DC Casino dates. What would compel someone to see The Cher Show. The producers should have gotten Cher to lay low during the run.

Also, I think SJB is sensational in the role, but they need to keep her off daytime TV. Put Michaela and Jaord on. It didn't translate well. The Kelly & Ryan performance felt really sad and flat. SJB deserved a better format for the work."

I agree. I love SJB and think she's doing a phenomenal job as Cher but for Cher fans who prefer to hear Cher herself sing, it's hard to justify spending $199+ for an orch seat to see this show.

[BritCrit]

Posted: 3/19/19 at 1:40pm

Bettyboy72 said: "People are broke and so many shows are over priced. I had three friends walk away from seeing The Cher Show bc they wanted weekday orchestra seats and it was $249. A friend took a side partial view discount orchestra seat for Cher only to see the center section half empty. It's just stupid. Lower prices, get butts in the seats and eliminate discount codes.

The bottom has to fall out of this pricing at some point. Unless the show is an insane hit or features a big star, producers need to budget for lower prices."

High ticket prices are the consequence of an overreliance on big brands on Broadway. We have been talking on this thread about how Frozen had a bad week because the price of tickets was unusually low. With only a finite number of seats in any theatre, increased budgets and weekly nuts mean that ticket prices have to go up in order for a show to make any money. This means that the stakes are much higher. If Be More Chill earns $1 million in a week, it is an immense success. If Frozen earns $1 million in a week, that would be a real disappointment. Losing control of prices will hurt everyone. Audiences will mostly be priced out if they lack the disposable income, whilst theatre producers could end up losing immense amounts of money on projects which cost way too much....

[Bettyboy72]

Posted: 3/19/19 at 8:00pm

As far as discount codes, youd be suprised how many people are not aware of them. Every time I am in town, I see people walk away from the box office empty handed because seats are too expensive. I have never seen a box office staff member offer them to make a sale. That seems crazy to me. I once pulled up a code for someone in front of me at the window and the box office employee later chastised me. 

[ACL2006]

Posted: 3/19/19 at 9:45pm

The Cher Show has discounted orchestra seats during the week for $79. Why were your friends only looking at premium prices? The rear mezz is $59(though typically sold out).

[Trish2]

Posted: 3/19/19 at 11:14pm

ACL2006 said: "The Cher Show has discounted orchestra seats during the week for $79. Why were your friends only looking at premium prices? The rear mezz is $59(though typically sold out)."

The last five weeks of grosses are certainly poor for THE CHER SHOW. With their weekly nut hovering at 1 million, those 800K grosses aren't going to cut it in the long term.

Average ticket price has dropped to $93 and it’s playing at 54 % of its potential gross.

The show lands on TKTS regularly and is quite often on TDF, so it's surprising that more people aren't aware of that.

The show is going to need a lot of love from the TONY Awards to last another year on the Great White Way.

 

[SomethingPeculiar]

Posted: 3/19/19 at 11:33pm

Mike Barrett said: "Do we know the weekly cost for The Prom? Honestly if its around 450-500k, I can see them easily staying open until the Tony nominations at the very least and hope that helps their grosses."

It's gotta be 500+, that cast isn't small. Even with the creative team and service providers waiving their fees to keep the running costs down.

There's the school of thought of "they've stuck around this long, they can make it through the Tonys," but we're 6 weeks from nominations and 13 from the Awards and that's a long time to bleed money. My guess is the big goal right now is to make it til nomination day.

[haterobics]

Posted: 3/20/19 at 12:56am

Mike Barrett said: "I can see them easily staying open until the Tony nominations at the very least and hope that helps their grosses."

At this point, they pretty much would seem a lock to stay open through nominations, and if they get nominated for Best Musical (which seems likely), it is hard to imagine them not losing more money (assuming they are) through the Tonys to keep open in case they can pull off the win...

[DallasS]

Posted: 3/20/19 at 5:00am

quizking101 said: "But I also think that the producers overestimated the amount of Boomers who want to spend $120+ to see a musical retrospective about her life when it’s entirely feasible to spend about the same (or sometimes less) to still see the real Cher on tour"

This is exactly the case I think right now with her big Mamma Mia Abba world tour going on.  I would have loved to have seen The Cher Show...I love SJB..I came to NYC the first weekend in February,  but as I was planning my trip in early January and buying show tickets I saw that the real Cher was on tour only a couple hours from me at the end of January and upper level seats were $35.....i ofcourse decided to go see the real Cher and choose different shows for New York. 

[magictodo123]

Posted: 3/20/19 at 6:18am

BritCrit said: "Bettyboy72 said: "People are broke and so many shows are over priced. I had three friends walk away from seeing The Cher Show bc they wanted weekday orchestra seats and it was $249. A friend took a side partial view discount orchestra seat for Cher only to see the center section half empty. It's just stupid. Lower prices, get butts in the seats and eliminate discount codes.

The bottom has to fall out of this pricing at some point. Unless the show is an insane hit or features a big star, producers need to budget for lower prices."

High ticket prices are the consequence of an overreliance on big brands on Broadway. We have been talking on this thread about how Frozen had a bad week because the price of tickets was unusually low. With only a finite number of seats in any theatre, increased budgets and weekly nuts mean that ticket prices have to go up in order for a show to make any money. This means that the stakes are much higher. If Be More Chill earns $1 million in a week, it is an immense success. If Frozen earns $1 million in a week, that would be a real disappointment. Losing control of prices will hurt everyone. Audiences will mostly be priced out if they lack the disposable income, whilst theatre producers could end up losing immense amounts of money on projects which cost way too much...."

I'm sorry but I've seen this mentioned numerous times and I have to ask--what do you mean by "nut"? 

[dramamama611]

Posted: 3/20/19 at 7:33am

Basically, the "nut" is a productions COSTS for the week.....rent and payroll for the most part.   If they don't make their nut they are losing money.  The goal, of course is to make MORE than your nut so you can pay back the investors. This can take any where from several months, so a few years.   But if a show is barely making their nut, they will likely never re-coup.   

[magictodo123]

Posted: 3/20/19 at 7:37am

dramamama611 said: "Basically, the "nut" is a productions COSTS for the week.....rent and payroll for the most part. If they don't make their nut they are losing money. The goal, of course is to make MORE than your nut so you can pay back the investors. This can take any where from several months, so a few years. But if a show is barely making their nut, they will likely never re-coup."

Oh! Okay thank you for the explanation!