Broadway Grosses: Week Ending 9/29/19- Page 2

[ErmengardeStopSniveling]

Posted: 10/1/19 at 11:39am

JBroadway said: "the impression I got was almost as if Second Stage believed they were "above" advertising their huge, bankable names. Like they wanted it to be all about the art, and put all of their artists on equal footing. And yet they went out of their way to get recognizable names. Trying to have their cake and eat it too, maybe. And then they ended up renting out the Hayes for the entire season following. Again, probably for a variety of reasons, but I'd be surprised to learn that lack of money wasn't a key factor."
 

I don't know if it's thinking they're "above" advertising, but other Broadway non-profits have realized that the rigid corporate branding of an off-Bway theatre (i.e. same font for all the show titles, actors billed alphabetically below the title, etc) simply doesn't work when advertising a Broadway show. There's too much competition to cut through on Broadway –– and obviously 2nd Stage doesn't have a robust enough subscriber base to fill up the Helen Hayes, even in previews.

And the ad agency (RPM) shouldn't be blamed. The agency operates under the guidance of whoever is acting as the "producer" (the managing director and/or artistic director).

The artistic success of the shows means little when the numbers are as poor as this. And it will come back to bite 2nd Stage –– why should any playwright want to work at a Broadway non-profit that primarily sells discount tickets and has such low averages (2nd Stage Broadway stats: gross of $362,071, gross potential under 60%, ticket price $86)? Obviously they're not the only Broadway non-profit that's struggling, and due to subscriptions the gross potential will never be as high as a commercial show, but it shouldn't take 3 shows over 1.5 years to figure this out.

Updated On: 10/1/19 at 11:39 AM

[Calcifer2]

Posted: 10/1/19 at 11:56am

hveasey said: "How does Linda Vista have an average ticket price that low? The average ticket price is below TDF level and I don’t think there’s a lottery. Are they just giving a ton of tickets away?

There are free tickets available to most performances this week on Culturepass (through the NY Public Library). I have seen them put up tickets before but not for a full week of dates. 

 

[Testing1232]

Posted: 10/1/19 at 4:10pm

"Beetlejuice" took a bit of a hit this week with Sophia Anne Caruso being on vacation - as far as "walk-ups" - they get a ton of repeat visitors and many of those people were waiting till she returned this week - probably doesn't make much of a difference as far as big picture numbers , but heard lot of people at. the box office turning down tickets when they saw that she was out - on a side note, Dana Steingold was great as Lydia

[ErmengardeStopSniveling]

Posted: 10/1/19 at 5:13pm

Testing: I promise Sophia means next to nothing at the box office and her absence would have made no noticeable difference at the b.o.

[Testing1232]

Posted: 10/1/19 at 5:44pm

You are probably right - definitely the case with first -timers or the tourist crowd - was just basing my statement on the repeat customers - many stayed away last week

[VotePeron]

Posted: 10/1/19 at 5:49pm

Testing1232 said: "You are probably right - definitely the case with first -timers or the tourist crowd - was just basing my statement on the repeat customers - many stayed away last week "

If anything, the fandom turned out *to* see Presley and Dana. Anyways, repeat customers are probably not paying more than $45/ticket, so I think this point is well intentioned but moot. 

[Testing1232]

Posted: 10/1/19 at 6:41pm

Pissed that I didn't get to see Presley !