Broadway show-business!

[jo]

It is a really profitable business for many shows!

Variety reports on this concluding season on Broadway --

variety.com/2015/legit/news/broadway-sales-record-2014-15-season-1201505187/

This season’s boffo box office momentum was also helped along by a flood of plays in 2014-15, with popular, star-driven limited runs including Larry David outing “Fish in the Dark” ($18.5 million so far), Helen Mirren hit “The Audience” ($16.1 million so far), Bradley Cooper starrer “The Elephant Man” ($14.7 million) and Hugh Jackman vehicle “The River” ($10.8 million). The season also boasted not one but two plays that have, in a rare turn, proved successful enough to play open-ended runs, with starry comedy “It’s Only a Play” ($36.3 million), blessed by big-money returns in its first months, and Tony contender “The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time” ($28.8 million) contributing significantly to Broadway’s 2014-15 totals.

The River did $ 10.8 million despite its price-friendly pricing ( remember the $ 35 seats, which could you land you on the front row?) and the size of CIRCLE IN THE SQUARE.

[jo]

www.northjersey.com/arts-and-entertainment/theater/the-rare-stage-stars-who-always-pack-them-in-1.1468535?page=all

Feldberg: Pacino remains Broadway's most marketable star

December 6, 2015 Last updated: Sunday, December 6, 2015, 1:21 AM

By Robert Feldberg

The Record

 

One of the great mysteries in the theater is why certain actors have an eternal hold on audiences' affections.

It's talent, but not just that. There are lots of skilled performers who have periods of huge popularity, but then just fade into the wide mainstream.

And there are actors who'll dependably attract ticket-buyers – but only in certain plays.

It's the extremely rare performer who'll fill a Broadway theater, year in and year out, no matter what.

Sitting at the top of that list is Al Pacino, and the 75-year-old actor is proving it in "China Doll," which opened Friday night.

The play, by David Mamet, is embarrassingly bad, and Pacino, who's onstage throughout, portraying a business tycoon with tax problems, is, partly as a result of the weak material, doing far from his best work.

But the production is one of the biggest hits of the season.

Since it started previews Oct. 21, it's been selling out or coming within a few percentage points every week, with an average ticket price above $160 — often more than such smash musicals as "Hamilton" and "The Book of Mormon."

This is despite the fact that, almost since performances began, word of the show's many woes has spread far and wide.

Now, many of the tickets were advance sales, purchased before the play started previews, but that, too, is a testament to Pacino's phenomenal drawing power.

Although best known for his movie performances, in such films as the "Godfather" trilogy and "Dog Day Afternoon," Pacino's box-office star power has lasted much longer in the theater than it has in movies.

Particularly in recent years, in a terrific "Merchant of Venice" in 2010 and a mediocre revival of Mamet's "Glengarry Glen Ross" in 2012, he's been a huge attraction.

Even his strange performance as King Herod in Oscar Wilde's "Salome," which he gave in two Broadway runs, in 1992 and 2003, drew sizable audiences. (A "Salome" film he did several years ago was barely noticed.)

Lacking a market survey, the why of Pacino's enormous popularity onstage is entirely speculative. Maybe it's the edginess he brings with him, the sense of spontaneity. You're always eager to see the unexpected thing he's going to do next.

There are other actors who are theatrical sure things.

If, for example, you're invited to invest in Hugh Jackman's next project, whatever that might be, you can confidently put in your life savings. And after she made a hit out of "The Audience," I'm willing to bet Helen Mirren can succeed in anything.

Those performers, though, have each done just a few Broadway shows, compared to Pacino's track record of a dozen appearances over the last 46 years.

Looking at the vast majority of name actors, hiring is a producer's equivalent of shooting dice.

You might think, for example, that Keira Knightley, a talented, attractive, well-known young British film actress making her Broadway debut would be a smart risk. But she couldn't get people to buy tickets for "Therese Raquin."

And the usual Broadway favorite Matthew Broderick didn't do a thing for "Sylvia."

Meanwhile, the notion that people won't pay to see an actor they can watch for free on television was turned on its head early this season when Jim Parsons, of "The Big Bang Theory," made a hit of the slender comedy "An Act of God."

As a philosopher once said: Go figure.

Email: [e-mail]

I wonder how Pacino will do in a musical ( if he can)... and has he done new plays from unknown playwrights?

And Helen Mirren has done only one Broadway play, if I recall right.


Jo

[mamaleh]

I believe discounts have started appearing for CHINA DOLL, as word of mouth and reviews describing how bad the play is have spread.

Ellen

[mamaleh]

Loosely defining "business" as anything concerning finance, here's a story from Playbill.com today about past experiences raising money for Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS, known usually as BC/EFA. ("Gypsy of the Year" finals were held today; I couldn't make this one.) Of course, Hugh's great contributions in that regard are mentioned. A photo, too, from '09 "Gypsy of the Year" is featured.

playbill.com/news/article/recounting-gypsy-of-the-years-best-moments-and-the-story-behind-how-it-all-began-374634

Ellen

[jo]

Business is business

But I think Seth Rudetsky was not thinking that when he shared the dressing room with these two Hollywood hunks

[carouselkathy]

My cousin Roxane worked on the crew of HAIRSPRAY on NBC. She did hair styles for Kristen C. and Jennifer H.

[mamaleh]

Cool! During a break in the broadcast they showed some hairdressing going on. Was your cousin on camera, Kathy?

Ellen

[jo]

Not strictly Broadway -- but this is interesting :

Who is to know that both will have a Hugh connection in the future!


Hey, we are getting the replay of HAIRSPRAY-LIVE here in Manila in a few minutes' time. I did see the show on Broadway and at the West End


Jo

[jo]

As I was reading stuff on BWW -- I just realized how little they have now allocated to the posting/forum space. It is now just half the page ( which makes posts from top to bottom occupy much more space and not exactly pleasant viewing ). Why -- so they can allocate half the page to commercial stuff for shows and plain ads! Yikes -- everything is turning into BUSINESS, no longer show business!

I guess that was the real reason for the recent supposed facelifting of the Broadway site! Ugh!


Jo

[mamaleh]

Yes, those ads are intrusive and annoying.

Ellen