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Post by hughmanity on Jun 15, 2022 7:13:33 GMT -5
Tickets naturally discounted on TKTS last night. Check out Jackmans Landing for Clayton's curtain call. Sutton and audience expressed lots of appreciation. Jo, you're seeing him, right? Let us know your take on his performance!
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Post by jo on Jun 15, 2022 9:42:54 GMT -5
I will, with family. They have all seen Hugh (1 with me in Oklahoma! In London in 1999) and. They have all seen The Boy from Oz 1 also saw The River)… the show per se is good. I will write my review when I get back home!
Jo
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Post by jo on Jun 21, 2022 17:18:06 GMT -5
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Post by jo on Jun 21, 2022 17:38:46 GMT -5
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Post by jo on Jun 22, 2022 2:42:53 GMT -5
A lot of speculations on BWW on the box office performance for this week! I responded to someone who is a great Hugh fan. Highlighting the concluding paragraph only here  Jo |
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Post by jo on Jun 22, 2022 14:05:55 GMT -5
From Playbill, to-date stats!
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Post by jo on Jun 28, 2022 12:21:15 GMT -5
The Box Office recovered for this week. Save for the Tuesday with Max Clayton, the rest of the 7 shows were with Hugh Jackman.
For week ending June 26, 2022 --
Ticket price has gone back closer to past averages. It should increase further when the next week's grosses are released.
Attendance has also gone back to near 100%
What a difference Hugh Jackman makes at the Box Office
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Post by jo on Jun 28, 2022 13:55:28 GMT -5
Before Hugh Jackman takes his first break in mid-August, my fearless forecast is that the show would have already hit $ 100 million at the box office !!  |
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Post by jo on Jul 5, 2022 19:01:00 GMT -5
Numbers are slightly down --
*Most other shows suffered declines -- could this be the impact of the new Broadway League rule of OPTIONAL MASKS?
The numbers before rule change seemed much better...but after rule announcement, a noticeable shift was observed -- blocks were cancelled, instead of a few seats here and there. Is this reluctance of group seats to see the show with the new mask policy??
How about the impact of Sutton's absence? Not likely, because cancellations were not allowed in her case -- her name not being above the title.
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Post by jo on Jul 5, 2022 21:55:14 GMT -5
Some chatterati say that it might be the July 4th holiday (when people tend to spend it at home) that drew audiences away from the theatres?
What about tourists ( domestic and overseas) who decided to see shows in the city during the holiday?
Also, why were previously subscribed seats ( as in TMM) eventually cancelled, especially in blocks? Hmm...
Jo
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ruby
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Post by ruby on Jul 5, 2022 22:17:54 GMT -5
It’s the holiday. The city / theatre is usually not a draw for a back yard occasion . I was tracking the hotel prices at my favorite city crash pad to see if a bargain staycation was in order and the rates were half off for July 1-5.
It’s not masks. People can wear masks if concerned.
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Post by jo on Jul 6, 2022 12:51:37 GMT -5
Follow this BWW conversation  |
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Post by jo on Jul 12, 2022 13:37:50 GMT -5
For the first time, box office grosses for THE MUSIC MAN fell below $ 3 Million a week.
Was Sutton Foster's absence a factor? Doubtful because Telecharge did not allow any cancellations for her absence ( except maybe for some who opted to get new dates to allow cancellation of old dates). Is it more likely there is a lingering hesitance to see a theatre show because of the lifting of the mask mandate? Most other shows also showed declines during the week, save for a few exceptions. If you look at the seating charts, dates that used to be well-subscribed continue to show blocks of seats made available recently ( could indicate cancellations especially for group tickets)?
On the other hand, the NY-based chatterati say it is because most NYCers may be out for the summer and unless a show can bring in domestic and overseas tourists then there will slower demand?
For week ending July 10, 2022 --
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Post by jo on Jul 12, 2022 13:43:22 GMT -5
Per BWW --
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Post by jo on Jul 12, 2022 20:42:50 GMT -5
From Playbill --
Comparison of recent weekly trends --
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Post by jo on Jul 19, 2022 12:02:08 GMT -5
For week ending July 17, 2022
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Post by jo on Jul 26, 2022 12:03:31 GMT -5
For week ending July 24, 2022 --
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Post by jo on Aug 2, 2022 12:48:00 GMT -5
Dip below $ 3 million --
for week ending July 31, 2022:
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Post by mamaleh on Aug 2, 2022 17:28:56 GMT -5
Most Broadway shows are showing a box office drop in the dog days of summer, especially during the extreme heat wave the NYC metro area has been experiencing in recent days. There’s also some evidence that tourists, rattled by news stories about the rise in crime as well as the continuing pandemic, are hesitant to return.
I wonder whether MM has recouped yet?
Ellen
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Post by jo on Aug 2, 2022 17:49:26 GMT -5
My guess - is YES! The previous week, they reported that 240 performances have been performed...so, plus this week - that would be 248 performances (including previews). Or 31 weeks. Someone on BWW made the (quite) wild assumption that the highest operating expenses ( "nut") per week, including the share of the producers & key investors could not be higher than $ 2 million per week. That is on the very high side already, if previous guesses for other shows are ballpark. The development cost declared in the Vanity Fair article was $ 24 million. So, by week 31 - total development costs/regular operating expenses/share of producers ( maybe Hugh is part of this?) -- would total approximately $ 24 million plus $ 62 million OR $ 86 Million all told. So, with $ 95 million in the bag, there is a very high probability that they have recouped and that they are already making money every week from hereon. Accountant Jo PS: Which means that when Max took over and generated a maximum of $ 1.780 Million ( and that is on the high side, because Hugh's absence was not planned and some no longer cancelled tickets as they were already in town). Maybe that is why they are not selling tickets for the one week in mid-August and another week beginning end-August? They may want to use the time to give everyone the needed breaks and not lose money? If they plan to have performances for those weeks, wouldn't they be selling tickets by this time? My guess |
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Post by ruby on Aug 2, 2022 18:18:08 GMT -5
Most Broadway shows are showing a box office drop in the dog days of summer, especially during the extreme heat wave the NYC metro area has been experiencing in recent days. There’s also some evidence that tourists, rattled by news stories about the rise in crime as well as the continuing pandemic, are hesitant to return. I wonder whether MM has recouped yet? Ellen Don’t usually follow the financials with any fascination but I did see a podcast or TikTok clip from one of those MM haters taunting that when a show recoups they will for sure publicize the moment. And at least a couple of weeks ago, they felt MM’s silence on the topic was telling. |
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Post by jo on Aug 2, 2022 19:23:45 GMT -5
I think that could be true if the show is teetering at the box office.
With such a runway box office success for The Music Man, even the chatterati ( at least on BWW) concedes that even with wild high guesses for operating nut, it could have already started making money close to halfway during the run. Unless Rudin is claiming a ridiculous amount - even there, he is no longer an active producer but only a "passive investor".
Of course, there will always be allegations that the producers may sometimes inflate the operating expenses and other related costs because they do not want to distribute net profits to small-time investors yet ( which I understand can be an industry practice) thus, so many other kinds of expenses are declared. But in the case of The Music Man, it is doubtful that billionaires Diller and Geffen would still want to invite many small-time investors. If both are such well-known philantrophists, it is doubtful that they will be stingy on the financial needs of THE MUSIC MAN.
Jo
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Post by jo on Aug 2, 2022 19:37:19 GMT -5
Publicizing if they have recouped ( people only do this to shout to the world that they made a wise financial decision but do billionaires Diller and Geffen want to do this -- Diller donated $ 250 Million for Little Island Park as well as its maintenance costs for the next 20 years or so ( I understand he and his wife also donated to the earlier High Line Park) while Geffen donated so much to the Lincoln Center that they renamed the Symphony Hall after him - also he is much richer than Diller ( apart from his donations to Yale and other institutions in the hundreds of millions). Producers want to publicize it also if they want investors for potential new projects. I think The Music Man was also a matter of pride to them, trying to keep it afloat in the early days after the Rudin debacle ( or they may also have a private agreement with Rudin to uphold the project as best as they could, after they got Hugh Jackman's commitment to stay on).
Maybe if it was still Rudin at the producer's helm, he might want to publicize it, to court future investors for a future project. But Diller & Geffen are only "angel" producers. Kate Horton and her UK company - I have no idea what kind of financial involvement they may have with the project?
On a side issue - if they also declare that they have recouped -- there will be further calls to reduce their ticket prices to provide more accessibility to the theatre ( although they had previously announced a program of donations involving some 20,000 tickets at $20 each). They seem to be reducing prices on a day-to-day basis ( if you check today's charts, some premium seats may have been priced lower for the day...and there have been many RUSH seats awarded with excellent seats.
But if you check their prices - from Thanksgiving Friday (Black Friday), they already started raising the top premium prices. I assume this will be the price deck till the end of Hugh's run? Broadway shows are usually priced a bit higher ( like hotels and other travel needs) during the holiday season when New York retail business( including entertainment, tours, restaurants) are at their peak. I'd hate to know how much will be charged for Hugh last performing date 0f January 1, 2023 ... and also the proverbial December 31 show ( if they ran one on that date) -- Hamilton and Hello Dolly, if I am not mstataken, charged top premium prices in the 4-digit range ( I don't even want to know how much the secondary sellers charged).
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Post by mamaleh on Aug 2, 2022 23:57:58 GMT -5
It's true that most producers will announce when their show recoups. But as Jo points out above, there may be reasons not to do so in this case. My own guess is that it probably has recouped, but that's just my speculation.
Ellen
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Post by jo on Aug 9, 2022 13:45:03 GMT -5
For week ending August 7 -- soft results continue for late summer.
It is very likely that the show will hit $ 100 Million in Gross Receipts for Hugh's last week before he goes on a week's break! The show needs only $2,638,479 to hit $ 100 Million!
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