Broadway Journal

WILL A NEW ‘SWEENEY TODD’ MAKE ITS INVESTORS A KILLING? (EXCLUSIVE)

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Hamilton producer Jeffrey Seller is raising as much as $14.5 million to revive Sweeney Todd on Broadway this spring, a test of whether a big-budget Stephen Sondheim revival can succeed in the post-Sondheim era.

Josh Groban (The Great Comet) will play the vengeful barber and Annaleigh Ashford (Sunday in the Park with George) will play the creative pie maker Mrs. Lovett, according to an operating agreement distributed to investors and reviewed by Broadway Journal. The musical, with a book by Hugh Wheeler, will be staged by Hamilton director Thomas Kail with a full orchestra playing the score, a person familiar with the revival said. (Two prior Broadway revivals, while critically acclaimed, were comparatively small-scale productions.)Continue Reading

LEA MICHELE WILL REPLACE ‘FUNNY GIRL’ STAR BEANIE FELDSTEIN AS FANNY BRICE

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People who need to see Lea Michele play Fanny Brice on Broadway are the luckiest people.

Lead producers Sonia Friedman, Scott Landis and David Babani announced today the Glee star is replacing Beanie Feldstein in Funny Girl  beginning Sept. 6 at the August Wilson Theatre. Standby Julie Benko will play the lead Aug. 2 to Sept. 4 and for all Thursday evening performances starting on Sept. 8.Continue Reading

WILL ‘FUNNY GIRL’ REIGN OVER BROADWAY’S REVIVAL PARADE?

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Broadway producers are people who need people — especially courageous people willing to congregate indoors during a pandemic. And maybe even get excited about a new take on a classic musical.

Four new musical revivals are expected on Broadway over the next eight months. The latest to throw its hat in the ring is Funny Girl, scheduled to begin performances on April 2, 2022, per a recent casting notice. It will star Beanie Feldstein (Booksmart), according to industry sources.Continue Reading

IDINA MENZEL LOOKS LIKE A GO FOR ‘FUNNY GIRL’ (EXCLUSIVE)

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Idina Menzel is in talks to play Fanny Brice this fall in the first Broadway revival of Funny Girl, the hit 1964 Jule Styne-Bob Merrill-Isobel Lennart musical that starred Barbra Streisand.

The show would be directed by Michael Mayer and overseen by the U.K. producers Sonia Friedman and David Babani, according to two people familiar with the project. In 2015, Mayer staged a Funny Girl revival at London’s Menier Chocolate Factory (where Babani serves as artistic director) starring Sheridan Smith. The production had a revised book by Harvey Fierstein and transferred to the West End.Continue Reading

‘HARRY POTTER’ & THE CURSED BOX OFFICE YARDSTICK

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The last week of July 2019 was business as usual for Harry Potter and the Cursed Child  on Broadway. Sales rose less than 2 percent to $1.4 million, according to data from the Broadway League, the trade association of producers and theater owners.

But there was a huge increase in a closely watched measure in those seven days. Harry Potter ‘s sales jumped from 84 percent of its “gross potential” to 101 percent, according to the same posting. What changed was the basis for comparison.  After four months of claiming a weekly gross potential of $1.7 million, the production slashed the figure to $1.4 million.

Like average ticket prices, sales relative to gross potential is an important signifier of a show’s box office strength. But gross potential, which the League posts weekly with other box office figures, loses value as a benchmark of success when it fluctuates along with ticket prices.Continue Reading

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