Broadway Journal

KID-FRIENDLY SHOWS REACH A THIRD OF BROADWAY SALES

March 19, 2018 by Philip Boroff

Jamie Parker as Harry Potter/ Photo by Manuel Harlan

EXCLUSIVE: This season, every night is kids’ night on Broadway.

While theatergoers still pay up for Lin-Manuel Miranda’s historical hip-hop, Broadway’s fastest-growing onstage demographic are princesses, princes, witches and wizards. With the Harry Potter plays and Mean Girls early in previews and Frozen opening on Thursday, family-friendly sales are likely to stay elevated.

Broadway Journal hasn’t crunched the numbers for every season, so we can’t say that family show sales are at record levels — but industry veterans we spoke to said it seems that way.

CRITIC PROOF? DISNEY RAISES ‘FROZEN’ PRICES FOR 2019

March 14, 2018 by Philip Boroff

EXCLUSIVE: The Frozen fractals appear to be falling into place for Disney.

Reviews aren’t out until the March 22 opening of Disney Theatrical Productions’ adaptation of the 2013 blockbuster animated film, but it has already raised prices for performances next year.

NOR’EASTER PUTS DAMPER ON BROADWAY GROSSES; ‘CAROUSEL,’ ‘FROZEN’ SHINE

March 5, 2018 by Philip Boroff

Disney’s Frozen and Scott Rudin’s revival of Rodgers and Hammerstein’s Carousel performed promisingly in an otherwise wet and dismal week.

Frozen was a near sellout, grossing $984,000 in five previews. Its composers, Robert Lopez and Kristen Anderson-Lopez, picked up their second Academy Award last night, for best original song with Remember Me, from the Disney film Coco, which shouldn’t hurt Frozen‘s prospects when it opens at the St. James on March 22.

JEREMY GERARD EXITS DEADLINE; CRITIC AT WORK ON LANGELLA BIOGRAPHY

February 13, 2018 by Philip Boroff

Jeremy Gerard has left Deadline.com, the theater critic and reporter said in an email.

Gerard said his contract was not renewed and he was told that Deadline, officially called Deadline Hollywood, no longer plans to cover Broadway. Mike Fleming, the co-editor-in-chief, didn’t return an email. Gerard also covered newspaper and book publishing, with forays in television and film, especially around awards season, as well as public radio, urban planning, pop, jazz, classical music and opera. “I have had a great run at Deadline,” said Gerard, who joined the online show biz news outlet in 2014.

RUDIN, TENNESSEE WILLIAMS ESTATE TENTATIVELY SETTLE ‘GLASS MENAGERIE’ LAWSUIT

February 8, 2018 by Philip Boroff

Joe Mantello and Sally Field/Julieta Cervantes

EXCLUSIVE: A promising Broadway courtroom drama appears to be closing out of town.

Scott Rudin and the University of the South have agreed in principle to settle the University’s lawsuit alleging that Rudin’s production company failed to pay royalties on his Glass Menagerie revival starring Joe Mantello and Sally Field. Lawyers for both sides filed papers in Federal Court in Tennessee disclosing the tentative deal yesterday, exactly a year after the play began previews at the Belasco Theatre.

PRIME ‘MORMON’ SEATS SELL FOR $150 AMID WINTER LULL

February 5, 2018 by Philip Boroff

U.S. stocks aren’t the only market under pressure.

Yesterday’s Super Bowl and the mid-Winter funk contributed to Broadway lowest grosses in four months. Sales last week dipped 10 percent to $24.9 million, according to the Broadway League.

The upside to lower grosses: more affordable theater.

The average ticket to the Tony Award-winning musical comedy The Book of Mormon was $133, the lowest in almost seven years. (Prices may have been skewed because there were seven performances, instead of the customary eight.) Seventh-row center are available for tomorrow for $149.50. (Tickets still go for as much as $477.50 on weekends.)Continue Reading

DEFENDING AGAINST BROADWAY LEAGUE LAWSUIT COULD COST CASTING DIRECTORS MILLIONS

February 1, 2018 by Philip Boroff

Casting directors could finance their own big-budget play or musical for what they may spend defending themselves against the Broadway League’s antitrust lawsuit.

Merely complying with the League’s request for evidence, a process known as discovery, could collectively cost casting directors as much as $4.7 million, a litigation support specialist said in a signed declaration filed in Federal Court. Earlier today, U.S. District Judge Gregory Woods denied the casting directors’ motion to halt or “stay” discovery, which may require their lawyers to review as many as 3 million documents.

In its December suit, the League, which represents producers and theater owners, accused casting director companies of illegally fixing prices. The companies responded that in seeking contributions from producers for healthcare and pension benefits, they’re attempting “to secure the basic workplace fairness enjoyed by nearly every other worker on Broadway.” The League’s lawsuit, the casting directors say, is an attempt to “exact crippling commercial leverage” in negotiations.

HELLO, SARA! ‘WAITRESS’ WITH BAREILLES SERVES $600 SEATS

January 23, 2018 by Philip Boroff

Call it the Hamilton effect or just supply and demand.

Producers of Waitress have raised the top ticket to $600 with pop stars Sara Bareilles and Jason Mraz in the leading roles. That’s the priciest seat for a star-driven musical on Broadway today, after Hello, Dolly! slashed prices when Bernadette Peters replaced Bette Midler as the matchmaker Dolly Levi.

With Bareilles back onstage after a stint last spring, Waitress weekly grosses spiked 51 percent to $1.6 million. It was by far the musical’s best seven days since it opened in 2016. That’s impressive given that frigid weather contributed to Broadway’s worst week in almost three months.

SPRINGSTEEN FORGOES HOLIDAY BONUS AS BROADWAY’S BEST-SELLING WEEK CAPS RECORD YEAR

January 2, 2018 by Philip Boroff

Thanks to ever-rising prices, 2017 ended on a frosty high note.

It was Broadway’s best-selling year, at $1.64 billion; its top-grossing week — $50.4 million; and the best week for a single show: Hamilton, natch, at $3.9 million, aided by record $1,150 seats.

Sales overall for 2017 were up 20 percent, according to data from the Broadway League, a trade association of producers and theater owners. The average ticket ascended 16 percent to $119.

BROADWAY HAS RECORD 2017; AVERAGE TICKET SOARS TO $118

December 28, 2017 by Philip Boroff

Amanda Jane Cooper in Wicked/Joan Marcus

EXCLUSIVE: The year isn’t over, but it’s already demolishing records.

As of Dec. 24, Broadway grosses for 2017 totaled $1.59 billion, vs. $1.37 billion for all of 2016, which had been the bestselling calendar year. With a holiday bonanza likely this week, 2017 sales are on track to be up about 20 percent, according to data from the Broadway League, which represents producers and theater owners.

Broadway is hitting new heights as it weathers a 4 percent drop in international tourism in the U.S. in the first half of the year. (Numbers for 2017’s second half aren’t available.) Some say President Trump’s anti-immigration, “America First” rhetoric and agenda is a factor in the decline of international travelers. Yet thanks to a continued influx of Americans, overall tourism is up in New York City. “The domestic audience may be more attuned to Broadway than international visitors,” said George Wachtel, president of Audience Research & Analysis, which conducts market research about cultural tourism.

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