As Hamilton prepares for a long run and potentially earning hundreds of millions of dollars in profits, joining the ranks of The Book of Mormon and Wicked, Broadway appears to be richer than ever. But John Breglio, a producer and former top-flight entertainment lawyer present at the creation of many landmark shows, said the risk-reward for investors hasn’t changed much in his four and a half decades in the business.
The author of I Wanna Be a Producer (Applause), he notes that the vast majority of shows still fail. “Unless you have a musical that is consistently doing over a million dollars [a week in sales], you don’t really have a hit,” he said over Chicken Paillard at Remi restaurant in midtown Manhattan. Blockbuster musicals offer better reward than in years past, thanks in part to “premium tickets” like the $849 seats Hamilton just introduced, but given escalating budgets, the risk for investors has also increased. And he points out that highly anticipated offerings are accessible only to angels with connections. “You have to know people,” he said.
