In an era of ever-bigger Broadway budgets, the pressure is on newly minted Tony Award-nominated productions to capitalize on the buzz.Continue Reading
‘CABARET,’ AT $24 MILLION, IS BROADWAY’S COSTLIEST REVIVAL (EXCLUSIVE)
Investing in Cabaret at the August Wilson Theatre this spring might seem like a safe bet, after the success of the Kander & Ebb classic in London and earlier productions in New York.
That’s until you see the price tag: $24.25 million, a record for a Broadway revival.Continue Reading
BEN PLATT TO LEAD $6.5 MILLION ‘PARADE’ (EXCLUSIVE)
Parade, the 1998 Broadway musical featuring a Tony Award-winning score by the-then 28-year-old Jason Robert Brown, will be revived this spring by Greg Nobile’s Seaview Productions and Ambassador Theatre Group, according to a pitch deck distributed to investors.
Ben Platt (Dear Evan Hansen) will star in the dark historical drama, following an acclaimed weeklong tryout at New York City Center in November. Platt will reprise the role of Leo Frank, a Jewish Brooklynite transplanted to Marietta, Georgia, where he was falsely accused of murder and lynched by a mob in 1915. Micaela Diamond (The Cher Show), who earned stellar reviews playing Leo’s loyal wife, Lucille Frank, also returns to the cast. Platt, who like Diamond is Jewish, has spoken eloquently about the story’s timeliness amid rising antisemitism. Continue Reading
AMBASSADOR THEATRE GROUP & ITS PRODUCTIONS SECURED $79 MILLION IN U.S. AID (EXCLUSIVE)
As lead producer and landlord of Neil Simon’s Plaza Suite, Ambassador Theatre Group has bragging rights to the most commercially successful play of the 2021-22 Broadway season.
The average ticket price for the Sarah Jessica Parker and Matthew Broderick revival was $213 the week ended May 29, behind only The Music Man and Hamilton. Pairs go for as much as $2,051, which includes Piper-Heidsieck Champagne and Ladurée macarons served in a semi-private lounge at ATG’s Hudson Theatre.
The U.K.-based conglomerate isn’t crowing. “ATG does not control, and cannot provide comment about” Plaza Suite, an ATG spokesman told Broadway Journal in an email. Continue Reading
PANDEMIC PUMMELS AMBASSADOR THEATRE GROUP (EXCLUSIVE)
The self-described “world’s No. 1 live theater company” has taken a drubbing.
The parent company of U.K.-based Ambassador Theatre Group reported a pretax loss of $202 million for the 12 months ended in March 2021. The holding company attributed the results to Covid-19, which decimated rental income when its theaters shuttered in March 2020.Continue Reading
‘PLAZA SUITE’ ADVANCE SALE TOPS $10 MILLION; BOSTON CRITICS SIDELINED
EXCLUSIVE: A month before previews start on Broadway, the limited run of Neil Simon’s Plaza Suite is approaching full occupancy.
The advance sale for the revival with husband-and-wife stars Matthew Broderick and Sarah Jessica Parker has surpassed $10 million, according to a person familiar with the production. Its tryout at Boston’s Emerson Colonial Theatre ends on Saturday and previews begin on March 13 at the Hudson Theatre.
In response to the strong demand for tickets in Boston and New York, lead producer Ambassador Theatre Group, which operates the Colonial and the Hudson, has already raised prices on Broadway by as much as 150 percent.Continue Reading
‘HARRY POTTER’ & THE CURSED BOX OFFICE YARDSTICK
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
