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
JUDGE BOOTS LUFTIG CO. BANKRUPTCY PLAN AS SUPREME COURT HOVERS
Producer Hal Luftig suffered a setback in his court battle against a wealthy investor over millions of dollars from the musical Kinky Boots, a conflict the U.S. Supreme Court may play a role in resolving.
Luftig said that Nevada investor Warren Trepp jumpstarted the producer’s career — and then tried to destroy it. Trepp said that after decades of patronage, he was the one who was betrayed.Continue Reading
‘ILLINOISE’ TO SQUEAK INTO BROADWAY SEASON
Producers Orin Wolf and Greg Nobile are preparing to move the acclaimed dance piece Illinoise to the St. James Theater, packing another new musical into the busy 2023-24 season.
The transfer from the Park Avenue Armory — where Illinoise is scheduled to play its final, sold-out performance on March 26 — would be so quick that the show may not have time for previews on Broadway, industry sources said. To be eligible for Tony Awards this year, productions must open by April 25. Continue Reading
STAGE WORKERS UNION PUSH GOES PUBLIC
The International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees, which has been busy organizing off-Broadway, has turned its attention to downtown Manhattan’s most storied and prolific producer.
On Wednesday, the management of the Public Theater declined a request by production workers at the 70-year-old institution to voluntarily recognize their petition to unionize under IATSE. In response, a group calling itself “Unionize the Public” posted on Instagram that it will seek an election supervised by a third party.Continue Reading
‘FORBIDDEN BROADWAY’ IS BROADWAY BOUND
EXCLUSIVE: Four decades after Gerard Alessandrini introduced his Broadway satirical revue at an Upper West Side cabaret, the ever-changing spoof will finally plant its funny flag in a Broadway theater.
Forbidden Broadway, Merrily We Stole a Song is scheduled to run at the Hayes Theater July 29 to Nov. 4, according to a pitch deck prepared for prospective investors. The title is a play on Stephen Sondheim and George Furth’s Merrily We Roll Along, which evolved from 1981 flop to this season’s boffo revival, which is on the cusp of recouping its $13 million capitalization.Continue Reading
ICEBERG AHEAD: ‘TITANIQUE’ & ATLANTIC WORKERS VOTE ON UNIONIZING
Stage technicians at the musical Titanique have voted to unionize with the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees (IATSE). If the National Labor Relations Board certifies the election results, it would be the first victory for IATSE in its roughly year-old campaign to expand its off-Broadway presence, opening the door for better pay and higher production costs.
“It plants a flag for other off-Broadway workers,” said Daniel Little, an IATSE organizer, in an interview.Continue Reading
‘STEREOPHONIC’ & PAPER MILL ‘GREAT GATSBY’ ON DECK FOR MUSICAL-HEAVY 2024
Producers are working on two high-profile additions to the busy 2023-24 Broadway season: Stereophonic, an ecstatically reviewed play with music about a fictional mid-1970s rock band creating an album; and The Great Gatsby via Paper Mill Playhouse, one of two Broadway-bound musicals based on F. Scott Fitzgerald’s Roaring ’20s novel.
John Johnson, Sue Wagner and Greg Nobile are in discussions to move Stereophonic to the John Golden Theatre, following a sold-out, two-and-a-half-month run at Playwrights Horizons off-Broadway, people familiar with the plans said. Continue Reading
LEAGUE TOUTS SILVER LINING IN SMALLER AUDIENCE
Last season, 25 to 49-year-olds who attended Broadway shows outnumbered those 50 and up for the first time since 2008-09.
It’s too early to proclaim a generational shift. The audience was younger in the year ending May 21, 2023, than in the prior full season, 2018-19, because youngish age groups shrank less than the entire Broadway pie, which is still missing a slice or two.Continue Reading
INSIDE BROADWAY’S $1 MILLION NUT CASES
Water for Elephants, the circus-themed new musical, will be under pressure to make a big splash when it arrives on Broadway.
Scheduled to open March 21, 2024, at the Imperial Theatre, it will need to sell at least $960,000 of tickets each week to cover operating expenses, according to an internal budget prepared over the summer and reviewed by Broadway Journal. (The sales here refer to “gross gross,” the weekly figure that the trade association the Broadway League makes public, which includes credit card commissions and other fees the production doesn’t keep.)
Joining the million dollar club at the Broadway box office used to be a matter of prestige. Today, it’s often a requirement for a show’s survival.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
