The general state of Broadway

While Broadway has kind of, sort of, ALWAYS been like this, it has definitely NOT recovered fully from the pandemic, as silly as it sounds. Show business is money, money is show business, etc etc. The industry suffered in that drought, and in New York, it's lethal.

I won't comment about recouping on the West End, because we don't publish takings, profits, etc. But it's a well regarded fact that it's much easier for a show to recoup and run on the West End than on Broadway.

Broadway ticket prices rising as they are mean audiences are thinking more and more about shows and their reception as a factor in seeing them. Things as abstract as critics and audience tastes CAN be the deciding factor for a show. So while a show can review bad on the West End and still see a relatively alright amount of turnout, and sure, it'll close, a show that has mixed to negative reviews (and worse, no Tony nominations) will close and will likely close immediately.

Hence, the fate of Lempicka... Producers will rather kill the show to put it out its misery rather than have it drift along like a zombie, and lose money.

It's really sad. That's all I can say

Edit: Expect Cabaret and Back to the Future to shutter soon. Those shows are perfect examples of the environmental divide that we definitely have.

To quote a show currently taking a beating on Broadway, money makes the world go around (the world go around, the world go around.)

It's also for the theatres themselves. This is the second time I brought up Beetlejuice today, but that show was cut back in 2020 to make way for Hugh Jackman in The Music Man. For a theatre, name the bigger money maker(!) COVID happened. And they sure weren't gonna continue their run and leave Hugh Jackman on the curb.

Not to say that the West End is in any way different (it isn't), but the idea of maximising profits and reducing losses for any producer or venue is paramount. And that includes the kind of shows you finance and house in your theatres.

Perhaps if producers

Staged stuff people want to see

Instead of less rubbish and pretentious sh*t

It would be a better outcome

People have the money

I think as with the WE on Broadway there are WAY too many theatres

They don’t all have to be full as most of the time they are full of nonsense

Better to have fewer and better shows

There are also many shows which fail

And don’t recoup their costs

Even if 80% don't recoup on Broadway, many will recoup later on the road and through international productions or with the rights being sold endlessly to amdram and school productions. It's not THAT dire.

And while this season is unusually crammed due to the Covid backlog, at least Broadway is getting all these new big shows (and many of them do well; some even without a single Tony nod, like Great Gatsby) thanks to theatre availability and the higher churn rate.

London seems to be incredible stale with far too many long-runners clogging up too many theatres. If something new comes, it's usually safe bets like MJ - the Musical. New stuff is small and cheap, like Mincemeat and Two Strangers. If it was that much easier to recoup in London, why aren't there more new big shows?

And why is everyone so shocked that Cabaret has had a luke-warm reception in New York? The last revival is only ten years ago, no one has been waiting for another one. And I personally didn't like this new revival all that much in London, so I'm actually relieved about the reception in New York, confirming that I wasn't alone in my feelings. I have absolutely no idea why this keeps doing well in London and a lot of that certainly rests on the churn rate of stars in the leads who all bring their fans in - in that it's very similar to Little Shop of Horrors off-Broadway.

And it's not like London doesn't close mega flops earlier than planned - Opening Night being the latest example; last year it was Aspects of Love. The producers of Standing at the Sky's Edge had probably also anticipated a longer run at the Gillian Lynne after the hype from Sheffield and at the National Theatre. If there were more new shows opening, we'd also have more premature closings I'm sure. But when you open for a limited run anyway, it's easier to drag that along to the planned closing date.

Tend to agree. So many new musicals are so earnest. Where's the fun, where's the spectacle, where's the massive dance numbers and the mind bending sets.

Although Here Lies Love looked epic and closed very quickly so what do I know (that was technically a revival though). 

I am thinking of going in November/December for Sunset and Tammy Faye and I kinda feel like what's the point in looking at the new stuff on now to pick a third show as will all be gone by then! Maybe I'll see Wicked lol....

It was mostly an excuse to make a Money Money joke but yeah, it's doing better than it was. It's got a month or so 'til it recoups if all goes to plan.

That's good to hear. Apologies, as I hadn’t noticed your earlier comment when I asked the question.

But I’m in a similar situation to you - I’m going to New York next March and the only thing I’ll be booking in advance is Sunset Boulevard (I’m still holding out for them to release front row, or more non-lounge package seats in the front stalls). Tammy Faye and Cabaret are the only other two things that interest me at the moment.

Genuine question; on Broadway are they doing as many concerts as we are over here?

I'm not going to New York specifically for a theatre trip - I'm going for another reason. All I'm saying is that at the moment there is nothing I'm interested in enough to pay full Broadway prices for, booking in advance, other than Sunset Blvd.

I'm not being pessimistic, nor feel hard done by - if I can get a few shows in during my trip, great! But right now Broadway doesn't appeal to me as much as London. That's all.

Just caught up on this article playbill.com/article/from-playbills-ceo-this-spring-is-the-best-that-broadways-ever-had
It’s definitely not as dire as some are trying to paint.