CMU School of Drama


Saturday, September 13, 2008

Broadway hopes Shrek, Billy defy economic woes

Reuters: "Harry Potter star Daniel Radcliffe gets naked, Tom Cruise's wife Katie Holmes does Arthur Miller and cartoon ogre Shrek vies with ballet-dancing Billy Elliot in a battle of the monster musicals."

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

I don't think its the big new musicals that really shape the economic landscape for theatre. These 2 big budget shows will probably have no trouble selling out for at least the first year. I think its the older shows, like Phantom, Avenue Q, and others like those, that decide how well Broadway will do in general. They are not definite sell-outs like the newer, flashier shows, and thus can more easily define the overall revenue on Broadway.

weandme said...

I see your point about the classic broadway shows deciding how well Broadway will do, but I would have to disagree because of the fact that I learned in this article that around 65 percent of the tickets bought were by people from the immediate area. I don't think that those classic shows decide the success of Broadway because so many of the people are from the area and have been around those shows for years, and after you see them once or twice, you're done with them.

Anonymous said...

On the matter of how new "headliner" shows effect the overall revenue on boradway, I would say the the new big budget shows have a major impact. The question is not whether they will sell big or not, but how long will they sell big, and how long will they sell normally (not big) as a continuing show on broadway. The classsics are there and they are established as a quality buy. But the way I see it, i don't think lots of people are looking at a chart agreeing that this is the year for Phantom, and Phantom will do better than ever this year. Instead they know they can sell a lot of tickets and do so again next year. (unless Phantom has a real bad year ans they close)

NatalieMark said...

The move to big name shows with known actors shows the hesitation producers have now because of the economy. The worry is that a small show won't draw enough attention and will close. It's a shame that this is the case. The proximity of wall street and broadway makes their interaction all the more unique.

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