Variety: The only way to conquer Broadway's annual post-Labor Day slump is to have a little faith.
Faith in "The Book of Mormon," anyway: In a week when almost every show on the Main Stem saw sales drop, "Mormon" ($1,293,582) rose -- and managed to top perennial smash "Wicked" ($1,253,990) and almost nick "The Lion King" ($1,299,169). The "Mormon" feat is especially impressive since its theater seats only 1,075 vs. 1,800 at "Wicked" and 1,675 at "The Lion King."
6 comments:
I am very lucky to have gotten the chance to see this show. My father and I read some very preliminary reviews in the NY Times while it was still in previews, and then we got a couple of VERY reasonably priced, VERY well located seats for a Wednesday performance, before it got so much hype / national attention. What I was surprised to hear afterwards was that the Mormons (on a national level) were not upset about the content of this story, or at least, they weren't making public statements bashing the sac-religiousness of the show. In fact, they "praised" the show because it was getting public attention for Mormonism. Go figure.
The Book of Mormon phenomenon is amazing as we discussed in class in previous weeks. Because they have a smaller house they are always over sold which helps aid in the popularity by making it a commodity show. Book of Mormon isn't going to see a slump any time soon in seats as it is sold out at least through the end of this year. While many of these other shows are popular, they do not have the same kind of draw of exclusivity that Book of Mormon does.
Katherine raises a good point. Book of Mormon is a much newer, more unique experience than the other hit shows described (The Lion King, Wicked). Because it was so hard to get tickets throughout the entire summer, people are probably more willing to move their schedules around to get a chance to see it after summer ends. I was able to see Book of Mormon this summer, and there was definitely a really cool sense of being able to experience something that not a lot of people I knew were also experiencing. I'm not sure how long the pull of the exclusivity will last, but it is a wonderful show that will soon be able to rely solely on its high quality to attract audience members.
My mother and I were trying to buy tickets last weekend for Book of Mormon for the end of October and the only seats that weren't sold out cost ~$400. I think its ludicrous for a show to cost that much money, but the sold out-ness combined with the price does contribute to the drive to see the show. As I learned in social psychology, the more difficult it is to achieve something, the more people value that achievement. So, if you were one of the lucky few that bought tickets far enough in advance or if you can afford $400 tickets then you value your experience more and the show's hype continues to grow as you tell all of your friends how amazing the show.
It might just be great publicity or the fact that the execution of the show is so well, but no matter the fact people are on the wait list to see The Book of Mormon. You don't hear about too many shows on Broadway that have to do with the idea of religion, for that the show stands out and makes people want to see it. I'm sure the show will carry on strong for quite some time!
I think the best thing about Mormon's success is the fact that is a NEW work. While revivals and re-working are nice and can be artistically push the bar as well, if just revivals are produced, theatre as an art from will not be able to move forward as a whole.
I also enjoy the fact that this is playing alongside Spider Man, which although a new musical, is based on previous work. Perhaps showing that some stories are best kept in certain mediums.
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