Big Hollywood » Blog Archive » Chicken Little Comes to Broadway
Big Hollywood » Blog Archive » Chicken Little Comes to Broadway
Contrary to popular belief the sky is NOT falling on Broadway. Yes, about a dozen shows closed after the holidays, but up until about 15 years ago, that was the norm. There have traditionally been three “seasons” for shows to close on Broadway:
Right after New Years because shows cashed in on all of the tourism in New York, but then can’t survive January and February, the worst times of the year for ticket sales.
The first week of May because that’s when the Tony nominations come out and many shows hang on to see if they get nominated, and if they don’t they’re done.
The second week of June because that’s right after the Tony Awards, and the shows that don’t win are barely scraping by and will not sustain large enough grosses to stay in their house through the Summer.
So, the fact that many shows just closed is not historically rare. The real indicator as to the health of the industry is how many shows are scheduled to open between now and that magic first day of May (the Tony nomination cut-off). A quick look at the schedule over at Playbill.com shows us that no fewer than 21 shows are already scheduled, if not already on sale. When I look at the current shows running and the schedule for new shows, it appears that by the time we hit May 1st almost every Broadway house will have had a tenant this Spring … even the Belasco… even the Brooks Atkinson!
But all you hear from the panty-waist industry folk is that the “sky is falling” and “this is the worst it has ever been,” and “the industry might not recover.” Come on! The fact is that over the past 15 years there has been an unprecedented shortage of Broadway houses. I know theatre operators with long running hits who resorted to putting musicals into houses that traditionally housed straight plays just because they had no room. This anomaly has caused a complacency within the industry and any deviation from this recent trend is seen as a catastrophe.
Much of the reason for this reaction is that they are liberals. In my opinion, liberals tend to focus on the negative and the reasons why things are bad, while conservatives tend to look for the possibility in a situation and focus on what works. Unfortunately, when this mindset is transferred to people who are spokesmen for an industry, it becomes quite self-defeating. You hear producers quoted all over the place bemoaning how bad it is in New York and how Broadway is dying… How in the hell is this good for the industry? Theatre producers are supposed to be promoters of their product, and their product is not just the show they happen to be doing right now, it is the IDEA of going to a play at all.
We are expecting people to shell out over $100 a ticket to be a part of an industry that is dying? ”Hey, Broadway is dying, we’re in terrible shape, our shows are all closing… come and buy a ticket!!!” What is WRONG with these people? The top-brass in the theatre industry have been notoriously bitchy, self-loathing, back-biting doomsayers who only muster a sunny face for the 2 hours the Tonys are on every year… if then. How the industry continued to grow is a mystery, but one thing that is instructive is you don’t hear the brass from Disney theatricals bemoaning the industry, even though their shows are grossing well below their potential. Why? Because they do not come from the self-defeatist culture that inhabits West 41st through West 51st, in New York. They understand how to sell their product.
A little perspective will show that Broadway has enjoyed an amazing string of success and these recent closings are part of a natural economic cycle. (By the way, the liberals in Washington might want to take a look at that last sentence before they start making any stupid decisions that we’ll be paying for over the next 50 years.) We all need to start worrying when there are no new shows waiting to fill the empty houses. Until then, let’s get back to work.
Way back in 1938 George S. Kaufman coined the phrase “The Fabulous Invalid.” Many think this was in reference to the theatre in general, but he was only talking about one particular theatre, The New Amsterdam. But it says something about the mentality of theatre folk that they love to wear this label for their industry like a badge of honor. I, for one, hate having my industry compared to a sickly, dying patient. What are industry needs is a leader with the conservative penchant to talk up the positives and sell our product to the public.
If they can’t do that, then I wish the liberal whiners in positions of power would just shut up.
Contrary to popular belief the sky is NOT falling on Broadway. Yes, about a dozen shows closed after the holidays, but up until about 15 years ago, that was the norm. There have traditionally been three “seasons” for shows to close on Broadway:
Right after New Years because shows cashed in on all of the tourism in New York, but then can’t survive January and February, the worst times of the year for ticket sales.
The first week of May because that’s when the Tony nominations come out and many shows hang on to see if they get nominated, and if they don’t they’re done.
The second week of June because that’s right after the Tony Awards, and the shows that don’t win are barely scraping by and will not sustain large enough grosses to stay in their house through the Summer.
So, the fact that many shows just closed is not historically rare. The real indicator as to the health of the industry is how many shows are scheduled to open between now and that magic first day of May (the Tony nomination cut-off). A quick look at the schedule over at Playbill.com shows us that no fewer than 21 shows are already scheduled, if not already on sale. When I look at the current shows running and the schedule for new shows, it appears that by the time we hit May 1st almost every Broadway house will have had a tenant this Spring … even the Belasco… even the Brooks Atkinson!
But all you hear from the panty-waist industry folk is that the “sky is falling” and “this is the worst it has ever been,” and “the industry might not recover.” Come on! The fact is that over the past 15 years there has been an unprecedented shortage of Broadway houses. I know theatre operators with long running hits who resorted to putting musicals into houses that traditionally housed straight plays just because they had no room. This anomaly has caused a complacency within the industry and any deviation from this recent trend is seen as a catastrophe.
Much of the reason for this reaction is that they are liberals. In my opinion, liberals tend to focus on the negative and the reasons why things are bad, while conservatives tend to look for the possibility in a situation and focus on what works. Unfortunately, when this mindset is transferred to people who are spokesmen for an industry, it becomes quite self-defeating. You hear producers quoted all over the place bemoaning how bad it is in New York and how Broadway is dying… How in the hell is this good for the industry? Theatre producers are supposed to be promoters of their product, and their product is not just the show they happen to be doing right now, it is the IDEA of going to a play at all.
We are expecting people to shell out over $100 a ticket to be a part of an industry that is dying? ”Hey, Broadway is dying, we’re in terrible shape, our shows are all closing… come and buy a ticket!!!” What is WRONG with these people? The top-brass in the theatre industry have been notoriously bitchy, self-loathing, back-biting doomsayers who only muster a sunny face for the 2 hours the Tonys are on every year… if then. How the industry continued to grow is a mystery, but one thing that is instructive is you don’t hear the brass from Disney theatricals bemoaning the industry, even though their shows are grossing well below their potential. Why? Because they do not come from the self-defeatist culture that inhabits West 41st through West 51st, in New York. They understand how to sell their product.
A little perspective will show that Broadway has enjoyed an amazing string of success and these recent closings are part of a natural economic cycle. (By the way, the liberals in Washington might want to take a look at that last sentence before they start making any stupid decisions that we’ll be paying for over the next 50 years.) We all need to start worrying when there are no new shows waiting to fill the empty houses. Until then, let’s get back to work.
Way back in 1938 George S. Kaufman coined the phrase “The Fabulous Invalid.” Many think this was in reference to the theatre in general, but he was only talking about one particular theatre, The New Amsterdam. But it says something about the mentality of theatre folk that they love to wear this label for their industry like a badge of honor. I, for one, hate having my industry compared to a sickly, dying patient. What are industry needs is a leader with the conservative penchant to talk up the positives and sell our product to the public.
If they can’t do that, then I wish the liberal whiners in positions of power would just shut up.
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