Broadway Sets Sales and Attendance Records With Tourism Boom - NYTimes.com:
'via Blog this'
An incisive (and rare) analysis of the numbers just released by the Broadway League. To read their press release, you'd think that Broadway was a problem free and wonderfully easy place to make profits by putting on shows.
The historical average of shows that recoup remains at around one out of five. Premium priced tickets and a huge influx of tourists are credited with the record revenues posted in the year just ended.
If you could postulate that premium priced tickets can continue to rise in price, and that the tourists will continue to come in numbers that will continue to increase, then the future looks quite rosy. However, if anything were to jar these trends off their upward trajectory, the results will look starkly different.
The fact that Disney and it's imitators are sopping up the largest chunks of revenue does not portend well for any shows that might not fit neatly into that formula. Well received shows such as Side Show, Honeymoon in Vegas, and The Visit that could not find an audience will school producers to avoid stepping out of the narrow Disney defined parameters, or having mega stars, or a veddy British imprimatur.
With Broadway having sold its soul to the tourist trade, and the road, the sophisticated New York City soul of Broadway has been expunged. The future promises a pablum filled menu of interchangeable shows designed for audiences tethered to their smartphones and sippy cups.
'via Blog this'
An incisive (and rare) analysis of the numbers just released by the Broadway League. To read their press release, you'd think that Broadway was a problem free and wonderfully easy place to make profits by putting on shows.
The historical average of shows that recoup remains at around one out of five. Premium priced tickets and a huge influx of tourists are credited with the record revenues posted in the year just ended.
If you could postulate that premium priced tickets can continue to rise in price, and that the tourists will continue to come in numbers that will continue to increase, then the future looks quite rosy. However, if anything were to jar these trends off their upward trajectory, the results will look starkly different.
The fact that Disney and it's imitators are sopping up the largest chunks of revenue does not portend well for any shows that might not fit neatly into that formula. Well received shows such as Side Show, Honeymoon in Vegas, and The Visit that could not find an audience will school producers to avoid stepping out of the narrow Disney defined parameters, or having mega stars, or a veddy British imprimatur.
With Broadway having sold its soul to the tourist trade, and the road, the sophisticated New York City soul of Broadway has been expunged. The future promises a pablum filled menu of interchangeable shows designed for audiences tethered to their smartphones and sippy cups.
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