The Great White Way is facing a long, cold, and very challenging winter. Broadway tickets are pricey and sure to be hit by the economic downturn. Ticket sales and attendance at Broadway shows started slipping in mid-October, no surprise.
A number of big, award-winning shows, including "Hairspray," "Spamalot" and "Young Frankenstein" are set to close in January. Though projections for the holiday season have remained relatively strong, the period between January and March, which is always a weak time, is only going to be bleaker this coming year. This morning I spoke exclusively with the head of Disney's (DIS) Theatrical Group, Thomas Schumacher, who said Disney's three Broadway shows -- "Lion King," "Little Mermaid" and "Marry Poppins" -- did quite well this past Thanksgiving weekend - all three shows making over one million
The solution? Deep discounts. Today Disney is launching a "kids go free" promotion. If you buy a ticket to one of 200 performances in January, February and March, you get a free ticket for a kid age 18 and below. Disney's expecting this to give the shows a real boost during what's traditionally their weakest period. The Broadway League is launching its annual "Season of Savings" program on Broadway and Off Broadway shows in early 2009.
In this economic downturn we're likely to see more commercial fare ride out the downturn. Musicals will do better than plays. DreamWorks Animation (DWA) is launching its first Broadway play, "Shrek the Musical", on December 14. It's not a great time to launch a new show, but the fact that it has name recognition and probably a solid built-in fan base of kids, should help it get attention. Limited engagements with big stars should continue to perform well, drawing attention to a theater that might otherwise have sat vacant.
And one-man shows will continue to be the holy grail. If a star like Billy Crystal can fill seats with a solo show, there's no way to higher margins. The theory: tourists coming to New York City will still see shows, so the lure of big names on the marquis -- stars or brands-- will pack theaters. But regular theatergoers are likely to cut way back.
Ticket prices have shot through the roof, and I think that the fact that the outing is so pricey means that the landscape of Broadway could really change in a recession. The longer the downturn lasts, the more likely it is that Broadway will lose innovative, edgy, risk-taking shows, and shift more to the commercial tourist-pleasers.
Related Articles
|
Top Rated Comment Streams:
-
1.Hedged In661
- 2.
-
3.Smarty_Pants385
-
4.cos1000286
-
5.axelrod608277
- Free E-Newsletters
- About Seeking Alpha
- About Us
- Contact Us
- What's New
- Readers Feedback
- Advertise With Us
- Contributors
- Contribute an Article
- Feature Your Book
- Our Contributors
- Anonymous Contributions
- Dispute an Article?
- Legal
- Terms of Use
- Privacy
- Copyright