Discount days on Broadway
Closings, winter doldrums lead to fear of B.O. blahs
"By Jeeves," "The Rocky Horror Show" and "Kiss Me, Kate" will shutter at year's end, with "Dance of Death," "Hedda Gabler," "The Women" and "Thou Shalt Not" to close shortly thereafter. Which leaves the sobering prospect that three shows -- "The Producers," "The Lion King" and "Mamma Mia" -- could very well produce one-third of Broadway's total gross.
Come Jan. 6, no less than 14 shows will be taking part in Season of Savings, a discount theater ticket program offered by the League of American Theaters & Producers . The program reaches the public through 28-page brochure inserts that will appear in tristate-area newspapers. Tickets go for between $45 ("Cabaret" and others) and $65 ("Aida") during first-quarter 2002 and are offered in conjunction with reduced rates for hotels, restaurants, transportation and parking.
"A number of shows are in jeopardy, and we think this sale will move things in the right direction," says Jan Svendsen, the league's director of marketing.
Most Broadway shows also are offering their own more steeply discounted winter sales, as advertised in various newspapers.
In a switch, Dodger Theatricals is not offering a winter discount for its Broadway shows -- "42nd Street" and "Urinetown" -- nor will it participate in the league's program. The Dodgers pulled out of the league last month. At the time, sources said their departure had to do with the league's handling of the union-concessions crisis as well as the org's upcoming marketing plans. To boost winter sales, the Dodgers have entered into promotional partnerships with the New Yorker and the AAA.
According to Svendsen, the league's winter discount program was open to non-members, one of which -- Disney -- is participating with two of its shows, "Aida" and "Beauty and the Beast." The marketing director emphasized that even Off Broadway shows will be represented, albeit with only one page, in the brochure.
Although there are a few direct-mail campaigns, most discount programs are being offered through newspapers this season. The anthrax scare is one reason. According to Serino-Coyne's Nancy Coyne, newspapers proved most cost-effective for the league's discount brochure. "We got good prices from the newspapers," she says. "Newspapers bent over backwards. These shows are their clients and they wanted to protect them."
Beyond the league's program, "Contact" recently offered $40 tickets for winter perfs. "Cabaret" has been discounted to $35, with "Beauty and the Beast" offering $45 tickets for some perfs. "Les Miserables" and "The Phantom of the Opera" will be offering half-price tickets through various newspapers, but in a switch from last year, there's an added incentive: For an additional $10, a theatergoer can purchase a ticket for a child under 16.
Early bird gets boon
Off Broadway producers continue to fume over the city's $2.5 million purchase of Broadway tix during the winter months. In a Dec. 17 interview with Variety, Off Broadway League prexy Marc Routh said, "We are investigating how we can participate, but so far we've been unsuccessful in achieving a level of participation. The city sent us to NYC & Co., who sent us to the league, who sent us back the city."
Christyne L. Nicholas, president of NYC & Co., offers this advice to Off Broadway producers: "They'll have to sit down with Deputy Mayor Anthony Coles and the Economic Development Corp. The league made their request shortly after Sept. 11. Kudos to the league for being there early with their request -- like the airlines with the president."
As for NYC & Co.'s participation, Nicholas says the org was not involved in the decision to limit the city's ticket-buying to Broadway shows. "We were looking at these 34,000 tickets," she says of the program as initially proposed. "We could have given them away, which would have benefited no other industry. Instead, with our Spend Your Regards to Broadway plan, you have to earn them by buying something." Five hundred dollars in receipts acquired between Jan. 1 and 16 can be turned in for two Broadway tickets to participating shows.
Most of those 10 shows -- "Beauty and the Beast," "Cabaret," "Chicago," "Contact," "Les Miz," "The Full Monty," "Phantom," "Proof," "The Tale of the Allergist's Wife" and "Urinetown" -- are not currently losing money but, due to abnormally low winter advances, qualify as being endangered.
"We were happy to accept the generosity of the city as a safety net," one producer says. "We presume we will make the minimum and return the money if we do." Productions that benefit from the program and turn a profit this winter are required to refund the city coin.
Holiday boom or bust?
Broadway is entering what traditionally is its highest-grossing week of the year. Depending on what day of the week Christmas and New Year's Day fall, the B.O. largesse sometimes spills over into a second week.
Traditionally, Thursday provides the biggest B.O. bump, while a Saturday or Sunday holiday sked compresses the theatergoing bonanza into a mere seven days. Tuesday, the big day this season, historically offers a more mixed bag.
Post-Sept. 11, all traditions may be off. But during the nation's last economic recession, in 1990-'91, which happened to be the last time Christmas and New Year's Day arrived on a Tuesday, B.O. during Christmas week rose 36.3% from the previous session. If that pattern holds for 2001, Broadway can look forward to a total tally in the neighborhood of $16.3 million.
New Year's Day week 1991 saw a drop of 17.5% from Christmas week, with much of the missing B.O. the result of three shows shuttering Dec. 30. Same thing happens this season as "By Jeeves," "Kiss Me, Kate" and "The Music Man" close. The tradition of gala NYE perfs makes something of a comeback this year, with nine Broadway shows offering them. Another six add will add an NYE matinee. Broadway contrarian Emanuel Azenberg is delighted to have Christmas Eve 2001 all to himself, with his production of "45 Seconds From Broadway" the only show skedded to run the evening of Dec. 24. The producer claims the show's Jewish theme has nothing to do with the decision. In the past, Jackie Mason has also played that holiday.
"Historically, Christmas Eve is a great night for comedies and musicals," says the producer. "Now, Christmas Day -- that is a bad night for any show."
