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Last Week’s Grosses, Bareilles and Creel are a cup of tea on West End, more TICK, TICK… BOOM Casting, Driver and Tucker RAISIN, MTC is PERPLEXED, Ripley’s BABY Off-5th, And Peggy extends by 21, LES MIZ concert Two December.
“Today on Broadway” is a daily, Monday through Friday, podcast hitting the top theatre headlines of the day.
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(A) 1. Last Week’s Grosses
https://www.broadwayworld.com/grosses.cfm
We’re currently in that sweet spot right now where, unless you’re a new show, you’re kind of just on autopilot, and the grosses from this past week definitely seem to reflect that.
Shows on the Great White Way brought in a grand total of $31,122,601, down eight percent from last week, led by 11 seven-figure shows. In that club this week, HAMILTON leads the pack, followed by TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD, MOULIN ROUGE!, THE LION KING, TINA – THE TINA TURNER MUSICAL, WICKED, AIN’T TOO PROUD, ALADDIN, HADESTOWN, BEETLEJUICE, and THE BOOK OF MORMON.
The biggest increase on the boards from last week was TINA – THE TINA TURNER MUSICAL at $92,613. Overall, the show brought in nearly $1.5 million this week at 89 percent of its gross potential. TINA will, of course, open this week, and as Matt and I talked about yesterday, that will be the big one to see how it’s received.
The lowest earnings of the week? Well, JAGGED LITTLE PILL, which makes sense considering they only had one preview performance. They brought in $191,787, which, actually, was nearly 114 percent of its gross potential.
Of the shows at the bottom of the barrel with more than one show, THE LIGHTNING THIEF, unfortunately, pulled in an abysmal $203,842, just 23.82 percent of its gross potential. It was actually an increase from last week of nearly $31,000, so not all bad news for the show.
Also on the bottom were LINDA VISTA (which also climbed about $12000 from the previous week), THE HEIGHT OF THE STORM, DERREN BROWN: SECRET, and THE GREAT SOCIETY.
Now, James, looking toward the future, obviously THE LIGHTNING THIEF is booked until January 5 and you know they’re looking for a good holiday as folks are coming into town. THE GREAT SOCIETY closes at the end of the month, as does THE HEIGHT OF THE STORM, LINDA VISTA is closing on the 10th. The show at the moment to watch out for that does have an indefinite run is TOOTSIE, which is now only pulling in 43.91 percent of its gross potential. I’m sure that’s another show that’s looking toward the holiday season, but I expect we’re probably going to be hearing from that one soon, James.
Now, we had a brief discussion about it before the show and there’s been a conversation about it on social over the last couple days, but what I find most interesting at the moment is HARRY POTTER AND THE CURSED CHILD. Besides THE LIGHTNING THIEF and DERREN BROWN: SECRET, as Adam Feldman pointed out on Twitter, CURSED CHILD has the lowest average ticket price on Broadway. Which Diep Tran also pointed out… it’s a six-hour play, a Harry Potter play, you can get tickets for for about 80 bucks. The show is still at full capacity and at 98 percent of its gross potential, so people are buying those tickets. As you’ve said, though, they’ve really been pushing tickets and increasing their marketing like they no longer expect it to run for decades as they once did, so the future of this show really fascinates me.
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(J) 2. Sara Bareilles and Gavin Creel Will Lead WAITRESS in the West End
Bareilles will make her West End debut next year and will be reuniting with Creel in the lead roles of Jenna and Dr. Pomatter, respectively. The two will perform a strictly limited six-week run from January 27th to March 7th, 2020.
The London run of the Broadway musical opened at the Adelphi Theatre on March 7th, 2019 and is now booking until 28 March 2020.
(A) 3. TICK, TICK… BOOM Casting
We talked last week about Andrew Garfield getting the lead role in the upcoming film adaptation of TICK, TICK… BOOM. Now, coming late last night, we have the rest of our starring cast. X-MEN actor Alexandra Shipp is set to star opposite in the Netflix project, and Vanessa Hudgens and Robin de Jesus (most recently in the THE BOYS IN THE BAND) will also co-star. Shipp will reportedly play Susan, Jon’s girlfriend. Assumedly, this means de Jesus will play Michael, with no word on what Hudgens’ role will be.
Lin-Manuel Miranda will direct with DEAR EVAN HANSEN’s Steven Levenson adapting the script.
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(A) 4. In Other News…
Adam Driver and Joanne Tucker Will Host Staged Reading of A RAISIN IN THE SUN
Manhattan Theatre Club Announces Casting for the World Premiere of THE PERPLEXED
Alice Ripley Set to Star In Maltby & Shire’s BABY in a Limited NYC Engagement
Out of the Box Theatrics announced yesterday that Tony Award winner Alice Ripley will lead the cast of a limited NYC engagement of Sybillie Pearson, Richard Maltby, Jr., and David Shire’s musical BABY. The production will play a site-specific loft in Midtown Manhattan at 14 West 45th Street from December 6th through December 14th. The cast will also star Liz Flemming, Robert Fowler, Gabrille McClinton, Evan Ruggiero, and Christina Sajous. Tickets for the production are now on sale ranging from $39.50–$99.50 and can be purchased online at ootbtheatrics.com.
HAMILTON Extends San Francisco Run By 21 Weeks
https://www.broadwayworld.com/article/HAMILTON-Extends-San-Francisco-Run-By-21-Weeks-20191104
Concert Version of LES MISERABLES to be Broadcast Live in U.S. Cinemas on December 2
Adam Driver and Joanne Tucker will host a staged reading of Lorraine Hansberry’s A RAISIN IN THE SUN on November 11 at the American Airlines Theatre. The event will be held by and for Arts in the Armed Forces for its 11th Annual Broadway Performance. The organization, which Driver founded, brings high-quality arts programming to active-duty service members, veterans, military support staff, and their families around the world, free of charge. The cast will also include Dylan Baker, Colman Domingo, Ezra Knight, Nyambi Nyambi, and Pauletta Washington. The event is, of course, free of charge for the aforementioned group, and the event will include a free reception, performance, and Q&A.
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Announced yesterday, Manhattan Theatre Club announced its casting for the world premiere of THE PERPLEXED, written by Richard Greenberg (who will have TAKE ME OUT on Broadway this season) and directed by MTC’s artistic director Lynne Meadow. Patrick Breen, Margaret Colin, Tess Frazer, Anna Itty, Ilana Levine, Zane Pais, JD Taylor, and Frank Wood will star. Additional casting will be announced at a later date. THE PERPLEXED will begin previews on February 11 prior to a March 3 opening night at New York City Center – Stage 1.
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Also announced yesterday,
Over in San Francisco, BroadwaySF has announced that the third national tour of the little known show HAMILTON has extended its run… by 21 weeks. The AND PEGGY stage of the production and tour is now extended through May 31 at the Orpheum Theatre in San Fran. Tickets for the extension are on sale now.
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And finally, James, Christmas is coming slightly early for LES MISERABLES fans as for one night only, the sold-out staged concert version, titled, LES MISERABLES – THE STAGED CONCERT, will be broadcast live in cinemas across North America. Theatregoers can head to cinemas Monday, December 2, where the concert will be broadcast live from London’s Gielgud Theatre, with encore screenings taking place on Sunday, December. 8 . The cast, of course, includes Michael Ball, Alfie Boe, Carrie Hope Fletcher, Matt Lucas, and more. Tickets will be available beginning on Friday, November 8 at lesmisconcert.com.
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