Put another one in the win column. Kinky Boots recoups! And quick!

cheering-people broadway investingWinning a Best Musical Tony is one thing . . . but recouping?

Nothing gets me more excited than recouping a show, because recouping means three things to a Broadway Producer:

  • It means you did your job in building a financial model that works.
  • It means that your audience is loving what you’re laying down.
  • It means your investors will be more likely to invest in Broadway again.

And yesterday, after only 30 short weeks (one of the quickest recoupment records in recent history), we announced that Kinky Boots recouped its entire 13.5 million dollar budget.

Boo-ya!

That’s right, we’re one out of the four/five Broadway shows to recoup (if you follow the industry averages – we (cough, cough), are batting around .500, if I do say so myself!).

If you’re a theatrical handicapper, then last year you were probably betting on a different horse.  And the Kinky story goes to show you that in this business . . . and in any business . . . a sure thing is never that.  I decided to go into Kinky Boots for several reasons (read them all here), but one of the most important to me was that it was a riskier proposition than some of the other shows on my investing radar. That’s right.  You heard me.  It was riskier, and I wanted to do it.  Why?

Because with greater risk, comes greater reward.  And I knew that if our numbers came up (and I was betting on our team to do the amazing work they did), we’d . . . well . . . recoup faster than most shows in recent history.

After all, if you’re going to invest in a risky business like Broadway, and you know you’ve got a shot at losing a good chunk of your capital, you might as well invest in what has the biggest upside, right?

A huge thank you to lead Producers Hal Luftig and Daryl Roth, because what they’ve done with this show should be a master class in Producing.  And to Aaron Lustbader and everyone at Foresight Theatricals, our dazzling General Managers, who built a budget that could give the investors such a great shot at getting their money back and then some.  And, duh, to the creative team . . . but especially to those actors.  The creative team, the producers . . . our hard work is over.  But that cast, and the musicians, and the stagehands, and everyone at The Hirschfeld have gotta give it their all 8 times a week . . . and what happens in that theater every performance is what gets people to buy tickets.  And that’s what gets shows to recoup.

Congratulations to everyone . . . and here’s to your show recouping even quicker.

 

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