Ken Davenport - Opinions from a Broadway Producer

The Sunday Giveaway: 2 Tickets to All New People at Second Stage

I'll admit it.  When Zach Braff was making me laugh on Scrubs, I never thought he'd have a play Off-Broadway.

And now he does.

And I've got two tickets to give away!  

This week's giveaway winner will get two tickets to see Zach Braff make people laugh in a different way, as the author of All New People at Second Stage.

How do you win?

Tell me what celebrity actor you'd like to see write a play.  Comment below and I'll pick a winner randomly.

Good luck!

 

(Got a comment?  I love 'em, so comment below!  Email subscribers, click here, then scroll down, to say what's on your mind!) 

 

----------------

FUN STUFF 

- 74 Days to Godspell!  Read the day-by-day account of producing Godspell on Broadway here.

 

Who won the tix to Hair on Broadway?

If anyone was wondering if there were strong feelings about nudity in theater, check out the over 135 (!) comments from this week's contest.

You guys take your nakedness seriously.

The nudie-patootie commenter that is taking home the Hair tickets is . . . Connie Carpenter!

Congrats, Connie. Email me to get your tix.

And yes, there is a dress code at the theater.

Read all the comments here.

 

 

(Got a comment?  I love 'em, so comment below!  Email subscribers, click here, then scroll down, to say what's on your mind!) 

----------------

FUN STUFF 

- 75 Days to Godspell!  Read the day-by-day account of producing Godspell on Broadway here.

Overheard at Angus Vol. X: How a title can change over time.

Ok, this "overheard" entry didn't happen at Angus.  It happened in Massachusetts about a week ago, when my Mom took one of her grandkids, a second grader, to see a show at the local theater.  The show?  Annie Get Your Gun.

Here's what happened:

My Mom:  Did you like the show?

Grandkid:  I really did, Grammy Pammy (My mom's name is Pam, so . . . )

My Mom:  Oh Good.  I'm glad.

Grandkid:  I didn't think I was going to like it at all.

My Mom:  Really?  Why not?

Grandkid:  Because I didn't think it was going to be appropriate for kids my age.  

My Mom:  How come?

Grandkid:  Grammy . . . it's called Annie, Get Your Gun.  That doesn't sound like something a kid should see.  

Amazing, right?  First, that a 2nd grader would even know what the word "appropriate" means . . . and second, that a show that you and I know definitely qualifies as a family show, could be considered something completely different because of the time we live in and because the next generation didn't grow up on it.

I told my Mom to take her grandkid to Little Shop of Horrors next.

 

(Got a comment?  I love 'em, so comment below!  Email subscribers, click here, then scroll down, to say what's on your mind!) 

----------------

FUN STUFF 

- 76 Days to Godspell!  Read the day-by-day account of producing Godspell on Broadway here.

- Win 2 tickets to Hair on Broadway, and tell us what you think about nudity in theater. Click here!

 

 

Just who are our premium ticket buyers anyway?

This could be one of my favorite "Market Notes"  yet.

Market Notes is a report that the Shubert Organization, which sits on top of a mountain of Telecharge data, spits out every month or so, to enlighten us on some our audience's buying habits.  The reports are written by Mr. Brian Mahoney, who I referred to as the "Swami of Statistics" in 2008, during my first year of blogging.  (Read that entry here)

This month, Monsieur Swami, is pulling the curtain back on those folks out there that buy our premium tickets.  These guys and gals are the equivalent of our "high rollers."  They want the best, and they want it now.  And they are willing to pay for it.  (As I like to say, there is always someone that likes to fly first class.)

But who the heck are they?

Here's a word-by-word report of what the Swami said:

As an industry, we make a lot of assumptions about buyers of premium tickets. One such assumption is that customers who buy premium seats will do it over and over, because they always want the very best. We ran some numbers recently and came up with a few interesting facts about premium buyers:

88% of the premium buyers made just one premium purchase in a single year; only 12% made multiple premium purchases.

For 40% of the customers who purchased a premium ticket, it was their only Telecharge purchase.

60% of the premium buyers saw more than one show in a year, but the others were not premium purchases.

While women are the predominant buyers of theatre tickets, men are the predominant buyers of premium tickets.

Most premium buyers are from out of town (65%); only 12% are from Manhattan. 

This data doesn't support the notion that there is a “premium buyer” who always wants the best seats. Why don’t buyers make multiple premium purchases?  Could the nearly 100% premium mark-up on orchestra seating be the deciding factor in how many premium purchases people make?  Would shows sell more premium tickets if the mark-up to its premium seats was only 50%?   

So we do have high rollers, alright . . . but they are specific to one show.  I call this the "Mormon" effect.  They gotta see one show, and they can't get tickets any other way.  So maybe my theory of just wanting the best isn't quite right. Maybe they are forced into premium tickets because it's the only thing available.

Swami?  Do you have an answer for that?  Is there a way to find out if Premium buyers looked for regularly priced tickets first? 

That question, and the questions posed in the repot about how much to mark-up a premium ticket are exceptionally important to the future health of our business . . . because as discounting initiatives increase, if done right, successful premium pricing could become a way to offset the amount of discounting that a show needs to do. 

 

(Got a comment?  I love 'em, so comment below!  Email subscribers, click here, then scroll down, to say what's on your mind!) 

----------------

FUN STUFF 

- 77 Days to Godspell!  Read the day-by-day account of producing Godspell on Broadway here.

- Win 2 tickets to Hair on Broadway, and tell us what you think about nudity in theater. Click here!

Have you heard about Broadway-Con?

You haven't heard about Broadway-Con?  It's a convention like the unbelievably popular Comic-Con.  

You know about Comic-Con, right?  Comic-Con the unbelievably popular convention that unites fans of comics, graphic novels, anime, manga, video games, toys, and related types of movies and television from all over the world.  The big one was held in San Diego last week and drew over one hundred thousand folks, many of whom dressed up to show their pride.  Fun, games . . . and lots of marketing.  

So now have you heard about Broadway-Con?

You haven't?

Well, I'm not surprised.  Because it doesn't exist.

But maybe it should?

Sure, we've got Broadway on Broadway and the BC/EFA street fair in September, but what about an good, ol' fashion convention all about Broadway, Off-Broadway and theater all over the country . . . but for the fans.

We could take a weekend in the spring, when all the new shows are begging for attention and ticket sales, and have performances, autograph signings from current, past (and future) stars, memorabilia displays, movies, workshops, contests . . . in other words, fun, games and lots of marketing.

I'd go.  Would you?

Are there enough fans out to make Broadway-Con successful?

I think so. And if there aren't, we've got a much bigger problem.

 

 

(Got a comment?  I love 'em, so comment below!  Email subscribers, click here, then scroll down, to say what's on your mind!) 

----------------

FUN STUFF 

- 78 Days to Godspell!  Read the day-by-day account of producing Godspell on Broadway here.

- Win 2 tickets to Hair on Broadway, and tell us what you think about nudity in theater. Click here!

 

Who won Will It Recoup? Contest and Kindle Winner Announced!

Seems like just yesterday we were all freezing our spotlights off and picking the shows we thought would make money in this year's Will It Recoup!  (If you aren't familiar with our game, click here for the original post). 

While the accounting statements may not be finalized yet, I think it's pretty safe to say that there were three shows out of the ten in the field that recouped:

That Championship Season
Ghetto Klown
The Mother with the Hat

So first, a big congrats to Broadway for the 30% success rate.  Not so bad, in this era of rising costs, wouldn't you say?

And a second congrats to reader Nick Coltone who scored a 100% in this year's contest!  Nick, you gotta start investing and producing shows because you've got an eye for the ones that work.  Just imagine what you could have done if you had some real skin in the game. :-)

Nick, drop me an email, and we'll drop you a Kindle in the mail.

And the rest of you, there's always next year.  Or maybe even this fall.  We're thinking about rolling out a fall version of Will It Recoup. What do you think?

But before we do that, back to the 30% success rate, which is pretty consistent with what the industry says is the average number of shows that recoup per year.

That's actually pretty decent in a high risk industry in my opinion.

But that's not what gets me excited.

If 30% is the average, then doesn't it make sense that with education, research and market analysis, an individual should be able to do better than that?  Doesn't that mean that you should be able to pick winners 40% of the time?  50%?  Or even more?  

I'd bet yes.  

 

(Got a comment?  I love 'em, so comment below!  Email subscribers, click here, then scroll down, to say what's on your mind!) 

----------------

FUN STUFF 

- 79 Days to Godspell!  Read the day-by-day account of producing Godspell on Broadway here.

- Win 2 tickets to Hair on Broadway, and tell us what you think about nudity in theater. Click here!

 

Why Godspell, Why Now? Washington gives me a reminder.

I got an email from a reader who had already bought tickets to Godspell who told me she couldn't wait to see it again.  She talked about the score, the joy, and more.  

This reader knew all the reasons why she was so excited to see the show coming back (one of which was that it was the first show she ever saw, and now she was excited to bring her kids so it could be their "first" too) . . . but she was curious as to some of my motivations for bringing back the show as well.

I of course repeated all the same things she did . . . the incredible score, the fun, the fact that it hasn't ever been revived, etc.

But I also told her about a more timely reason why I thought this show needed to be seen in 2011.  Yes, it's fun, yes it's joy-filled, but there's something underneath that's worth talking about.  I wrote about it on yesterday's Godspell blog, but I wanted to make sure you all saw it here as well.  

Check it out here.  

 

(Got a comment?  I love 'em, so comment below!  Email subscribers, click here, then scroll down, to say what's on your mind!) 

----------------

FUN STUFF 

- 80 Days to Godspell!  Read the day-by-day account of producing Godspell on Broadway here.

- Win 2 tickets to Hair on Broadway and tell us what you think about nudity in theater. Click here!

 

Broadway Grosses* w/e 7/24/2011

The following are the Broadway Grosses from the week ending July 24, 2011:

Show Name	GrossGross	TotalAttn	%Cap	AvgPdAdm
ANYTHING GOES	$832,625	8,256	100.58%	$100.85
BABY IT'S YOU!	$436,377	7,246	79.38%	$60.22
BILLY ELLIOT: THE MUSICAL	$855,248	10,242	90.10%	$83.50
CATCH ME IF YOU CAN	$648,763	8,810	77.44%	$73.64
CHICAGO	$531,562	6,821	78.95%	$77.93
HAIR	$351,144	6,836	49.19%	$51.37
HOW TO SUCCEED IN BUSINESS WITHOUT REALLY TRYING	$1,223,226	11,432	100.35%	$107.00
JERSEY BOYS	$987,461	9,445	96.14%	$104.55
JERUSALEM	$355,086	4,957	62.15%	$71.63
MAMMA MIA!	$897,983	10,490	87.53%	$85.60
MARY POPPINS	$1,111,911	13,395	93.18%	$83.01
MASTER CLASS	$301,291	4,578	89.27%	$65.81
MEMPHIS	$688,008	8,825	75.04%	$77.96
PRISCILLA QUEEN OF THE DESERT	$700,074	8,289	61.35%	$84.46
RAIN: A TRIBUTE TO THE BEATLES ON BROADWAY	$280,648	4,784	56.52%	$58.66
ROCK OF AGES	$377,204	4,423	94.83%	$85.28
SISTER ACT	$748,117	10,320	73.50%	$72.49
SPIDER-MAN TURN OFF THE DARK	$1,811,432	15,338	99.34%	$118.10
THE ADDAMS FAMILY	$820,984	10,955	90.15%	$74.94
THE BOOK OF MORMON	$1,256,830	8,752	102.43%	$143.60
THE LION KING	$1,854,764	13,418	100.01%	$138.23
THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA	$1,026,795	12,259	94.88%	$83.76
WAR HORSE	$985,258	8,552	100.00%	$115.21
WICKED	$1,882,731	14,472	100.00%	$130.09
TOTAL	$20,965,518	222,895	85.51%	$89.50

*Broadway Grosses provided courtesy of The Broadway League.

The Sunday Giveaway: 2 Tickets to Hair on Broadway!

The recent Broadway revival of Hair directed by the exceptionally creative Diane Paulus spawned a tour that has been getting naked all over the country for the last 9 months or so.  

And they are spending their summer here with us on Broadway at The St. James Theater.  (Lots of shows used to play summer stops on Broadway before heading back out on the road - it's nice to see this model come back with Hair.)

So if you've got a craving to experience The Tribe all over again, or if you missed it the first time, now's your chance, because we've got 2 tickets to give away!

Here's how we're going to pick a winner:

The nude scene in Hair obviously shook a lot of people up when it first revealed itself back in the day.  It's still something people talk about, although I just had dinner with a neighbor last night who recently took their 10-year-old to the show because they didn't think it was a big deal anymore.

Obviously times have changed. (There's a video billboard in Times Square for American Eagle that shows a mostly naked girl that I'd bet wouldn't have been approved a decade ago.)  

My question is this . . . is nudity in the theater still shocking?  Is it more accepted nowadays?  Do you think there will be more of it in the future, or less?

Comment below (or by clicking here) your feelings on nakedness in the theater and I'll pick a winner randomly from the comments.

Good luck!

 

(Got a comment?  I love 'em, so comment below!  Email subscribers, click here, then scroll down, to say what's on your mind!) 

----------------

FUN STUFF 

- 81 Days to Godspell!  Read the day-by-day account of producing Godspell on Broadway here.

Who won the tickets to The Voca People?

Congratulations Ed Ertle, you are going to see YouTube sensations, The Voca People Off Broadway!  Email me for details on how to get your tickets.

And thanks to everyone else for the great vid links.  The comments on this contest were like a YouTube greatest hits!

Stay tuned for another great giveaway tomorrow.

 

(Got a comment?  I love 'em, so comment below!  Email subscribers, click here, then scroll down, to say what's on your mind!) 

----------------

FUN STUFF 

- 82 Days to Godspell!  Read the day-by-day account of producing Godspell on Broadway here.