Threaded Order Chronological Order
| re: Producer Ken Davenport on the closing of GETTIN' THE BAND BACK TOGETHER | |
| Posted by: ryhog 12:44 am EDT 09/02/18 | |
| In reply to: re: Producer Ken Davenport on the closing of GETTIN' THE BAND BACK TOGETHER - Singapore/Fling 11:31 pm EDT 09/01/18 | |
|
|
|
| Over 42 weeks, the show has grossed a bit over $22mil, of which a bit less that $20mil would have been available to the production after off-the-top expenses. It has been reported (here and elsewhere, Dramedy can probably be more specific) that the show's nut (i.e., running expenses each week) is in "the high $400s." I'll assume that means $475k (even though I think most people would think that means something closer to $500k a week. Multiply that by 42 weeks, and you come up with $19,950,000, which means the net profit would be $50,000. So in theory, if my lowball estimates were right, then i am wrong, but not by a meaningful amount (and not even all of that would be available to investors). I stand by losing the entire investment. What went wrong? The answer has many parts but the simple one is that the numbers did not work from the get go and the only chance it had in a small theatre of making enough money would have been to become a super-hit for which people would pay a high premium for tickets. That never happened here (rarely does for a revival) and demand for tickets was never so high that the production could sell significant numbers of premium tickets. $100 is simply not enough any more to pay the bills, at least not in a small venue. (We can also talk about marketing but that's among song.) |
|
| reply to this message |
| re: Producer Ken Davenport on the closing of GETTIN' THE BAND BACK TOGETHER | |
| Posted by: JohninChicago 12:25 pm EDT 09/03/18 | |
| In reply to: re: Producer Ken Davenport on the closing of GETTIN' THE BAND BACK TOGETHER - ryhog 12:44 am EDT 09/02/18 | |
|
|
|
| I think you're exactly right with your numbers and your reasoning, ryhog. The show needs a much higher average ticket price than they've been getting. And I'm not sure there's much of a case to be made for premium pricing in a 696-seat, in-the-round theatre, unless tickets were so hard to get that one would pay it just to get inside the building - not because they want to pay an extra $100 to get a few rows closer. | |
| reply to this message |
| re: Producer Ken Davenport on the closing of GETTIN' THE BAND BACK TOGETHER | |
| Posted by: ryhog 12:44 pm EDT 09/03/18 | |
| In reply to: re: Producer Ken Davenport on the closing of GETTIN' THE BAND BACK TOGETHER - JohninChicago 12:25 pm EDT 09/03/18 | |
|
|
|
| I agree that the play for premium ticket buyers is to make tickets hard to get, not to have better seats (though there are better and worse seats at Circle). OOTI never got close to seeing over that hump. | |
| reply to this message | reply to first message |
| re: Producer Ken Davenport on the closing of GETTIN' THE BAND BACK TOGETHER | |
| Posted by: Singapore/Fling 02:25 pm EDT 09/02/18 | |
| In reply to: re: Producer Ken Davenport on the closing of GETTIN' THE BAND BACK TOGETHER - ryhog 12:44 am EDT 09/02/18 | |
|
|
|
| To echo Ann, thanks so much for the in depth analysis! | |
| reply to this message | reply to first message |
| re: Producer Ken Davenport on the closing of GETTIN' THE BAND BACK TOGETHER | |
| Posted by: Ann 09:49 am EDT 09/02/18 | |
| In reply to: re: Producer Ken Davenport on the closing of GETTIN' THE BAND BACK TOGETHER - ryhog 12:44 am EDT 09/02/18 | |
|
|
|
| Thanks, in previous threads it was not clear to me (and maybe that was my fault), how you could say it would not make money, when it wasn't showing any signs of closing and the avg ticket price was good. As you, it looks like the numbers never worked (though it may be a success on other levels). | |
| reply to this message | reply to first message |
| re: Producer Ken Davenport on the closing of GETTIN' THE BAND BACK TOGETHER | |
| Posted by: ryhog 10:02 am EDT 09/02/18 | |
| In reply to: re: Producer Ken Davenport on the closing of GETTIN' THE BAND BACK TOGETHER - Ann 09:49 am EDT 09/02/18 | |
|
|
|
| It was a success on other levels certainly. BTW, if you look at the situation week to week, it is actually quite a bit worse because there are many weeks (like this past week) in which there has been significant negative cash flow. Although early on there is likely reserve to cover this, that reserve doesn't last forever, and once it is gone, the production would have to get priority loans. That adds an interest expense that was not budgeted, and the effect is similar to people who get in financial trouble and start using credit cards to stay afloat. | |
| reply to this message | reply to first message |
Time to render: 0.014886 seconds.