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Broadway’s Tony Glow Goes Only So Far
With last Sunday’s Tony Awards unlikely to provide a serious boost at Broadway box offices because the
big winners are already hits, producers are counting on word of mouth
and discounts to prevent closings and dark theaters this summer.
Yet
the post-Tonys fallout has already begun. Producers of the musical
revival “Guys and Dolls,” which won no Tonys and has struggled this
spring because of weak reviews, announced on Tuesday that the show
would close on Sunday without recouping its investment. That news
followed a similar announcement that “reasons to be pretty,” a play
with three major Tony nominations but no wins, would also close this
Sunday.
Two plays that did win awards, “Exit the King” and “Joe
Turner’s Come and Gone,” will close as scheduled on Sunday rather than
extend, spokesmen said.
The four Broadway theaters that are home
to these plays are expected to remain dark through the summer, as are
two other houses, where “33 Variations” and “Desire Under the Elms”
closed in May. Another four Broadway plays, including “Blithe Spirit”
and “Waiting for Godot,” are to close between June 28 and July 19, and
their theaters also have no bookings until fall.
Eighteen new
Broadway productions have been scheduled for the new season, but until
then Broadway’s financial health will depend largely on the Tony
winners and losers’ finding ways to build audiences at a time when New
York tourism — a backbone of summer attendance — is projected to
decrease slightly.
Among other Broadway productions, “Irena’s Vow” could benefit from Archbishop Timothy M. Dolan’s
attendance on Saturday. Archbishop Dolan said on Tuesday that he would
deliver a homily about the play, which he called “very uplifting,” and
discuss it on his weekly radio show, publicity the producers would
welcome, given that half the theater’s seats were empty last week.
“Irena”
producers are referring, hopefully, to the archbishop’s praise as the
“Obama effect,” a reference to the box office improvement for “Joe
Turner” recently, after President Obama and the first lady, Michelle,
attended the play. Weekly grosses for “Joe Turner” increased by
$93,000, or more than 30 percent, right after the Obamas’ visit.
“August: Osage County,” the 2008 Tony winner for best play, is banking on endorsements like that of Oprah Winfrey, who saw the production and its new lead, Phylicia Rashad, on Saturday. During an intermission she praised the show via Twitter: “Makes me crave BROADWAY!!”
The show’s weekly grosses increased by almost 10 percent, which producers attributed partly to Ms. Winfrey.
“9
to 5: The Musical,” another show with no wins at the Tonys, is also
counting on word spreading that it is one of Broadway’s few new musical
comedies.
“There’s no talk whatsoever about closing the show soon
or this summer,” said Robert Greenblatt, the lead producer of “9 to 5.”
“We’re a great destination for tourists and people visiting the city.”
In
most years only the show that wins best musical enjoys a lift in ticket
sales; sometimes the best play and best musical revival winners receive
shots in the arm too. Yet this year those winners — “Billy Elliot: The
Musical,” “God of Carnage” and “Hair” — are already unqualified hits;
“Billy” and “Carnage” have been all but sold out for weeks, and “Hair”
filled 92 percent of its seats and grossed $924,215 last week.
To
be sure, the Tonys can help: “God of Carnage” tripled its typical sales
on Monday, after its Tony wins on Sunday, and “Exit the King” doubled
Monday sales after Geoffrey Rush won for lead actor, Chris Boneau, a spokesman for both shows, said. He
refused to provide specific figures, making it impossible to assess
those magnitudes of growth in real dollars, however.
Over all, 14
current and closed Broadway productions won at least one Tony this
year, a fairly wide distribution that makes it difficult for multiple
shows to crow about winning many awards.
Sonia Friedman, the
British producer who picked up the Tony for best play revival for “The
Norman Conquests,” said she was still negotiating with her cast to
extend the show for a few more weeks into late summer.
“We think there’s still an audience to keep building for this show, and we’re hoping the Tony helps a bit,” she said.
The musical “Next to Normal,” with 11 nominations, ended up winning three Tonys, including one for Alice Ripley as best actress. Yet the show missed out on the best musical Tony,
which could have been a major boost to its modest but improving ticket
sales. How many theatergoers will buy tickets to “Normal” based on Ms.
Ripley’s award is yet to become clear.
Another new show, “Shrek
the Musical,” had eight nominations, but won only for costume design.
It now has a significant ticket discount offer aimed at families
visiting New York this summer.
For other productions, a Tony
Award was something to savor, but not enough to justify an extension. A
constellation of factors — the presidential visit, rave reviews and
Tony nominations — contributed to the biggest weekly gross to date last
week for “Joe Turner,” and this week’s grosses are expected to be even
better, said Bernard Gersten, executive producer of Lincoln Center Theater,
the play’s producer. But the Obamas’ visit, and a Tony win for the cast
member Roger Robinson, came too late to justify an extension.
“We
ran the risk of extending and playing to half-empty houses,” Mr.
Gersten said. “I wish the Obama visit had come earlier. I wish the
Tonys had come earlier. But all the same, we’ve had a memorable run.”