Loading summary
Transcript3 lines
- [00:01]
A
Everyone talks about summer like it's supposed to be carefree. But if this season brings up money, stress, body stress, family stress or social stress, that's real too. Grow Therapy can help with that. Whether it's your first time in therapy or your 50th, grow makes it easier to find a therapist who fits you, not the other way around. They connect you with thousands of independent licensed therapists across the US Offering both virtual and in person visits, nights and weekends. You can search by what matters like insurance, specialty, identity or availability and get started in as little as two days. And if something comes up, you can Cancel up to 24 hours in advance at no cost. There are no subscriptions, no long term commitments, you just pay per session. Grow helps you find therapy on your time. Whatever challenges you're facing, Grow Therapy is here to help. Grow accepts over 100 insurance plans, including Medicaid in some states. Sessions average about $21 with insurance and some pay as little as $0 depending on their plan. Visit growththerapy.com booknow to get started. That's growththerapy.com booknow growththerapy.com booknow availability and coverage by state and insurance plan welcome
- [01:25]
B
to a slightly delayed grosses episode of Broadway Radio. My name is Matt Tammanini. On today's episode I'm going to run you through all of the box office data that was released earlier this week for the very first week of the 20262027 Broadway season. Then I will run through, then I will update you with some new information that we have about this Sunday's Tony Awards, a couple of new shows coming to Broadway and some show and casting details as well as but again, a little bit delayed here with the grossest episode this week. That is because I had a number of reviews that I wanted to get out to you before we got too deep into the week and an interview with the producing Artistic director of Paper Mill Playhouse, Mark S. Hoby. So I've got that a review of the six national tour and wrapping up all of the big shows that I saw on my New York trip late last month. So tons of stuff in the feeds. But now we are a little bit back on schedule and on both Friday and Saturday I will have special episodes talking with friends and experts with their Tony predictions, either their personal Tony predictions or of their statistical model. Oliver Henry Roth and I discuss that as we have every year since 2019 and we also include some conversations around the Kalsheet betting markets for the Tony Awards to add another different type of insight into the predictions. This year. But let's dive into the grosses. Last week was the first week of the 2026, 2027 season. That means it is the one that wrapped up on May 31st with the book of Mormon coming back for an abbreviated week. Over at the Eugene O' Neill Theater, Broadway did have 40 shows running. That is equal from not only last week but year. During that time. In total, Broadway brought in $37,314,104. That's actually down 8% from and down 17% from last year. Attendance was at $320,908, down 5% week over week and 4% year over year. The average ticket price was at $116.28, down 4% from last week and $18.49 from last year. Now this was I guess maybe perhaps influenced a little bit by Memorial Day as the Monday of last week, but I don't think it was tremendously influenced by Memorial Day. It was just a bad week. Most shows saw declines. The Lion King, though was the top grosser on Broadway last week to come in at $2,006,906. Hamilton was close behind at 1.87, then Death of a Salesman at 1.82mg at 1.48 and then oh Mary in fifth place at 1.45. The rest of the shows north of seven figures in descending order are Wicked, Ragtime, the Lost Boys, Aladdin, Giant, Every Brilliant Thing, the Rocky Horror Show, Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, and Chess. I will note that last week was the last week of Tom Felton's vacation. He is back in the show now, so that should jump all the way back up to the top of the list with next week. Joe Turner's coming gone was at $967,000. Just on the outside looking in of that total in its first seven shows back at the Eugene O' Neill Theater, the Book of Mormon grossed 649,547 at about 86 and a quarter percent capacity. So still a ways to go to get back to where it was. But with Josh Gadd and Andrew Rannells making the rounds and talking about their returns in celebration of the 15th anniversary, I imagine that that show will do very well moving forward over the next few weeks of June. Then Celebrity Autobiography had to cancel one performance last week on Thursday, so It only did seven shows and it brought in just $44,153, an average ticket price of $21.33. I don't know how much longer they can sustain a run at those totals. It is really, really bad. And again, I don't know that it would have mattered, but it certainly didn't give them a leg up on this. Summer Tourist announced the show just a week and a half before performances began. Maybe they didn't have a whole lot of time beforehand, but I heard that they did have some time, but there was some contracts that they couldn't get figured out, so maybe that was the issue. But I also think that the show really needs to be focusing on odd performance times to maybe get some more folks in, but we'll see if they have an opportunity to even make any changes moving forward. In total, only 19 of Broadway's 40 shows played to 90% capacity or more. Ragtime was at 100%. Hamilton was at 100.62, while Death of a Salesman was just slightly ahead at 100.74 and just in time continued to lead the way at 101.36. All right, let's talk about some of the folks that we have learned that will be a part of the Tony Awards this Sunday. We first learned on Monday that there will be a special tribute to the 30th anniversary of Chicago that will feature Chicago the movie star, Queen Latifah, Tony Awards host Pink Jesse Tyler Ferguson, who I don't think has any connection to Chicago at all, along with Alex Newell, who has been in the Broadway production of Chicago, Adrienne Warren, Julianne Hough, Dylan Mulvaney, Whitney Levitt, who has been in Chicago on Broadway. That to me sounds like quite a mix of folks for a Cell Block Tango. I don't know if they'll all be in that, but that certainly feels like a group ripe for that type of performance. We already know that the Book of Mormon original Broadway cast is going to perform along with the show's creators, Trey Parker, Matt Stone and Robert Lopez. And all of the musicals nominated for either best musical or best revival of the musical they are going to perform as well. And then on Thursday today, we got even more information about who was going to perform. We found out that Rachel Zegler, who is going to be returning to Broadway next spring in Evita, will be performing a special tribute to A Chorus Line in honor of its 50th anniversary recently. I mean, great. Love to hear Rachel Zegler saying anything. Not sure why she was chosen to do a Chorus Line tribute, but okay, great. And then Leslie Odom Jr. Will sing this year's Imamora song, which will be without you from Rent, a touching tribute as well. In addition, we found out that the opening number, led by Pink, will feature 170 Broadway performers. It will be choreographed by Sarah Ogleby and written by Benj Pasek, Justin Paul and Mark Sonnenblick. Just an absolutely incredible trio of songwriters. Mark Sonneblick obviously having quite a year with the success of K Pop Demon Hunters. Mark kind of served as a mentee to Pasek and Paul over the years, so that is very cool as well. Some of the presenters will include Adrian Barodi, Annette Bening, Ariana DeBose, Ben Platt, Bernadette Peters, Billy Crystal Bowen Yang, Brian Stokes Mitchell, Carrie Coon, Cole Escola, Darren Criss, Jack o', Brien, Jeremy Pope, John Leguizamo, Julia Louis Dreyfus, Cara Young, Kelly o', Hara, Kristin Chenoweth, Law Roach, Lena Waithe, Lily Rabe, Maia Rudolph, Megan D. Stallion, Neil Patrick Harris, Nicole Scherzinger, Patrick Wilson, Paul Rudd, Reuben Santiago Hudson, Sarah Paulson and Sting. So just a star studded fest as always. Really, really looking forward to the broadcast on Sunday. But we also got a lot of very fun show and casting news this past week, especially from the Second Stage Theater Company who announced their incredible upcoming season. It'll feature two Broadway shows and a handful of Off Broadway things. Let's start with the Broadway stuff and we have previously talked about the modernization of the fantastic that takes the central couple from a young man and a young woman and turns it into a young male gay couple. That will open up the season on Broadway at the Helen Hayes Theater with performances beginning on October 22nd. Second it will be directed and choreographed by Christopher Gattelli and then that will lead into the spring show, the Broadway premiere of Brandon Jacobs Jenkins show Gloria. That'll be in performances on March 17. I could not tell you how unbelievably shocking this show was the first time that I saw it. I went in knowing nothing and if it is possible for you to get from now to March 17th without knowing anything about this show, I highly recommend it. I've seen it multiple times. It is it's Brandon Jacobs Jenkins, so of course it's brilliant. But it's one of his earlier shows so I would recommend that you stay as clear of those details as you possibly can. Then Off Broadway starting in October will be the world premiere of the Visitors, a new play by Brenna Turner directed by Gina Worsham and that will lead into a winter show called Work of Devotion, which is always also a world premiere. It is being written by Miranda Rose hall and then wrapping up the late spring will be a third world premiere, how to Roll a Blunt written by Naomi Lorraine and directed by Colette Robert. But that is not the only new production coming to Broadway that we heard of, especially from a not for profit theater company. Manhattan Theater Club announced that they will be reviving the 191935 landmark drama by Clifford Odette, Awake and Sing. It will begin performances in December ahead of an early January opening night and it will star Danny Burstein, Jessica Hecht and Jeremy Shamos. Jessica Hecht and Danny Burstein reuniting after having previously played Tevye and Golda in Fiddler on the Roof on Broadway, this show joins some other previously announced MTC shows that include the Broadway premiere of Jocelyn Bio's Schoolgirls or the African Mean Girls play Montauk by David Hare starring Laura Linney and the American premiere of the Unbelievers by Nick Payne. We also got details this week about who is going to be leading the cast of the Paranormal Activity Broadway production after the show had previously played in London. I have not seen any of these movies so I don't know if these are characters from the movies or not, but Cher Alvarez will be playing Lou Travis, a Knight will be playing James, Shannon Cochran will be playing Carol Ann and former Broadway radio guest Andrea Siglowski will be playing Etheline Cotgrave. I don't know if this is the entire company. The way they announce it is they're in the these four people are in the show and then they announced three understudies and that's it. So I am guessing that this is just a four person show. I need to look into that based off of the London production. But there you go. If you are looking forward to more horror on Broadway, that's who you will be seeing at the August Wilson theater beginning on August 14th. Going from the August Wilson to the Stephen Sondheim. Two of the very best to do it will be returning to Anne Juliet over the summer. Joey Fatone will return to the role of lance beginning on July 2nd and then Paulo Jatt will begin performances on July 21st. But what's interesting about this is he's not replacing Joey Fatone. Yes, they will both be playing Lance, but they're going to be alternating and sharing the role throughout the summer. I don't know if maybe, but they both have obligations and other commitments so they were kind of bouncing back and forth to meet each other's schedules. But the current Lance, James Monroe Iglehart will play his final performance on June 4th. So there will be a little bit of time in there where Nicholas Edwards will play the part from June 9th through 17th and then Reese Britz will play it from June 18th through July 1st. So basically Joey Fatone and Paulo Jot will be alternating weeks from July 2nd all the way through September 13th. From the Sondheim over to the Ambassador. It was announced this week that comedian Matteo Lane will make his Broadway debut as Billy Flynn in Chicago. He will begin performances in the role beginning on June 23rd. Second and then finally in our show and casting section, it was announced that Laura Marano from the Disney Channel show Austin and Ally will join the Off Broadway revival production of 25th annual Putnam County Spelling Bee, replacing original cast member Autumn Best as Logan Schwartz and Grubiniere. She will take over on June 24th. Best's final performance will be on June 21st. All right everybody, that is all that I have for you today. Thank you as always for your support of Broadway radio. If you want more Broadway radio, head to patreon.com broadwayradio Remember, I will have episodes first with my group chat, Tony Award winning producer Kaitlyn Berg and influencer extraordinaire Ashley Hufford. Coming up on Friday, that will be us going through all of the predictions in every single category that we think are going to happen. Of course I always reserve the right to modify my predictions until the absolute, very last minute when I post them on social media on Sunday. And then on Saturday my annual conversation with multiple Tony Award winning producer Oliver Henry Roth will be in the feeds. And on Saturday we'll go through what he thinks is going to happen, what his model thinks will happen, where things were when we discussed in the betting markets for the Tony Awards and much, much more. All right everybody, thank you for giving us of your time and listening. This has been Matt Tammanini and I'll talk to.
- [15:11]
A
Sam.