Grace Aki (6:22)

Yeah, I hear you. And I think that a lot of people are very excited to champion Brandon's work. And I think that just like some of the cast involvement with the Steppenwolf of it all, I really love the article that came out about the cast member who was obviously a big part of the creative direction of that theater company, talking about, you know, ushering in this piece. And I think that anytime we have Carrie Young on Broadway, we are more fortunate as a society. So I like that. And I also like the conceit of more kind of like, family drama. I feel like we've had a lot of really good family family dramas this season. I'm thinking of, like, Cult of Love. This one, there's a lot of really good pieces out there that I think are speaking to, like, the political climate that we're currently in, but also, like, recently. So, yeah, just congrats on their opening night. I'm glad that we finally have some really substantial positive reviews for this work.

Matt Tammini (7:16)

All right, let's dive into last week's Broadway grosses, and man, oh, man. One, we're starting to see spring breaks happen. But two, we also saw five new shows come to Broadway. So we went from 26 shows the previous week to 31 shows last week. That came with it, a 32% grosses increase. Again, the prices are gonna get raised because of spring break, but they brought in a total of $37,459,896. Attendance increased by over 41,000 people to come in at 277,556 and the average ticket price jump 13% to $134.96. And as I predicted at the end of last year, Grace, we are now seeing multiple shows north of $2 million and two others very, very close. Othello led all shows last week with $2,824,493. Followed by Wicked in second place at 2.49 million. But here's the thing, Grace. Good Night and Good luck was in third place at $2,358,888. And it only did five performances. Now of course, first preview, they can make those a little bit more expensive. More people are really excited. But if you extrapolate that over an eight show week, that comes to 3.77 million. As we said, George Clooney, as big of a movie star as there is in the world. Denzel is obviously in that category too. But Denzel has done a lot of Broadway. George Clooney has never done Broadway. So this is one that I would imagine will keep ticking up that ladder. But again, that was number three. Hamilton also north of $2 million at 2,009,043 bucks. The Lion King was at 1.99. Glengarry Glen Ross in only seven shows did 1.9. If it gets to eight and maintains that that will be north of $2 million as well. So a lot of shows flirting with the $2 million mark. The rest of the shows north of seven figures in descending order are the Outsiders, Aladdin, the Great Gatsby, mj, Cabaret, Gypsy, Death Becomes her and Juliet, Sunset Boulevard, Hell's Kitchen and Cursed Child. In fact, except for Gypsy and Purpose saw week to week increases. Now the reason Gypsy didn't was because they only did seven shows last week. So of course they're going to see a decline from the previous week. And then Purpose, we know they comped a bunch of critics and stuff coming in for opening and they changed their playing schedule as well because they had a Monday opening night. So that makes sense. For all of that, I do want to point out, Grace, three other shows that are in previews that did not get full weeks. The Picture of Dorian Gray did just under $849,000 in six shows. Over eight shows, that is $1.13 million. Smash did five shows and came in at 715,000. Over eight shows, that's 1.15 million. And then, boop. Also did five shows at 403,000, which was at 646,000. So for some of these shows, very good starts. We will see if they're able to keep this momentum moving forward. But some very, very good black numbers in there, which is always very exciting. In total, 25 of Broadway's 31 shows played to 90% capacity or more. Here's the shows above 100%. Dorian Gray, Othello, Operation Mincemeat. Completely sold out. 100%. Above 100% were maybe happy ending. And Juliet, Hadestown. Good night and good luck. Glengarry Glen Ross and Hamilton. And then Hamilton was at 100.95%. A whole percentage point and a half almost was The Outsiders at 102.31%. So lots of really good stuff. Grace, I know this is a time for you people that are really focused on selling tickets to Broadway shows, that productions need to kind of start getting off on the right foot because they want to build up as much of that money now. This is a time to really start to fill the coffers for, you know, prolonging to run the run and extending things for as long as humanly possible.

Grace Aki (11:19)

Yeah, it's so true. Like, we. We really are living week to week, even though nobody wants to, like, fully say that. I mean, the dynamics change so much. To your point of. Some weeks are, you know, press, polls and. And press and critic and influencer, like, comps, because you're. You're building that word of mouth, and that might alter, you know, your overall gross expenditure and all those things. So I appreciate that while they fluctuate, it's not always indicative of, like, the performance of the entire campaign of a show. Like, for one week, it could. It could literally vacillate completely. But the week by week picture is important. So I appreciate that a lot.

Matt Tammini (11:56)

All right, we've got a few kind of, like, show news things that we're going to talk about. And I did not realize, maybe because I haven't been to Las Vegas in a couple years, but over the last couple days, I think over the weekend, RuPaul's Drag Race Live celebrated its 1,000th show in Las Vegas. I did not realize that was happening. But as part of the celebration the producers of the show, which are the same producers who produced the TV show, talked about it, talked about how much it fits perfectly in Las Vegas. And it is such a great city to have that kind of spectacle and the sequence and the sparkle and all of that stuff. But they also talked about the fact that they would like to bring it to Broadway. I don't exactly know what this is, but they say they try to recreate the feel of the TV show. So I'm sure there's a lot of lip syncing going on, a lot of high fashion stuff like that. But they got their eye on Broadway and with all the Broadway related performances that I know are a part of Drag Race every year, and there's regularly theater people who appear on the show. Grace, I feel like it could make sense. I don't know that there's a lot of things like this that have appeared on Broadway, but I don't know that there's a lot of things like this that have ever really existed at all. So I'd be interested to see what happens with this and if they're able to find a house, maybe filling in a slot like we've talked about before in between shows, or maybe it's something that can run forever, who knows? You watch Drag Race. What do you think about something like this taking up a spot on Broadway?

Grace Aki (13:22)

Yeah, I think it's great. Listen, I loved Drag the Musical also. These two things are not totally related, but I think with the excitement and the promotion of Drag Race, RuPaul's Drag Race, the TV show, you've got a lot of Drag Race contestants that have not only worked previously on Broadway, but currently work on Broadway. I'm thinking of our amazing cover as the emcee. Marcia, Marcia, Marcia Marty, who's excellent. But yeah, no, I think that it would be very successful. I think the framing of it, because there's such a vibrant drag scene already in New York City that people flock to at, you know, certain bars or brunches and things like that. Like, what would the conceit be? Is it similar to like the. The Dancing with the Stars tours that happen? Remember the Glee tours? Like, is it like that where a television series, like, has, you know, these 20 songs that they do, or is it like its own immersive show? Like, who knows? But I think that there's definitely a space for that. And I think that it would be.

Matt Tammini (14:17)

Very exciting to do another show that is very exciting for many different reasons, is Prima Facie, which we've talked about quite a bit when it was up for the Tony Awards a couple seasons ago. Well, the original star, Jodie Comer, is going to take that show on the Road in 2026 in the UK and Ireland. It is going to tour to eight different venues across Dublin, Edinburgh, Cardiff, York, Bath, Canterbury, Birmingham and Liverpool. Grace, as we talked about at the time, I only saw the National Theater live pro tape of this. I never saw her. I wasn't able to get in to see the show. Like, I'm legitimate. When this came up, I was like, okay, I've got to go see it. Like, I don't know if that's actually going to happen depending on when these dates are, but I feel like that's a performance that, as incredible as it was, watching it on screen would be even more amazing in person.

Grace Aki (15:12)

It's one of the most unbelievable performances I've ever seen in my life. And I not only love the show, but I love Jody and, like, getting to see that firsthand was amazing. I love there is a capture of it through the National. Like, you can stream that, but you should see it in person. Like, even if you're streaming it, like, I think you would want to see it in person if you can handle it. I know it's a tough material, but it's amazing. And the fact that she is doing that, there's a part of me that's like, could she still do the film? Does Cynthia have to do the film? I was going to say, remember, because, I mean, listen, Cynthia obviously incredible, but I. She's just so compelling in this role and she owns it. And like, I'm hopeful that there's still a space for that.

Matt Tammini (16:00)

Yeah. As we've talked about in the past, Cynthia Erivo was tapped to do the film version of this, adding in the element not only of the misogyny and sexual assault that is in the play as it's written for the stage, but you factor in the racial dynamics of having a black actress in that role. Role certainly changes things. And the playwright Susie Miller talked about that when it was originally announced she is doing the adaptation for the screen. So it is one of the most compelling things I've ever seen. And I'm legitimately thinking about going over to the UK in early 2026. Performances will begin on January 23rd. All right, Grace. I have two recommendations. The first one comes from the rehearsal room ahead of the New York City Center Encores production of A Love Life. Kate Baldwin and Brian Stokes Mitchell do a number of songs. Kate first sings Women's Club Blues and then the two of them sing. I remember it well. So check out that video.

Grace Aki (17:00)

And our traditional positions of fashion. And the time has come to redirect our passion. Yes.

Matt Tammini (17:14)

And it's time to resurrection. And then the other one is from Stars in the House. On Monday night, they had their fifth anniversary celebration, and it was a staged concert reading of the musical Finn with, I mean, so many freaking stars. Andrew Ranos, Kelly O'Hara, Leia Salonga, Bonnie Milligan, Jesse Mueller, Nicki M. James, Jose Lana, Michael Urie, Charlotte Dambois, Nina Webb, Peppermint Adam Pascal, Brenda Braxton, Zachary, Noah Peiser, and more. You can watch the whole thing on YouTube now. So I have a link to that and it is a really special thing. And obviously stars in the House also always has a charitable component. So if you are so inclined to help out the entertainment community fund, please do that as well. All right, everybody, that's all that we have for today. Thanks for listening to today on Broadway. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram BroadwayRadio. You can follow me on Instagram at bwwmattgrace. Where can people find you?

Grace Aki (18:11)

You can find me at it's Grace Aki or trying to take a nap.

Matt Tammini (18:14)

Good luck with that. All right, everybody, have a wonderful Wednesday. We'll be back to talk to you tomorrow. Women should be free to go and have their.