C (3:26)

Of course. And I think that obviously with all of these conversations, a lot of people were most, you know, noisy about the Actors Union situation. And it's been a little bit more quiet on the 802 front, but I think it's far more likely, you know, in my opinion, they did just mention it. So I'm curious what might happen there.

B (3:47)

Yeah, certainly not an ideal situation, but hopefully they'll come to some sort of conclusion so the show can continue to go on. We want the show to go on because this is an announcement. Honestly, Grace, that floored me and I thought maybe it had to do with people needing to get some insurance weeks. I'm not sure. But in a fairly startling Broadway casting announcement yesterday, it was revealed that two time Tony nominee Kate Baldwin will join the Broadway production of Chicago as roxie hart on November 10th. And then one week later, Tony Award winner Alex Newell will join the production as matron Mama Morton. I will never ever understand how Chicago does its castings because they have so many people coming in from so many different areas, whether it is film and television, reality tv, broadcast, they just kind of keep moving through these phases. And every single casting announcement they have is a surprise to me. But for whatever reason, they all seem to work so incredibly excited for Kate and Alex. And this might be the thing that gets me back into the Ambassador Theater, Grace. Because those are two incredible talents in a show that I actually like but never really seem to put it on my schedule because I've seen it at tours and there's so many new things. But having Kate Baldwin and Alex Newell in Chicago is certainly an interesting move. No word on how long they will be there, but this is like the 30 getting ready for the 30th anniversary of the show right around that time. So. Great. Awesome. Love it. Hopefully everybody can go over and check it out.

C (5:33)

I mean, everyone that I was around when I saw that announcement screamed so I think that that is positive. But yeah, it was. It's pretty insane. Great stuff.

B (5:43)

Yeah, it's just so weird and so strange, but good for them. Get those. Get those insurance weeks and that paycheck in there and hopefully get some more butts in the seats at the Ambassador as well. Speaking of butts in seats, let's talk about last week's Broadway grosses. In total, we had 32 shows on the boards last week, up from 31 over the previous week. But because the week before included the long weekend for Indigenous Peoples Day, the grosses were down 3% to come in at $38,189,430. Although the attendance did tick up just about 1100 people to 277,744 people, the average ticket price dropped 4% to come in at $137.5. Hamilton was not above $4 million this week, but still did a very healthy $3,764,180, followed by Wicked at 2.27 and The Lion King at 2 million dol, Waiting for Godot in fourth place at 1.8 and Art at 1.79. This was a second week in a row, actually where Art did nine performances. So there will need to be some corresponding seven show weeks or even six show weeks, depending on how they want to balance that out. Then we had Mamma Mia. Death becomes her just in time. Mj. Oh, Mary maybe. Happy ending. Chess, more on her in a second. Aladdin, Buena Vista Social Club, the Outsiders, Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, Moulin Rouge, Ragtime and the Great Gatsby. All north of seven figures. I mentioned chess because that was in four performances. So chess did $1.2 million in its first four previews, meaning that if you can do the math extrapolated over 8, it would put it at $2.4 million, an absolutely bonkers total for the first couple performances of a show. Hopefully they can keep that going. I would love to see this kind of get. You know, I've gotten Merrily on my mind because I got my tickets to go see it in the movie theaters here on Tuesday. So I don't know that this show is ever going to be compared to Merrily in terms of quality, but I would like to see it have kind of like that redemption arc that we saw with Merrilee a couple seasons ago. And it certainly seems like the audience is there at least to start things off. But in total, 22 of Broadway's 32 shows saw capacity at 90% or above. Ragtime, Chess, oh Mary, Waiting for Godot, wicked, all at 100%. Mamma Mia, Hadestown, maybe happy ending are all above 100%. Hamilton at 101.51. And then just in time including me at 103.17. Grace, what is it about this production of Chess that you think is driving people there? Is it the celebrity of Lea Michele, Aaron Tveit? Is it, I don't know, theater fans loving the score or what is it about that show that is doing so well?

C (8:51)

I can, I can always guess. I know that they probably have the data to prove like who is responding most to what. Obviously Aaron Tveit has a massive fan base in from I mean his years and years and years of credits. But also his Moulin Rouge base is quite loyal and they are able to go see shows. Leah, because of her resurgence in Funny Girl, you know, revitalizing another older Broadway musical revival, this makes sense for that core audience base that she had just built up that had record breaking ticket success. And so I think that with the, the combined thing of this is a new thing, a lot of people don't know what Chess is. I actually think they have a lot to gain from the fact that people don't know the show. And so they are genuinely getting to go to say, hey, this is a thing that has been done, but I never got to see it, so why not go see it with some impactful, incredible performances And I think that's what's happening here. It's curiosity.

B (9:49)

Yeah, certainly. I think like depending on your level of, you know, Broadway allegiance, like you know some of the songs, maybe you know one of the songs. But there's also people who know none of the like the more standout theatrical songs, but know One Night in Bangkok, which is, which was a pop hit in the 80s 80s as well. So we'll love to continue to see how that shakes out and hopefully I will get to see this when I'm in town in mid November. All right, Grace, one real quick bit of show and casting news. I previously talked about the fact that Slam Frank had extended off Broadway and it has now announced that it will add two more weeks to its run at Asylum NYC. It will now play through November 16th. The show's co creator, Andrew Fox will continue to be a part of the cast. He jumped in after for the original extension because the original actor in those roles was not able to continue. So I've had friends go and see it and gobsmacked is certainly a word that I would use to describe their reactions in both good and bad ways. So certainly if you are interested in this show, you have extra time to check it out. And now, Grace, we've got a couple of recommendation videos that I want to send out. Heather's the Off Broadway musical, put out a new official music video for Freeze youe Brain that was filmed with Casey Likes and Lorna Courtney in an actual 7 11, which is brilliant. And of course, they all look the same. From Las Vegas to Boston. You never know which linoleum aisle that you'll love to get lost in. So check out that video. And then on Tuesday we had the press rehearsal previews for For City Center Encore's production of Batboy. So we've got a number of videos from that that I will put in the show notes including, you know, the entire cast. We also have Gabby Karuba and Kerry Butler singing. So Getting Close. This one will begin performances at Lincoln center on October 29th. Just in time for for Halloween. But are you going to have an opportunity to go check that one out? Grace?

C (11:55)

I think because of when it's running, I don't know if I can make it in time. But I have had this on a bucket list since I saw it in high school. There was a competing one act competition show that did Bat Boy the Musical in the Georgia Thespian Conference. And so for that reason I have always wanted to see it. And obviously with this incredible cast and all the amazing footage they've been putting out, I'm dying to go, but I.

B (12:18)

Don'T know if I'm going to make it.

C (12:19)

These next three weeks are really packed for me.

B (12:22)

Yeah, certainly a very, very busy time for you both personally and professionally. So I'm not going to be in town for it, but I am looking forward to hearing what everybody has to say when it begins. Performances at the end of the month. All right, everybody, that is all that we have for today. Thanks for listening to Today on Broadway. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram BroadwayRadio. And if you want more Broadway radio, head over to patreon.com broadwayradio Grace, where can people find you?

C (12:45)

You can find me at Grace Aki.

B (12:47)

All right, everybody, have a wonderful Wednesday. We'll be back to talk to you tomorrow.

D (12:58)

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