WE’RE midway through the 2000-2001 theater season, so let’s check up on who’s making money and who’s not on the Great White Way.If you’re rich and nutty enough to invest in a Broadway show, make sure it’s a straight play. They’re a lot cheaper than musicals and if they hit, they pay back at a nice clip.
Take Neil Simon’s “The Dinner Party,” for example. It opened just two months ago – to mixed reviews – but already has recouped its $1.2 million start-up costs, the first show to do so this year.
Theater people chalk the fast return up to Simon’s enduring box-office drawing power, as well as the presence above the title of two Nick at Nite favorites – John Ritter (“Three’s Company”) and Henry Winkler (“Happy Days”).
The play regularly grosses around $400,000 a week – more than $100,000 above running costs – and has an advance of more than $2 million. It shows no signs of slowing up and could prove to be one of Simon’s biggest hits.
Another comedy about to kick into the black is Charles Busch’s “The Tale of the Allergist’s Wife,” starring Linda Lavin, Michele Lee and Tony Roberts. Capitalized at $1.6 million, it has been on the boards since October.
Daryl Roth, its producer, expects to pay back her investors by the end of the year.
Another Roth production that will soon reward backers is David Auburn’s fine drama, “Proof,” starring Mary-Louise Parker. It, too, will return its $1.3 million start-up cost by the end of the year.
“It’s a wonderful feeling to have two plays that people are adoring and that are strong at the box office,” Roth says.
The votes are still being counted at “Gore Vidal’s The Best Man,” which ends its limited run Dec. 31. Producer Jeffrey Richards says the show has returned 75 percent of its $1.9 million investment.
“We might get to full recoupment,” he adds. “But it’s going to be close – as close as Bush-Gore.”
Despite a sour review from The New York Times, Lily Tomlin’s one-woman show “The Search For Signs of Intelligent Life in the Universe” is doing strong business, grossing around $250,000 a week. It has been extended until Feb. 25, and will surely make back its costs, which are said to be less than $1 million.
On the musical front, the big hit is, of course, “The Full Monty,” which is playing to near but (strangely) not quite sellout crowds.
Weekly grosses hover around $600,000 – which is more than $200,000 above running expenses. Fox Searchlight, the show’s producer, expects to recoup the $6.5 million start-up costs in the spring.
With a national tour planned for next year – and plenty of productions in the works around the world – “The Full Monty” could turn out to be one of the most profitable musicals of all time.
The revival of “The Rocky Horror Show” is, according to production sources, making a little bit of money each week, and looks like it will be around for a while.
One problem, though, is the limited seating capacity at the Circle in the Square Theater. The $3.5 million show is often packed on the weekends, and if the producers had another 200 seats to sell at those performances, the weekly profit would be a lot fatter.
“It would certainly be nice to have more seats, although I think the vibe of a smaller house is perfect for ‘Rocky,'” says Jordan Roth, the producer.
Will Rosie O’Donnell save “Seussical, the Musical” when she joins the show for four weeks in January? Probably not. What she will do is help the critically-clobbered musical stay afloat through the winter months.
Tourists may be able to keep the show going at least until Labor Day. And you can bet that producers Fran and Barry Weissler will stick more celebrities in the Cat in the Hat role before this show’s nine lives are up.
Ultimately, though, its chances of returning its $10.5 million investment are slim. The weekly running cost is about $500,000 – a tough figure to recoup when the press isn’t on your side.
And finally, “Jane Eyre,” which opened to ho-hum reviews two weeks ago.
While the producers publicly say they’re confident the $7 million show will find an audience, the winter months look bleak.
Like little Helen at Lowood, “Jane Eyre” may succumb to consumption when the chill winds blow.
Still, the show has a low weekly nut – around $350,000 – and its roster of female producers seems fanatically devoted to keeping it going.
Reader, more power to them!