Culture Chronicle

Broadway Season Not Much To Cheer About
Crain's New York Business - December 1, 2010
By Miriam Kreinin Souccar

Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson is the second musical to announce that it will soon close, as the packed fall season fails to kick-start ticket sales or attendance.

Christmas isn't coming early for Broadway this year.

Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson, the critically acclaimed new musical that transferred from the Public Theater this fall, announced Wednesday that it would end its Broadway run on Jan. 2, after three and a half months.

The news comes just a day after producers of another new musical, The Scottsboro Boys, said that show would close on Dec. 12, after just two months.

Bloody Bloody, which cost $4.5 million to produce, is closing at a loss to investors, though the show's producers are confident it will make money on the road.

"We believe Bloody will be done throughout the country in the years ahead," said co-producers Jeffrey Richards and Jerry Frankel, in a statement. "There is considerable interest already from resident theatres and also from London."

The production has played to half-empty houses, though it did have its best week at the box office over Thanksgiving, when it grossed $442,113. Still, that amount accounted for less than half of its potential, and attendance was only at 65%.

Overall Broadway has struggled so far this season. Though grosses are up 1.2% to $532.1 million for the season to date, compared with the same time a year ago, and attendance is up a strong 2% to 6.2 million, there are many more shows than there were last year, making those increases seem small.

According to an analysis done by producer Ken Davenport, there were 744 playing weeks in the second quarter, which just ended, compared to 686 playing weeks the same period last year, an increase of 8.5%.

"If we have 8.5% more shows, and only an increase of [1.2%] in gross and [2%] in attendance, that means the additional cash and those additional bodies are spread pretty thin over the very full fall schedule," Mr. Davenport said.