A new Broadway show is breaking with tradition, with the producers of deciding not to report the show's weekly grosses. The musical, marking Mel Brooks's return to Broadway after , has already gotten a lot of buzz over its high-priced tickets — up to $450 US for weekend evening shows for premium seats. Previews begin Oct.
11, with the official opening on Nov. The disclosure of weekly grosses, including attendance and average ticket prices, has been a tradition since the 1930s when Broadway shows began reporting those statistics for the trade paper Variety. "Our sole focus is on our audiences' unbridled enthusiasm for the show and the pure joy of musical comedy," producer Robert Sillerman told the Associated Press.
"That's affected not at all by the reporting or non-reporting of internal financial matters." While not mandatory, the weekly reports are a custom in a world where traditions are held sacred. Sillerman says the data constitutes "a private transaction" and said he doesn't see the use of reporting the grosses, "other than bragging rights.
" Sillerman, who made his fortune in radio and concert promotion, is used to ruffling feathers on Broadway. Sillerman also partnered with Brooks on , which ran for six years and won 12 Tony Awards.В The show, which originally starred Matthew Broderick and Nathan Lane, was lambasted for its premium ticket pricing back in 2001, but since then other shows have followed suit.
closed in the spring after 2,500 performances. Sillerman has instituted some unusual pricing strategies for , including the sale of a limited number of prime centre section seats for $120 US, available only at the Hilton Theatre box office. Micah Hollingsworth, general manager at the Hilton Theatre, says she has no say in these matters.
Sillerman claims to have the support of many producers concerning his decision to keep the grosses under wraps. "Every one of them has unilaterally applauded the idea," he told the New York Times. With files from the Associated Press Curtain to fall on Broadway hit The Producers Regina to host Canadian Comedy Awards The Canadian Comedy Awards are hitting the road, like the Juno and Gemini awards before them.
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Profits kept behind the curtains in new Mel Brooks Broadway show The producers of The New Mel Brooks Musical Young Frankenstein say they will not be reporting the show's weekly grosses on Broadway in a big break with tradition. Pioneering Uzbek theatre director killed in Tashkent Mark Weil, founder of Uzbekistan's most controversial theatre and known around the world as a director, has been stabbed to death in the Uzbek capital, Tashkent.
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