美国国家公共电台 NPR 'No Room For The Modest Hit Anymore': Broadway Prepares For Summer Closings（在线收听）

RACHEL MARTIN, HOST:

Broadway is coming off a record season in terms of attendance and box office receipts, with 29 shows to choose from right now. Five of those shows, though, including some big-budget disappointments, are going to close over the next two weekends.

Jeff Lunden explains.

JEFF LUNDEN, BYLINE: Broadway attendance was up 14% between 2018 and 2019, generating $1.83 billion in ticket sales.

JEREMY GERARD: It's been a great year for Broadway. And that's true if you're one of the producers of a blockbuster show.

LUNDEN: But not everyone has been invited to the party, says Jeremy Gerard, who's been covering Broadway as a reporter and critic for over three decades. When he tallied up the 11 shows that opened and closed this season...

GERARD: Those shows accounted for something like $140 million in investment. And that's a huge number at a time when we're seeing these blockbuster shows and more reports of higher and higher box office grosses. So that tells me that we're in trouble, that there's no room for the modest hit anymore.

LUNDEN: Several shows always close right after the Tony Awards if their box office is soft and they haven't won any Tonys, and that happened with three shows this year. Charlotte St. Martin, president of the Broadway League, the organization that represents producers and theater owners, says every summer, shows close.

CHARLOTTE ST MARTIN: We have a history of summer closings that goes back forever. In 2014, there were six. In 2012, there was eight.

LUNDEN: But this year, there are more. And what's unusual is that instead of hanging on till Labor Day to cash in on tourist dollars, five musicals are closing in the next two weekends - "King Kong," which bumped up the losses significantly because it cost a staggering $36.5 million, "The Prom," "Pretty Woman," "The Cher Show" and "Be More Chill." Jerry Goehring is a lead producer of that show, whose cast album enjoyed more than 200 million streams before a sold-out run off-Broadway last summer. But it never found real traction on Broadway.

JERRY GOEHRING: It was a lot of factors, like a lot of shows. We didn't get the Tony love. We didn't get a straight-across critical response. Broadway is incredibly expensive, and you have to fill a lot of seats.

LUNDEN: To stem the losses, the producers decided to close in mid-August because a lot of its target audience, teens, go back to school now before Labor Day. Goehring says they're hoping to make back some of the $9 million they lost with a tour and licensing. The Broadway League's Charlotte St. Martin points out that most shows lose money.

MARTIN: Four out of five shows don't recoup. Some don't lose all of it but don't recoup. And, yes, a lot of people lost a lot of money. There's no question that shows cost more. And if they don't recoup, there's more money being lost.

LUNDEN: But why so many this summer? New York Times critic Ben Brantley has a theory.

BEN BRANTLEY: All the shows we're talking about - the musicals, at least, including the unfortunate "King Kong" - just aren't that good. So perhaps we're talking about discernment for once.

LUNDEN: Journalist Jeremy Gerard has another theory.

GERARD: There are five shows lined up for every theater that becomes available. And it's a seller's market. It's a market for the landlords, and they want the big hits in there. So I believe that they're putting a lot of pressure on producers of shows that are underperforming to cut bait as quickly as possible to get the potential new hit in.

LUNDEN: For example, after "Kinky Boots" closed this spring, "Moulin Rouge!" moved right into the same theater. And it's a smash hit.

For NPR News, I'm Jeff Lunden in New York.

(SOUNDBITE OF EWAN MCGREGOR AND ALESSANDRO SAFINA'S "YOUR SONG")