Hit Shows from the Past Several Years?

[Jay94]

What would you call some of the genuine hits from the past few years?

Memphis
The Book of Mormon
Spiderman: Turn Off the Dark
War Horse?
Anything Goes?
The Addams Family????
How to Succeed????

[best12bars]

Has Spider-Man made a dime back on its investment(s)?

[Jay94]

I doesn't really matter if it's made a dime back, it has been a resounding success, making over 1 million per week

[dramamama611]

YES it does matter, if it cannot pay back its investors, it is the definition of flop.


What is your definition of "genuine hit"?

[fingerlakessinger]

It might be making over $1 million each week. But when they have a weekly nut of about $1.2 or $1.3 million, then yea...it does matter.

[Emmaloucbway]

I know it opened 9 years ago, but Wicked is a huge hit.

[yankeefan7]

"The Book of Mormon" without a doubt and I would say "War Horse". While I liked "Memphis" and it did win the Tony for Best Musical, don't think it will be considered a geuine hit.

[bdn223]

If by hit you mean turning a profit in order of most recent it would be
Book of Mormon
A Little Night Music
Next to Normal
West Side Story
Billy Elliot
Hair

On Rock of Ages, Memphis, Addams Family...none of them have officially announced they have recouped their initial investments, and remember the nytimes did a story about this when Addams Family closed saying its taking longer and longer to recoup investments and used Rock of Age which has been running for over 3 years as its main example followed by Memphis...
If I had to bet the Rock of Ages is probably hurt because it is a jukebox of several different artsits meaning that they hAve to pay each group individually rather than paying just 1 alla mamma Mia and jersey boys, so it's nut is probably a lot higher than everyone thinks it is..
Also with last seasons shows...H2S is very close to recouping I rember reading that they only needed another million when Radcliffe lqeft the issue it s Jonas hasn't been consistent meaning they loose money on some weeks , while gain on others meaning they are breaking even week to week, Roundabout won't announce it they recouped on Anything Goes because they are afraid people will think they are a for profit company as was stated in a different nytimes article that came out when Other Desert Citioes became an open ended run...and same goes for War Horse.

[blaxx]

I doesn't really matter if it's made a dime back, it has been a resounding success, making over 1 million per week

What's with posters starting these kind of threads lately? Is there going to be a Tony category for Stupidest BWW Thread?

[ChildrenwillListen]

I agree with some of these like Wicked,Next to Normal, Billy Elliot and Hair definitely. I hope Anything Goes is considered a hit too.

[bdn223]

Correction How to Succeed recouped after christmas, and Rain also recouped and the link below maybe a year old but no announcements have been made about any of the shows named..
http://www.variety.com/article/VR1118037392?categoryid=4076&cs=1&cmpid=RSS|News|LatestNews

[Jonwo]

Did South Pacific ever recoup or was it never announced as Lincoln Center like Roundabout is not-for-profit so any money it made went back into LCT? I imagine Roundabout sees Anything Goes as a money maker when it goes on tour as they're the sole producer and so will reap the benefits as the South Pacific tour both in the US and UK were produced by commericial producers.

[Yero my Hero]

"Recoup" means to earn enough money to pay back the investors. Non-profit shows have no investors, therefore non-profit shows cannot recoup. It's not about making an announcement. Lincoln Center is non-profit, therefore SOUTH PACIFIC cannot technically be called a "hit" in the standard sense, though I'm sure no one doubts that it was financially successful. ANYTHING GOES is a similar story.

[WhizzerMarvin TrinaJasonMendel]

For the record Spider-Man has made back quite a few dimes on its investment. It will still be a few years till it recoups, but it's doing just fine. And the grosses aren't a million a week; the normal range is 1.8-2 million. Last week was a bad week with 1.4 million. It has no trouble covering the weekly nut. It's not a hit yet of course, but I think in 3 to 4 years it will be. There's no sign of slowing this beast down.

[dramamama611]

But until they DO recoup -- it is not a hit.

[Yero my Hero]

And it's going to take more like 9 or 10 years of selling out every single seat at full premium price at every single performance, if you do the math.