Broadway play: how many performances make it "a success"?

Cafe Society
1

On average, how many performances must a Broadway play have before it can be considered a success? I figure musicals would require more since the productions costs would be higher.

2

It depends on several things:

  1. How much it costs

  2. How successful they are at getting an audience

  3. Are the producers for-profit or non-profit (such as Lincoln Center, MTC, or Roundabout)?

  4. Is the run open-ended, or limited?

As you noted, it does take longer for a musical to be a hit than a non-musical. Some musicals run for years, and never make a profit.

To answer your question, I’m not sure precisely how long it would have to run, but I guess that it would take 300 or so performances for an open-ended, for-profit production to make back its’ investment, if only because I can’t think of any recent Broadway play hits with shorter runs.

3

1) How much it costs

I don’t know how much it costs to develop and put on a play, so I can’t answer that one.

2) How successful they are at getting an audience

There’s no telling what appeals to audiences anymore.

3) Are the producers for-profit or non-profit (such as Lincoln Center, MTC, or Roundabout)?

For profit.

4) Is the run open-ended, or limited?

Open ended. One of those “We’ll run for as long as we can sell tickets”.

4

In that case, I stand by the guess I made in my earlier post of 300 or so performances.

5

Usually the best indication of a major show being a “success” is the point at which the producers of the show recoup their investment. After that, all money coming in is profit, as opposed to paying back the money that was put into the show.

On average, a major Broadway musical is going to cost 10 million dollars or more to produce, so it takes a hell of a lot of time to make that money back, hence the amount of failures (re: not recouping the investment) on Broadway.

If a show is selling at 100% or more capacity (standing room included) and the ticket sales were high enough, you could probably recoup in 12-18 months. So that’s 8 shows a week, makes 400-500 shows. If a show is steady but not skyrocketing it may take two years or more.