Broadway Beats

Chatting with the people who keep Broadway in business (and sometimes some fun data)

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Are other musicals riding on the coattails of Hamilton’s success? http://blogs.ft.com/ftdata/2016/08/08/have-broadway-and-other-musicals-risen-up-with-hamilton/

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Running out of time, or not? A look at how ticket prices for Lin-Manuel Miranda's last performance in Hamilton fell over the day of his show.

http://blogs.ft.com/ftdata/2016/07/16/wait-for-it-last-minute-tickets-pay-off-with-cheaper-prices/

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‘Waitress’ Is Making Broadway History With Its All-Female Creative Team

The first screenplay Jessie Nelson ever wrote was about a group of waitresses, a job she herself held for 10 years. But after the script was handed off to a team of men, they reworked it to make it…

Since 1975, more than 50 percent of Broadway musicals have had only men in the top four creative roles. Waitress, which begins previews on Broadway tonight, is the first in history to have all women at the top.

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Grease is the word for 17,000 new Tveiter Tots

Thanks to “Grease: Live,” Aaron Tveit just gained a ton of new Tveiter Tots on Twitter. During the live broadcast of his performance as Danny Zuko in Fox's first live musical, Tveit gained more than 17,000 followers — he now has over 56,000 followers.

Tveit joined Twitter on Aug. 28, 2015 to the delight of thousands of fans. He gained more than 15,000 followers in his first 24 hours on Twitter, and he continued to gain followers as announcements came out about his involvement in Grease: Live.

(Interactive chart at http://joannaskao.com/broadway-beats/grease-aaron-tveit/).

But even with his new followers, his follower count still pales in comparison to his Grease co-stars.

But since he was the most recent to join the platform, perhaps he just needs more time to catch up. If tonight was an indicator, he is well on his way there.

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To Life! Fiddler on the Roof opens on Broadway for the sixth time

The sun never seems to set on Fiddler on the Roof. The musical directed by Bartlett Sher is opening on Broadway for the sixth time tonight, an accomplishment that few productions can claim. Its first run, which ended after more than 7 years and 3,242 performances, was at one point the longest running musical on Broadway. Combined, the show has been played on Broadway 4,484 times (4,485 times after tonight), according to data from PlayBill Vault.

See the interactive version of the chart at http://joannaskao.com/broadway-beats/fiddler-fifth-revival/

In recent years, Bartlett Sher has become somewhat known for staging musical revivals and updating them for today's audiences. He directed a revival of South Pacific in 2008 and last season's The King and I, which both won Tony Awards for Best Revival of a Musical.

According to an article in the New York Times, Sher has updated the opening and closing scenes of the current Fiddler production to reflect the global refugee crisis in hopes that families might leave the theater thinking about it.

If the current production follows tradition, Fiddler on the Roof might be around for awhile.

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How often do all-female creative teams lead musicals on Broadway?

Today, Sara Bareilles's new musical Waitress announced the rest of its creative team, saying it was making Broadway musical history by filling its top four creative roles with four women. A number of Broadway musicals have gotten close to doing so in the past, but it hasn't happened very often. Even though women dominated the Tony Awards last season more than any time in the past, it has been a long time since an all-female creative team has led a musical on Broadway.

Prior to Waitress, musicals that had all-female creative teams were primarily created by one or two women who did it all — from the book to directing to the choreography. Waitress will be led by four women — Bareilles, Diane Paulus, Lorin Latarro and Jessie Nelson.

Take a look at every musical since 1975 and the number of creative roles that were filled by women at http://joannaskao.com/broadway-beats/female-creatives/

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Looking back at 50 Ham4Ham shows

Lin-Manuel Miranda’s Hamilton put on its 50th Ham4Ham show today. The 5-minute mini-show, featuring members of Hamilton and other Broadway favorites right before the Hamilton lottery drawing, has become one of Broadway’s must-see events. The Ham4Ham show, which before opening was scheduled every day Hamilton performed, is now played 2–3 times a week — every day Hamilton has a two-show day (plus a few extras). 

I have tagged and categorized every Ham4Ham show so far. You can binge watch them all at http://joannaskao.com/broadway-beats/ham4ham/.

Here’s a look at some of the statistics from the first 50 Ham4Ham shows:

After today, exactly 25 Ham4Ham shows were performed before opening and 25 have played since.

Songs from the musical, Hamilton, have been featured 10 out of 50 times.

Lin-Manuel Miranda, unsurprisingly, has been featured in the most Ham4Ham shows — 22 out of 50 to be exact.

After Miranda comes Daveed Diggs, who plays Marquis de Lafayette and Thomas Jefferson in Hamilton, and Jonathan Groff, who plays King George, with 5 out of 50 performances each. Ariana DeBose comes in next with 4 out of 50 performances (this excludes one show when the entire cast performed The Ten Duel Commandments, which featured stage manager Jason Bassett).

Before Hamilton opened on August 6, every Ham4Ham show featured someone from the Hamilton cast. But since opening, about half the shows (or 11 out of 25 to be exact), have featured someone outside of the Hamilton cast, like Kelli O’Hara, Stephen Trask or Laura Benanti.

Howard Sherman, senior strategy consultant for Alliance for Inclusion in the Arts, has recorded and uploaded 26 out of 50 Ham4Ham shows to his Youtube channel. The official Hamilton Youtube channel and BroadwayGirlNYC both have 6 out of 50 Ham4Ham shows on their channels.

If every Ham4Ham show lasted exactly 5 minutes, then altogether, 50 Ham4Ham shows would be 250 minutes, approximately 1.7 lengths of Hamilton (which is approximate 148 minutes long).

If you would like to help compile and tag Ham4Ham videos, drop me a note at joannaskao at gmail dot com!

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Hedwig’s leading men

Tony-award winning Hedwig and the Angry Inch closes on Broadway on September 13, 2015. Over its 76 weeks on Broadway, it has grossed over $49 million with 450,000 visits.

During its run, Hedwig was played by 6 different actors — Neil Patrick Harris (who won the 2014 Tony for Best Actor in a Musical), Andrew Rannells, Michael C. Hall, John Cameron Mitchell (who wrote the book of the musical), Darren Criss and Taye Diggs.

Each actor following Harris brought his own fans, but none matched Harris's ability to fill a theater. Harris kept percent capacity at or over 100 percent nearly every week, but once he left, audiences began to drop off.

(For the interactive version, visit http://joannaskao.com/broadway-beats/hedwigs-leading-men/)

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Our Last Summer: Mamma Mia's 14-year run on Broadway ends

Broadway's Mamma Mia closes on September 12, 2015 after 14 years and 5,773 performances. The Abba musical is the eighth-longest-running musical in Broadway history. Over the years, it has grossed over $600 million with 7.5 million visits.

(Visit http://joannaskao.com/broadway-beats/mamma-mia-closing/ to view an interactive version)

The show, which opened shortly after the 9/11 terrorist attacks, began strongly, often taking in $1 million a week and running at over 100 percent capacity for the first few years. But beginning in 2010, the number of people seeing the show began to decrease — more than other long-running shows like Phantom of the Opera or The Lion King. Percent capacity increased only marginally even when it moved from the Winter Garden Theatre to the smaller Broadhurst Theatre in November 2013. The downwards trend is perhaps what led producer Judy Craymer to tell the New York Times that the production is leaving because “It comes down to economics.”

But when all is said and done, Mamma Mia has had a global reach. It was adapted into a movie in 2008 that made over $600 million and has grossed over $2 billion from 49 productions around the world. It's been a super trouper.

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Tveitter Tracker: Aaron Tveit joins Twitter, gains thousands of followers in first few hours

Aaron Tveit — best known for starring in TV’s Graceland, film’s Les Miserables and Broadway’s Next to Normal — joined Twitter and Instagram yesterday. 

Fans were delighted and surprised to hear that Tveit, who has expressed his reasons for avoiding social media in several interviews, would begin to tweet and post photos to Instagram.

Within an hour of his first tweet, Twitter accounts like @Broadwaycom and @GracelandTV started to welcome and promote his account. He quickly gained close to 5,000 followers in the first two hours and ended the day with over 11,000. As of the end of the day on August 28, he has over 15,400 followers.

To track Tveit’s rate of Twitter follower gain, I created a cron job that runs a little Ruby script that grabs Tveit’s follower count from Twitter every 2 minutes. You can find the code at http://github.com/joannaskao/tveiter-counter. It’s also useful for tracking other Twitter users, like in this Forbes article showing President Obama’s follower gain.

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How much did Hamilton change during its transfer to Broadway?

Hamilton just opened on Broadway to rave reviews. Given its positive reviews during its Off Broadway run at thePublic Theater in the spring, it might not be a total surprise. But during its 95 days between productions, what changed in the show? I brought a stopwatch and timed each scene while watching both productions (Off Broadway on March 17 and Broadway on July 31), and almost every scene was timed identically (see the full interactive at http://joannaskao.com/broadway-beats/hamilton-transfer).

This is a case where the type of data collected doesn't quite reflect the story that I initially wanted to tell. While every scene retained nearly the same timings from its Off Broadway run, the timings don't reflect on the content of the material. I felt as an audience member that there were sections of the show that were clearer in the Broadway run, and I preferred the Broadway ending more than the Off-Broadway ending, which I thought ended a little abruptly.

But what the data does show is that Lin-Manuel Miranda didn't shorten the show (at least significantly) between its Off Broadway run and its Broadway run. This confirms what he and director Thomas Kail said in a New York Times interview in February: “Asked if they believed their show could be shorter, Mr. Miranda and his director, Thomas Kail, said they were not counting the minutes but rather, as Mr. Kail put it, ‘trying to find the right number of events in the story and the most compelling way to tell the story.’”

I'd like to get more "data" on content (e.g. script or music changes), but it's harder to obtain and share that kind of information since it's a running show on Broadway, and will likely be out for awhile. But if there is information you've obtained and can share, please drop me a note!

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Compiling #Ham4Ham performances

Lin-Manuel Miranda’s new Broadway musical “Hamilton” has been the talk of the town. Its sold out performances have been driving hundreds to try their luck at the ticket lottery that takes place 2 hours before each performance. A few minutes before each lottery drawing, Miranda and others from the Hamilton cast have been doing mini-shows, called “Ham4Ham” for the lottery entrants. For people who haven’t been able to attend every Ham4Ham show, I’ve compiled and tagged every show so far. You can find them at http://joannaskao.com/broadway-beats/ham4ham/.

Is there anything interesting data-wise? Not really. But I found that tagging the videos made it much easier for me to find performances by a specific actor or see how often a cast member performed in a #ham4ham show.

So far after 21 shows, Miranda has performed the most, coming in with 10 shows (I didn’t count the ones he emceed, which was almost all of them). Coming in next is Jon Rua with 3 shows.

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Person, production, category# ham4ham showsLin-Manuel Miranda10Hamilton4Jon Rua3Q&A3Alex Lacamoire2Ariana DeBose2Christopher Jackson2Daveed Diggs2Ephraim Sykes2Freestyle Friday2Phillipa Soo2Thayne Jasperson2Andrew Chappelle1Anthony Ramos1Betsy Struxness1Bring It On1Chorus Line1In The Heights1Jasmine Cephas Jones1Javier Munoz1Jonathan Groff1Karen Olivo1Les Miserables1Newsies1Okieriete Onaodowan1Renée Elise Goldsberry1Rent1Sasha Hutchings1Stephanie Klemons1Tommy Kail1Voltaire Wade-Greene1Wicked1

I don’t know how much longer these #ham4ham shows will continue, but I’m hoping they go on for awhile.

To help compile or tag more videos, fill out this form.

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11 of 67 Tony winners for Best Musical transferred from Off Broadway

Note: This is an update of a Feb. 2015 post.

"Hamilton" begins previews tonight, and judging from its run and popularity Off-Broadway last season at the Public Theater, it could be a huge success.

According to an article in the New York Times, it's already sold more than 200,000 tickets and brought in $27.6 million.

How "Hamilton" will fare on Broadway isn't guaranteed though, since being a hit Off Broadway hasn't always translated into success on Broadway (e.g. reporters like to bring up 2010's "Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson," which did well at the Public Theater but closed after only 2.5 months after transferring to Broadway).

Of the 67 Tony Best Musical winners so far (which Hamilton will be eligible to compete for in next year's Tony Awards), 11 winners — including Lin-Manuel Miranda's 2008 musical "In the Heights" — transferred from Off Broadway.

The 11 winners took an average of 120 days (median of 88 days) between closing Off Broadway and opening on Broadway. "Hamilton" will have had 95 days between its last show at the Public Theater and its opening night on August 6, 2015.

Tony Win Year Musical Off Broadway dates Broadway dates # days between off & on Broadway # Broadway performances 1966 Man of La Mancha 11/22/1965–3/18/1968 3/20/1968–6/26/1971 2 2328 1972 Two Gentleman of Verona 7/22/1971–8/8/1971 12/1/1971–5/20/1973 115 614 1976 A Chorus Line 4/15/1975–7/13/1975 7/25/1975–4/28/1990 12 6137 1986 The Mystery of Edwin Drood 8/4/1985–9/1/1985 12/2/1985–5/16/1987 92 608 1996 Rent 1/26/1996–3/31/1996 4/29/1996–9/7/2008 29 5123 2000 Contact 10/7/1999–1/2/2000 3/30/2000–9/1/2002 88 1010 2004 Avenue Q 3/20/2003–5/4/2003 7/31/2003–9/13/2009 88 2534 2007 Spring Awakening 5/19/2006–8/5/2006 12/10/2006–1/18/2009 127 859 2008 In The Heights 2/8/2007–7/15/2007 3/9/2008–1/9/2011 238 1184 2012 Once 12/6/2011–1/15/2012 3/18/2012–1/4/2015 63 1168 2015 Fun Home 9/30/2013–1/12/2014 4/19/2015–current 462 89 (as of July 5, 2015)

You can find the full dataset of Tony Musical winners at https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1O1cAD1F6uBYXHeDizcVG9I3Kxj9PvwcE-slpRlEZ84E/edit#gid=0 (Sources: IBDB, Lortel Archives)

"Hamilton" is staged in the same theater as Miranda's "In The Heights", so perhaps some of that serendipity will strike and Miranda will win again, like he did in 2008.

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Diving into ‘A Musical’

I saw “Something Rotten!” on Broadway a few weeks ago, and I was blown away by one of the musical numbers from the middle of the first act. The 8 minute and 26 second performance was followed by over 20 seconds of applause.

The musical number, appropriately titled “A Musical,” provides a crash course in classic show tunes and Broadway musicals. Interspersed with original melodies, there are hints and references of famous songs from recognizable musicals (e.g. Rent’s “Seasons of Love” and Chicago’s “All That Jazz”).

I wanted to do a breakdown of the songs they drew inspiration from and plot where they fell within the number. The Wall Street Journal published a similar piece in the form of a video on June 3 showing the songwriters (brothers Wayne and Karey Kirkpatrick) highlighting the musicals they referenced in the show.

I ended up creating this graphic: http://joannaskao.com/broadway-beats/something-rotten-a-musical/

Because the song is such a fun one to listen to, I wanted to be able to integrate audio into my graphic. Since including the entire song didn’t seem like a particularly good idea (I figured I’d run into some copyright and/or user agreement issues), I decided to try something different. I created a graphic that would convey the information I wanted to show without audio — but if a user had bought the song already, he or she could open the audio file in their browser and enhance their interactive experience with special audio features. 

I uploaded a demo of the audio features to Youtube for those who didn’t want to purchase the song.

This is somewhat of an experiment, and there are issues that I haven’t quite thought through yet (e.g. you can’t open your audio file from your phone if you’re looking at the page on mobile), but I’m curious to hear other peoples’ opinions! 

And in general if you have any questions, comments or corrections, please let me know!

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Ever wondered why so many Broadway shows open in the spring or when to book tickets to NYC to catch the most new productions? This interactive graphic shows 85 years of show openings and when they opened during the Broadway season (June 1–May 31). 

For more analysis on when Broadway shows open and how its placement within the season can affect a show's chances for a Tony Award, check out my piece for FiveThirtyEight.

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Over the weekend, I watched Iowa, an Off Broadway play at Playwrights Horizons that is in previews, and it made me wonder how many Broadway shows were named with U.S. states. I did a search on PlayBill Vault, and found 93 shows that included a state in its title.

To view a list of all Broadway show titles with a state name, check out the interactive graphic at http://joannaskao.com/broadway-beats/broadway-show-names-states/