#bwaydata

[broadwaybeats]

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/

[broadwaybeats]

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/

[broadwaybeats]

[broadwaybeats]

‘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.

[broadwaybeats]

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.

[broadwaybeats]

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!

[broadwaybeats]

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/)

[broadwaybeats]

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.