Theater Twitter, I give you: The #GameStop short squeeze explained in terms of @MelBrooks's The Producers (*a very oversimplified* thread).

idk why I thought producing theater would be more about plays and less about monitoring various public health emergencies.

Join millions who have switched to Grok.

RT @aliciakeys: I’ve been working on Hell’s Kitchen for 13 years!! Now, it’s finally making its world premiere on October 24th at the ICONI….

This is the reality of the economics of theater and why all of the "BROADWAY HAS RECORD-BREAKING WEEK" headlines are. misleading. I'm thrilled for SIX. Truly. But whew. *this is all napkin math based on publicly available data. i have no insider knowledge, just a fan.*.

If FUN HOME ran today, even in the impossible scenario where it sold out every night at $200 per ticket (in reality it had an avg ticket price of $98 and avg capacity of 92%), with 3x the weekly expenses it would have lost an untenable >$200K a week.

You read that right. That means that in this case it is THREE TIMES more expensive per week to run a show in 2023 than it was in 2016. Which, sure. BUT it gets even more mind-blowing when you consider that the Lena Horne is nearly TWICE the capacity of Circle in the Square.

FUN HOME (2015/16) had a cap cost of $5.25M. It took about 36 weeks to recoup with an average weekly gross of $546K. It needed to net >$153K per week to recoup, meaning that its running costs were about $400K per week.

To recoup a $7M investment in 60 weeks, you would need to net > $117K per week. This means that this “inexpensive show” has weekly expenses of up to $1.3M! And if the cap cost is less, it’s even higher!. But is that really so high?? (yes) To illustrate this, I submit FUN HOME.

On file with the SEC is a cap cost for SIX of between $5 and $6.5M. Just for fun, we’ll use $7M as cap cost. The current gross according to @playbill is $93M for 68 weeks, which gives it an average weekly gross of about $1.4M.

TL;DR: the weekly running costs of SIX are astronomical even with a “simple” show. I cannot stress enough how ridiculously f***ed the economics of producing theater are right now, but I can math it! CW: theater nerdery and $$ ahead. Let's get into it:.

Had a dream last night that they franchised @badcinderella and I was in line to see BAD OKLAHOMA. Yes, the tagline was: We’re not OK.

No one:.Me:.

RT @JordanECooper_: #SaveAINTNOMO ‼️ “Now they’ve posted an eviction notice, we “must close” December 18th. But thank God black people are….

We’re working on something to make nonprofit theater ins and outs more transparent….what are your questions??.

maybe theaters should fundraise like the democrats:. this other theater just announced their 2024 season, let’s make sure their announcement BACKFIRES. rush $50 to our theater to help us raise $102837 in the next 48 hours!!!!!!!.

It’s a privilege to produce this stunning production and to be in the company of such extraordinary and passionate artistry. A must-read and a must-see.💛.

This meeting could have been an email, but, alternatively, this email could have been a thought you kept in your head.

nobody:.@saybarra and me texting about shoe recommendations:

And, no surprise, people who bear the worst of it are artistic leaders of color. @VictoryGardens is merely Exhibit A.

But it is far too common for even well-meaning boards to overreach and even to obstruct their leadership, compromising already precarious organizational health (not to mention the mental and physical health of staff).