Why do West End producers never publish shows' grosses?

To those of us who live in the States and love Broadway, it is absolutely usual to know how much money one or another Broadway show makes every week. We can just go to the “New York Times” Theatre section and see the top ten most profitable shows of the last week.

For example, the top 3 shows from the last week are: Wicked ($1,634,385), Lion King ($1,445,842) and Billy Elliot ($1,443,565).

Recently, I was wondering what the top 10 most profitable shows in London are. I was trying to find the information online, but didn’t find anything. Guess why? Because West End doesn’t publish shows’ grosses!

I didn’t find any particular reason why exactly West End shows don’t publish the grosses, except a couple of rumors. One of them says that a long time ago one newspaper in London managed to get grosses from West End producers; the producers often submitted fake amounts to make think that their show is popular. There were a lot of arguing between producers and, eventually, they stopped publishing grosses and the newspaper was closed several months later.

So, now we can only guess what are the top ten most profitable shows on London. Like, we can go to a London theatre breaks web site, or any other web site which sells West End shows tickets, and click on the “top 10 shows”, maybe they are also the most profitable? Let’s see: Billy Elliot, Mamma Mia!, Wicked… Looks like true. :)

Playing Baseball on Broadway and Interviewing Gregory Jbara.

Recently, I learned how to play baseball (well, at least I was trying to learn) at the weekly Broadway League games in Central Park. I had a lot of fan.

I interviewed a lot of people from Broadway shows, such as Billy Elliot, Hair, Little Mermaid. I even interviews Gregory Jbara, who won Tony Award for the role of Billy’s father in Billy Elliot the musical this year! He told me he saw my videos and knows me.

Enjoy the video:


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Are you dying to see “Love Never Dies”?

More and more facts are starting to appear about Phantom of the Opera sequel, which is expected to open in London in Spring 2010.

We almost know for sure that the role of Christine will be played by Sierra Boggess, who was original Little Mermaid on Broadway. I really like the actress and her voice, so, I think, it is a great choice. She played Christine in the Las Vegas production of the “Phantom of the Opera”, so besides her amazing voice and acting skills we can say that she has the “Phantom” experience, which is always a plus.

As for other characters, the role of Erik will be played by Ramin Karimloo, who is currently starring as the Phantom at Her Majesty’s Theatre in London; and the role of Raoul will be, most likely, played by John Barrowman.

But there are a lot of things which are remain unclear. Like, is “Love Never Dies” really going to be opened in 3-4 cities at the same time (well, at least in London and New York City at the same time)? And, if yes, who will be original Broadway cast?

The official “Love Never Dies” site doesn’t say anyhthing about opening dates in London and New York. But it’s quite interesting and interactive. You can watch there all the tweets from people around the world who mention Phantom of The Opera in their short Twitter messages.

Just, let’s hope that soon we will find out opening dates and cities and book our Love Never Dies tickets right away!

Gambling on Times Square a-la “Guys and Dolls”.

“Guys and Dolls” already closed on Broadway. I remember, after I saw the show I decided to gamble a bit on Times Square. In this video for BroadwaySpace I am gambling a-la “Guys and Dolls” style right in the centre of Manhattan – Times Square.
One woman even gave me a cap as a present. So I won something. I had a lot of fun, and I really hope you will enjoy the video.

It’s sad “Guys and Dolls” closed, because it was a good revival of an amazing classic musical. So, let’s just wait for the new one!

Once again, enjoy the watching!

Oh no, it’s happening again – great Broadway shows are closing!

It is starting to happen again. Good shows are closing. Ehh. “Avenue Q”, then “Little Mermaid”, and all of them by the end of the summer. I saw Avenue Q 2 times (or 3, I don’t even remember), but I haven’t seen the Little Mermaid yet. I better buy a student rush ticket as soon as I get extra money.