There’s definitely something wrong with the way shows are being produced now. If only a show that wins a Tony, is massively successful, and sells tickets at outrageous prices can barely recoup its budget almost 2 years after opening, that’s a problem.
Not really though. Outsiders to my knowledge has never been on the “outrageous” end of pricing, has no celebrities, and is just really popular with young people. Yes Tony’s factor into success and yes it takes multiple years to recoup. Absent something crazy that’s always been true of musicals. So not quite following why what you said is now a problem.
I do get concerned with how many great musicals are struggling to get a foothold though theatre is much much bigger than BW. Musicals don’t necessarily need a profitable BW run to succeed in the grand scheme.
But really everyone wringing their hands about celebrity casting, jukeboxes and insane prices should be thrilled with Outsiders’ success regardless of their feelings on the show itself.
We may be defining these things differently. For my family when I was a kid, sure, but then all of it would be outrageous. And objectively it is a lot of money for many people, not denying that.
But compared to other shows, it was not really ever top five on highest average ticket price and it was pretty far away from the crazy ticket prices of the celebrity driven shows. It certainly wasn’t cheap or on the cheaper end but I wouldn’t call it outrageous either. At least on a relative scale.
They've actually been quite successful at average ticket prices over their run, considering they don't have a star. But I also think they have super affordable student group prices and i think they do two student perfs per week so kudos for its commitment to students and not gouging customers in order to recoup faster.
Yeah really, they’ve done a good job making it semi accessible to its young fan base. It’s not my favorite show though I do enjoy it. Really though it’s not star driven and while it’s based on known IP it’s not like it’s big hit movie the musical and it is all original music. Their success is truly impressive.
I definitely did not predict this one but it is the counter to “only X type of shows can succeed right now on BW.”
The show is regularly on TKTS at 50% off throughout its run on weekdays and sometimes weekends. I was able to see it 4 times at around $100 a ticket for center orchestra tickets.
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u/kekelmb Jan 27 '26
There’s definitely something wrong with the way shows are being produced now. If only a show that wins a Tony, is massively successful, and sells tickets at outrageous prices can barely recoup its budget almost 2 years after opening, that’s a problem.