Thursday, March 28, 2024

Broadway: Springsteen Cutting Back on Performances, “Hello, Dolly!” Slowing Down, “The Iceman” Goeth Soon

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The Broadway box office is roaring if you look at it one way: Bruce Springsteen adds $2 million to the weekly gross every week. This is despite the Boss cutting back on performances, alternating four one week and five the next. This began when he returned from vacation on March 4th.

Most Broadway shows have 8 performances. Long, difficult shows like “The Iceman Cometh” and “Angels in America” have 6 or 7. With Springsteen, essentially a one man show, the number was at 5 for the first few months. Now it’s just 4 every other week. This makes getting tickets even harder. It also begs the question: is it a Broadway show or a show on Broadway? Either way, we love him. And Bruce will soldier on for some more months.

Meantime, the announcement of Bette Midler returning to “Hello, Dolly” for an August cash grab is killing sales for Bernadette Peters’ current run. This is too bad– Peters is much better than Midler as Dolly Levi. (Bette was better as Bette.) The show dropped last week to $844K, way below its million mark. Go see it now, while you can get a normal priced ticket. Well worth it before that last ghastly $800/ticket extravaganza.

Closing: “Margaritaville” is first. “Saint Joan” is next. “Spongebob” won’t last long. The Donna Summer musical should be having a Last Dance soon. Denzel and “The Iceman” goeth on July 1st. “Angels in America” takes wing on July 15th. But new shows are always coming. That’s the way of the world.

Roger Friedman
Roger Friedmanhttps://www.showbiz411.com
Roger Friedman began his Showbiz411 column in April 2009 after 10 years with Fox News, where he created the Fox411 column. His movie reviews are carried by Rotten Tomatoes, and he is a member of both the movie and TV branches of the Critics Choice Awards. His articles have appeared in dozens of publications over the years including New York Magazine, where he wrote the Intelligencer column in the mid 90s and covered the OJ Simpson trial, and Fox News (when it wasn't so crazy) where he covered Michael Jackson. He is also the writer and co-producer of "Only the Strong Survive," a selection of the Cannes, Sundance, and Telluride Film festivals, directed by DA Pennebaker and Chris Hegedus.
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