Busy week on Broadway with last week’s box office numbers just in.
“Jagged Little Pill,” based on Alanis Morissette’s shrieky album from the mid 1990s, opened to mixed to good reviews. The Times loved it because they saw it in Cambridge at ART when it opened and over-raved. They had to stick to their story that they “made” a show.
But the headlines for a lot of reviews were “Jagged Little Pill is hard to swallow.” Indeed. After the reviews, the show should have gotten a box office bump. But it only rose about $60,000 from the prior week, and still can’t hit $1 million for the week. This isn’t a great sign of things to come. Maybe the pill takes longer to absorb.
“Beetlejuice” broke a house record this week, and has been doing excellent business. But the producers see the future. So the show will close next June and start a national tour. I’m surprised. But they’re being pushed out of the Winter Garden Theater by “The Music Man” with Hugh Jackman and Sutton Foster. This is a Scott Rudin production, so expect ticket prices that need a mortgage. Maybe “Beetlejuice” will return after a break to a less expensive theater.
Tony Goldwyn, one of our best actors, will be joining “The Inheritance.” He’s taking over for John Benjamin Hickey, who has to go direct his best pals Sarah Jessica Parker and Matthew Broderick in “Plaza Suite.” That show opens in Boston on February 5th before coming to New York in March.
