On the Radio: Isn't That Song in a Broadway Show?

Depending upon which radio stations you listen to, you can probably hear at least one song that is also in a Broadway show.  Everything from ABBA to Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons to Billy Joel and songs from Grease, Saturday Night Fever and Footloose show up regularly on the channels my car is tuned to. Maybe I'm hearing things, but I've noticed that more and more, current songs also sound Broadway-worthy.  A few years ago, a number of songs sounded like they belonged on the cast recording for Once.  I wrote about that very thing a while back (HERE), in fact.

These days, there's a song out by The Madden Brothers called "We Are Done."  Maybe you've heard it?

The very first time I heard it, I thought, "Wow, this is the song that was born when Promises, Promises and Hair had a baby!"  Now, seeing the concept of the video, I'm thinking maybe it could be in Violet or as an epilogue to Side Show (just imagine what "the attractions" might sing to Tod Browning as the cameras start rolling on Freaks?)... What do you think?



Jeff
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TBT: The Last 5 Years

I'll bet that the title of this Throwback Thursday made most (if not all) of you think this was about a certain musical.  It isn't.  Sorry if I disappointed any of you.  But I have a great reason for not talking about it, though.  You see, my blog has been around now for a full five years!  Thank you all so much for joining me and sharing my our love for the theatre.

Here are some cool, interesting facts about our time together, as of August 30th...

• There have been 1,299,953 hits (and counting)! 
• There have been 1,650 posts
• If posts were Broadway performances, JKTS has run longer longer than any Sondheim show, and would rank between The Wiz and Born Yesterday on the longest-running show list!

Jeremy Jordan is the most visited
Broadway Boy - 300K+ hits

Not counting the United States, which has had the most visitors to the blog, the top 10 countries with visitors to this blog come from 6 continents!
In order, they are:

• The United Kingdom 
• Germany
• Canada
• France (ooh la la!)
• Australia, (I am intrigued by the last 5...) 
• Russia, Brazil, China, Ukraine and Egypt

Dame Angela is my favorite topic!

Amy Spanger is the most visited of the whole blog by far...

My first blog was about whether or not Spider-Man would even start

performances.  We all know how that turned out!

Over the last 5 years:

• I've written 147 show reviews, 79 media reviews
• We've celebrated 87 Broadway Boys (65 monthly/yearly choices, plus 2 "sports teams," 1 gang and even 2 super heroes)
• and 56 Broadway Ladies (49 monthly/yearly choices, plus one entire chorus line of leggy beauties!)

I've written the most blogs about: (Shows) Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark, Next to Normal, and American Idiot, and (Individual) Dame Angela Lansbury (I love her...)

And the most read blog of them all - thank you, Reefer Madness fans - Ms. Broadway November 2010 - Amy Spanger (HERE)

Here's to many more blogs in our future, and to lifetimes full of thrilling shows!

Jeff
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Looking Forward to Fall 2014

Two Iconic Performances!

The calendar says that summer isn't over for about three more weeks, but who follows the calendar?  For me the year runs from September through June, with the occasional something or other in July or August.  This summer was particularly slow (no thanks to Holler If Ya Hear Me, which will be the first new musical that opened that I missed in years).  I did manage to catch a couple of NYMF shows, which were decent, but not great, and I caught both If/Then (A) and Hedwig and the Angry Inch (A) a second time.  I enjoyed both better with these repeat visits.  And I am thrilled to have seen both star turns again as well.  And I filled in a major gap in my musical-going list, the very sweet revival of The Fantasticks (A-).  I'm so glad I did!

Now, let's look forward to this fall (shows that open September through November).  What follows are the shows I am most looking forward to seeing for sure, and those I hope to get to.

NEW MUSICALS AND NEW MUSICAL REVIVALS

Allegro (Off-Broadway at Classic Stage Company) - I loved what they did with Passion, and I love the chance to see a rarely produced musical, particularly when it involves two greats like Rodgers and Hammerstein.  Plus, it will feature staging by John Doyle, whose work generally amazes me, and will star a great friend of this blog, Claybourne Elder. (Seeing it in November)

The Last Ship (On Broadway at the Neil Simon Theatre) - So, I wasn't all that impressed with the PBS concert of songs from the show.  But I also know that Sting's music and lyrics get better with more study and listening (much like the rest of my favorite composers).  And I really love the new commercial for the show.  I think it will be interesting, no matter what. (Seeing it in October)

On the Town (On Broadway at the Lyric Theatre) - I have loved this score since I was blown away by the opening sequence in Jerome Robbins' Broadway.  Since then, I've seen the whole show and love the humor and the valentine to New York, New York!  And the commercial/teaser really has me amped up for this revival! (Seeing it in October)

Side Show (On Broadway at the St. James Theatre) - I consider the original production to be among the best shows I've ever seen.  And I really enjoyed this revival at the Kennedy Center.  Naturally, I am looking forward to seeing the show evolve even further - I hope they tighten it even more, improve the choreography and crank up the intensity.  (Seeing it in November)

NEW PLAYS AND NEW PLAY REVIVALS:

The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time (On Broadway at the Barrymore Theatre) - I know nothing of the source material.  But the title alone grabs my attention.  I love British things, and i love "event" plays.  Just looking at the London production photos has me intrigued and so excited!  Not since War Horse... (Seeing it in October)

A Delicate Balance (On Broadway at the Golden Theatre) - I've never seen an Edward Albee play I didn't like, so why wouldn't I enjoy this one?  Can it go wrong with John Lithgow and Glenn Close heading the proceedings?  I doubt it.  I really hope I get to this one!

It's Only a Play (On Broadway at the Gerald Schoenfeld) - So far word has it that this production is so-so.  But I have enjoyed everything I've ever seen that was written by Terrence McNally, and a comedy about my favorite subject automatically has me interested.  Add to that a cast of some of my favorite actors - F. Murray Abraham, Stockard Channing and Megan Mullally are at the top of my list (and seeing Ron Weasley all grown up and doing something interesting sounds good, too!).

Love Letters (On Broadway at the Brooks Atkinson Theatre) - I first saw this play when I was in college and the national tour came to a nearby city (I saw the late, great Colleen Dewhurst and the wonderful George Hearn), and I was so taken by the simplicity, humor and message of the play.  It is well-written, so I imagine pretty much any good actor would be great.  I'd love to see it with Carol Burnett and Brian Dennehy,  or Alan Alda and Candice Bergen!

It may surprise you that I didn't include You Can't Take It With You (yawn... even with a terrific cast), The Real Thing (I am not a Tom Stoppard fan), or The River (I can take or leave Hugh Jackman).  Well, I can't afford to see everything, and the ones above are the one I really want to see the most.  I hope you'll post comments below (or email me at jkstheatrescene@yahoo.com) and share what you are looking forward to, too!

Jeff
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Broadway Box Office 2014-2015: 1st Quarter

OK, Broadway fans! Summer is (semi) officially over, and it is time to get back to some serious theatre blogging!  First up: some business to blog about.

Can you believe that we are now in the second week of the second quarter of the 2014-2015 Broadway season??!!  In that time, 37 shows played the Great White Way, including 2 shows that began in this new season (Holler If You Hear Me and This Is Our Youth) and 13 shows that are hold overs from prior to the 2013-2014 season.

It is getting harder to maintain the mindset that movie star vehicle plays, jukebox musicals and movies-to-musicals are a sure thing.  For every A Raisin in the Sun, All the Way and Of Mice and Men, there's a The Cripple of Inishmaan and The Realistic Jonses.  For every Beautiful there's an After Midnight.  And for every Aladdin there's a Bullets Over Broadway and Rocky. For the most part, the things is true that is always true: high quality shows and crowd-pleasers last the longest and strongest. (The Book of Mormon remains king, while The Lion King, Wicked, Jersey Boys, The Phantom of the Opera and Mamma Mia! all stayed in the top 20 of shows.

Here's how the first quarter worked out by the numbers, after ranking each show by their average weekly attendance, average weekly paid admission (paid ticket price), and average weekly gross potential percentage. (For a more detailed explanation and the numbers from last season, click the BOX OFFICE tab at the top of the blog!)

#1 (Again)

The Book of Mormon

#4 and #8

Beautiful and Aladdin

THE BROADWAY BOX OFFICE RANKINGS 

1ST QUARTER (05.26.14 - 08.24.14)

SHOW	ATTENDANCE AVERAGE	RANK	ADMISSION AVERAGE	RANK	GROSS POTENTIAL AVERAGE	RANK	1ST QUARTER RANK
The Book of Mormon	102.58%	1	$  185.00	1	116.38%	2	1
Hedwig and the Angry Inch	101.15%	2	$  144.13	5	124.01%	1	2
A Raisin in the Sun*	100.00%	5	$  147.49	4	112.90%	4	3
Beautiful: The Carole King Musical	100.29%	4	$  150.71	3	97.85%	7	4
A Gentleman's Guide…	100.32%	3	$  120.56	8	98.36%	6	5
The Lion King	99.65%	7	$  156.16	2	97.57%	8	6
Wicked	98.37%	9	$  129.54	6	115.92%	3	7
Aladdin	99.99%	6	$  105.47	12	101.54%	5	8
Kinky Boots	95.54%	12	$  118.92	9	87.33%	11	9
Of Mice and Men*	96.72%	10	$  102.31	13	90.20%	9	10

Matilda had the 8^th highest average attendance (98.97%).

Cabaret had the 10^th highest average paid ticket ($115.20).

All the Way* had the 8^th highest average paid ticket ($126.73) and the 10^th highest gross potential average (89.63%).

#18 and #19

The Phantom of the Opera and Mamma Mia!

#37

Holler If Ya Hear Me

SHOW TITLE	1ST QUARTER RANK	SHOW TITLE	1ST QUARTER RANK
Matilda	11	The Realistic Joneses*	25
All the Way*	12	The Cripple of Inishmaan*	26
Cabaret	13	Chicago	27
Lady Day at Emerson's Bar & Grill	14	This Is Our Youth#	28
Les Miserables	15	Rocky: The Musical*	29
Newsies*	16	Violet*	30
Jersey Boys	17	Cinderella	31
The Phantom of the Opera	18	Once	32
Mamma Mia!	19	Bullets Over Broadway*	33
Motown	20	Casa Valentina*	34
If/Then	21	Act One*	35
Pippin	22	Mothers and Sons*	36
Rock of Ages	23	Holler If Ya Hear Me#*	37
After Midnight*	24	* - SHOW CLOSED DURING 1ST QUARTER # - SHOW OPENED DURING 1ST QUARTER

This Is Our Youth# began previews, but did not officially open in the 1^st Quarter.

(Artwork by Squigs)

Jeff
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