Look at these three clippings announcing the final curtain of Curtains:

What is missing from each of these announcements?

Ok, you don’t have to read them all, I’ll tell you . . .

There’s no indication of whether or not the show recouped or not.  Which means . . . it didn’t.

Sad.

This is what’s wrong with the the current economics of our industry.

Here’s a show that got some decent reviews, has stars (including one that won a Tony for his performance), ran more than a year, had decent word of mouth.  It wasn’t a great show, but it was fine.

I wouldn’t expect stellar profits from a show like this, but I would expect to break-even, wouldn’t you?

Maybe it will, eventually, through subsidiary rights and additional companies all over the world.  But we should work hard at making our investors whole based on the Broadway experience alone (the more we give them back, the more they’ll put it back in).

A great show (as determined by the audience) should produce great returns.

A decent show, should produce decent returns.

An ass show, should produce ass returns.

Or that’s my goal anyway.  I hope it’s yours (except for the ass part).