The Musical recoups its $22.5M investment within 15 months

Who'd have thunk it ?

"MJ: The Musical" - which faced tons of controversy and calls of boycotts before it officially opened on Broadway on February 1, 2022 - has recouped its initial investment of $22.5M as of May 15, 2023. The musical is set to open in London next March, and will launch a national tour in Chicago this summer. As of May 31, 2023 the musical as grossed just under $120M on Broadway, with nearly 900,000 patrons attending.

The show was supposed to open in the Summer of 2020, but was postponed because of COVID. Previews began sporadically on December 6, 2021 with the official opening two months later (due to COVID). The musical's success was considered questionable at best, with many people calling for boycotts outside the theater, for 'celebrating an (alleged) child molester on stage in a musical'. The boycotts never really took place. There was plenty of ink spilled in the media, also bringing attention to the controversial singer, with many Americans vowing they would never buy tickets to this musical because of Jackson's legal trouble.

Reviews were mixed at best for the 'Jukebox musical' (with praise for it's Tony-winning star Myles Frost). Critics were especially angered by the fact the musical ended right before Jackson's real life story was riddled with child molestation accusations from young boys. (The producers of the musical said it didn't make sense for them to go 'that far' into his life).

Despite the number of American tourists to Broadway who didn't buy tickets to the musical, it seems tourists from around the world - especially Asia - couldn't wait to see the show. Hence, its recoupment in 15 months.

[quote] Who'd have thunk it ?

I see nothing surprising in "Pedophilia, the Musical" doing well on 21st century Broadway, particularly with Asian tourists

Why do Asian tourists support his musical and take the allegations so lightly - compared to Americans ?

Majority of people don't care about the allegations. He was 100% a creeper but most people worship celebrities and like his music so will ignore it or discredit all his creepiness because they simply don't want to believe it's true.

I am uneducated in the world of Broadway economics. Is that better than average?

R4 Indeed it is. In the past 40 years, only 20% of musical have recouped their initial investment. So for every 10 big-budget musical (they are all big budget musicals, by the way), only 2 will ever recoup their investment - and it usually takes years, not just 15 months. Most have lengthy runs and close at a loss. (ALW's 'Sunset Blvd' never recouped after nearly 3 years on Broadway).

Plays are different - their investment is much lower than musicals, due to less expenses. However most plays don't run as long as musicals - so they don't always have a chance to recoup, unless they have name stars. (I think the last play to recoup was 'Plaza Suite' revival last year, with Matthew Broderick and his wife SJP). It opened in March and closed in July and recouped its investment, when it ended its run with $28M in ticket sales for a four month run).

Bottom line - don't every become a Broadway investor UNLESS a) You like the 1 in 5 odds and b) you can be patient.

MJ is HUGE with Gen Z for some reason.

R5 Thanks for the info. This depresses me but unfortunately not surprising, people have short memories and no scruples.

Why does anyone ever invest in a musical?

R8 Because on the chance that it will be that lucky 20%, the musical is all profit once it recoups its investment. So those who invested in MJ not only got their investment back in 15 months - they are now profiting from their investment. Can you imagine what the investors profited from their 1988 investment in 'Phantom of the Opera' - which ran for 35 years ?

On the other hand, going back to 'Sunset Boulevard' in 1994 -97. I recall reading investors (Barbara Walters was one of them) only got 85% of their investment back when the musical closed. And Walters was a huge investor at the time, investing $100,000 of her money. The production cost $13M to mount on Broadway, and took a $20M loss when it closed in March, 1997. Even though the production set box office records back then - with advance sales of $37.5 million. On its second day, it set a single day sales record on Broadway of $1.4 million.

(There's a lot of factors into why it wasn't profitable).

22.5 million is a crazy amount to recoup for a musical. I know that Back To The Future has a similar budget.

15 years ago, 'The Drowsy Chaperone' recouped its $8 M investment in only 7 months. It took 'Avenue Q' nearly a year to recoup its $3.5M investment.

Then there's 2003's "Wicked", which took fourteen months of 100%, full-price capacity to recoup $14 million.

As for plays: THE HISTORY BOYS recouped its entire investment in six weeks; PROOF did it in ten weeks. DOUBT recouped in under four months. On Broadway, if you get your initial investment back (0% return) a year or more after you initially funded the project, it's considered a financial success.

As with everything else, it's high-risk / high-reward.

EXCLUSIVE: Investors in Scott Rudin’s celebrated revival of Hello, Dolly! have earned a profit of 5 percent, according to two people familiar with the production.

In a flop-filled business, recouping is considered the benchmark for success, and investors months ago earned back their money. The musical was the talk of the 2016-17 season, won four Tony Awards, and last week was the third-bestselling musical, behind Hamilton and The Lion King. For angels seeking prestige, glamour and the satisfaction of helping to create a revival worthy of the iconic, 1964 original, Dolly delivered and made them money.

Others, however, expected more from a production that’s grossed $126 million.

Hackl and Tucker LLC, the company that financed and produced the musical, which is named after the show’s singing-and-dancing clerks Cornelius Hackl and Barnaby Tucker, could make another distribution after it closes on Saturday, the people familiar with the show said. (And top investors/money raisers with co-producer credits generally get some of the lead producer’s profits.)

A spokesman for Rudin declined to comment. Investors in Rudin’s shows sign away their right to publicly discuss a show’s finances or say anything that could be construed as negative.

The revival illustrates both the star power of its first and last Dolly Levi, Bette Midler, and the pressure on investors as Broadway production costs soar. The trend continues this season, with musicals including King Kong (capitalized at $33.5 million to $36.5 million, according to financial papers filed with the state) and Tootsie, an adaptation of the 1982 comedy ($20 million). Rudin, a movie producer unmatched in his ability to attract stars to Broadway and mount high-quality plays and musicals — both new works and revivals — has rankled some backers with what they regard as excessive advertising spending.

He’s like god, he can do no wrong! He was great with the kids! 🤡

Do investors in original Broadway productions continue to earn revenue from other productions that run after Broadway? For example, national tours or even regional and community theatre productions? If so, perhaps some shows that don't fully recoup on Broadway do eventually recoup (or even earn a tidy profit) if they prove popular to produce in smaller productions?

r9 if the show cost 13 million and BW put in $100k, how the hell is she a "major" investor? Are people chipping in a thousand here, and $10k there? I'd assume a major investor is someone putting up a million or something.

[quote] As of May 31, 2023 the musical as grossed just under $120M on Broadway, with nearly 900,000 patrons attending.

Just think how much they'd make if they didn't have a "Children under the age of eleven get in free." policy.

R16 Most first time investors would invest the minimum of $10,000. The 'average' investor (with experience) drops $25,000.

This was Walters first - and only - time investing in a Broadway musical. 30 years ago, $100K from a first time investor was considered a major investment.

A little trivia: She staged her '1994 Oscar Interview Special' (airing right before the Oscars that year) from the stage of the LA production of 'Sunset Boulevard' sitting on 'Norma's Desmond's sofa'., after she walked down the grand staircase.

A week before the production opened on Broadway in November, 1994 she did a '20 / 20 ' special on the musical, with an exclusive interview with ALW. She praised the production which was transferring from LA.

Walters never disclosed to viewers she was an investor in the musical. The media broke the story, and Walters - under pressure from ABC - had to apologize for not being honest with viewers in her reporting. ABC issued a statement saying they were never made aware she was an investor in the musical, and if they did - they would have never allowed her to promote the show the way she did on both occasions.

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