Baby Wally

Acts
• Jim Hughes was the producer of the successful musical comedy “Baby Wall”.
• In March 1982 “Baby Wall” was in its third season on Broadway.
• Four companies of BW: one on Broadway, two touring on the major cities of the U.S. and a coproducer of a London Company
• In any given week the four companies grossed over a million dollars in ticket sales
• BW was a musical, based on a popularfictional comic book character which has opened on Broadway in February 1979
• In March 1982 a lot of pressures affecting the Broadway box offices, including inflation and rising production expenses
• Diefenbach has a new Broadway marketing idea that seemed to include merchandising and retail distributions.
• Only in the past eight years had most box offices even agreed to accept credit cardsand checks.
• Broadway had 35 theatres, 20 of those theatres will be filled with hit shows
• Ten of the 60 might live to see their 100th performance, only five would settle into a long and profitable run.
• BW was financed through limited partnership agreements.
• The general partner usually received 50 percent of the profits.
• Profits= weekly gross box office less theatre rental, royaltiesand all fixed operating cost.
• Thirty of the 35 theatres on Broadway were controlled by just three organizations.
• Film’s production cost for marketing = 25%-100% or more, in theatre 15% of the production budget for marketing
• After the project was completely capitalized they have six or eight weeks before the curtain went up for the first preview.
• Less than 3 percent of the Broadwayaudience bought their tickets from ticket agents.
• Television had become the number one medium for Broadway advesting
• In 1972 “Pippin”, a musical comedy, opened to mixed reviews and unenthusiastic ticket sales.
• Until 1970, theatre tickets were available only at the theatre box office and had to be purchased with cash.
• Theatre tickets could now be purchased at many Ticketron outlests andstrough Telecharge and Chargit.
• TKTS opened in 1973, was created by the Theatre Development Fund and the league of New York Thatre Owners and Producers
• In 1974 TKS was responsible for 6 percent of all tickets sold for Broadway show that year and for 4 percent or total Broadway revenues.
• Virtually no Broadway shows were playing consistently to sold-out houses in March 1982
• Papering was amethod of building word-of-mouth advertising for a show.
• Ticket buyers at the box office, gave the image of popularity the producer wanted to maintain.
• All productions, by contractual agreement with Actor’s Equity Union, played no more than eight performances per week, performing on only six of the seven days.
• The ticket broker usually received a commission on the sale but this was paid bythe charity.
• Although the number of Broadway theatres had declines and the number of new productions undertaken for Broadway had declined each season since 1972.
• In 1978, when Jim Hughes optioned the rights to produce a musical based on the comic strip character Baby Wally, the strip was syndicate in some 60 newspaper nationwide.
• Jim Hughes had twice increased the ticket prices to “BabyWally”, with as little publicity as possible.
• Jim Hughes had targeted his marketing towards a young audience for Broadway – men and women aged 18 to 34.
• His campaign had used papers like the Village Voice, Interview, and After Dark magazine, as well as the newspaper of a number of colleges and universities in the city.
• The package would also contain a seating chart of the theatre so thatrecipients could select the seats they preferred from among those available,
• The tickets could be held at the box office or mailed.
• D felt that two $40 vouchers and a cast album or souvenir book with a retail value of $10 could be sold for $100 to $105.
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Market
• David Merrick, recently raised the price of his best seats to $50, BW top price was $40.
• In a typical season over 200...