Earlier in the semester I blogged about Spiderman the Musical. I wrote about how expensive and arduous its production was, and how harsh reviews and low sales were crippling the play. The show decided to forgo any plans to perform in a potentially lucrative overseas setting. Finally, the week of Thanksgiving, the show turned a weekly profit. The show costs approximately $1 million dollars a week. Usually it only pulled in around $100,000 to $300,000 dollars a week. Last week though, it pulled in $2,070,195.60 dollars, a box-office record for any show in history. Thats not to say that Spider-Man is out of the woods yet; it cost $75 million dollars to create and produce, another Broadway record. Usually a play costs between $5 million and $15 million dollars to produce. The producers and creators have full confidence that the show is going to recoup its losses in the coming months and years. They are using different strategies to attract an audience. Firstly, they are trying to appeal to tourists and first-time Broadway visitors. They also plan on changing the play every year to re-attract previous viewers. The show is now running smoothly with no more interruptions or injuries, and things are finally looking like Spider-Man will stick around for a bit. This only comes to show that Broadway is like any other form of entertainment: There are ups and downs, and it can either be a stage for success or failure. I found it quite interesting that such a new and novel show idea faced so much trouble, while older more conventional shows like the Lion King continued to make plenty of money. I think it might make more sense to keep these new and unconventional ideas on television, where there is much more of an audience for them (although spiderman on t.v. is hardly a new idea.) The article can be found here. An interview with the main actor of the show can be found here.