Broadway Grosses: Week Ending 8/2/26 — Page 2

BJR said: "If RAGTIME was making significant money, they would be keeping it open. LCT (or any non profit right now) is not in the position to be closing hits they could run."

These are nonprofit entities and they become producer-landlords once the production goes commercial and they get less revenue from ticket sales. And in the case of LCT, they lose their only Broadway stage and ability to program a Broadway season. There are very valid reasons that most nonprofits just don't keep extending their hits. Basically only Roundabout can do it by virtue of the fact that they have 3 Broadway stages.

Kad said: "When nonprofit Broadway productions convert to commercial runs, their costs increase substantially. All of the Broadway nonprofits run on modified LORT contracts, bringing with them much lower costs. However, the catch here is that they only enjoy that benefit for their originally scheduled run:if they extend beyond that, they must convert to the standard Production contract like every other Broadway show and lose the perks of being nonprofit. (Not sure how this affects the other union contracts, but the increase in talent costs alone will be substantial). Given Ragtime’s size, I would imagine this has meant that, even considering its success, it has likely only been marginally profitable week after week and will still be closing at a sizable loss this month."

Your answer raises several other questions. Sorry for my ignorance on this topic, but I want to make sure I understand.

Ragtime opens last fall at a Lincoln Center, a nonprofit. Contracts are modified. Does that mean every performer - from Joshua Henry to the members of the orchestra - was paid less during the nonprofit run?

The show sells well. In January, it converts to a commercial run. No more LORT contracts. Now it’s just a regular commercial production with LCT as the producer-landlord. Is the commercial production starting over, in a sense?

Ragtime continues to sell well but the show must close, at least at Lincoln Center, to make way for A Few Good Men and probably because the stars are ready to move on. Musical revivals, even successful ones, generally have a limited shelf life. So despite full houses and high ticket prices, the musical is actually a commercial flop for its investors.

Did any entity make money on Ragtime? The performers, and perhaps other unions, get paid as if they’re in a commercial show starting in January. Did LCT make a profit because it was their show and then they were the landlord? Or did its large cast eat that up?

I realize the dynamics of nonprofits are complex, but your explanation makes it seem foolish to extend it. What was the financial incentive to do so? The higher costs were going to eat most of the profits and make it impossible to recoup even though it’s been Lincoln Center’s best-selling musical revival in years.

Please correct the assumptions I have wrong because I probably have a lot.

Updated On: 8/6/26 at 02:46 AM

Kad said: "BJR said: "If RAGTIME was making significant money, they would be keeping it open. LCT (or any non profit right now) is not in the position to be closing hits they could run."

These are nonprofit entities and they become producer-landlords once the production goes commercial and they get less revenue from ticket sales. And in the case of LCT, they lose their only Broadway stage and ability to program a Broadway season. There are very valid reasons that most nonprofits just don't keep extending their hits. Basically only Roundabout can do it by virtue of the fact that they have 3 Broadway stages."

This is true, but missing some nuance, no? Non-profits can build extensions into the LORT contract, which avoids the commercialization bit because the "original run" is considered to include those extensions, even if not publicly available for sale. Institutions can decide to put on any number of weeks on sale as they choose, they don't have to put everything on at the time of on sale. This is how they keep actors contracted so they don't schedule something else over a possible extension period, to my understanding. If they don't have it in their contract, they can do whatever they want.

However, extensions beyond what was built in do indeed bump up the contract to production as you note, Kad. That's my understanding, but admittedly not 100% certain.