CEO Stories with Brian Lipton, Cititour.com

<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">I’m Patricia O’Connell for This is Capitalism. Today I’m talking with Brian Lipton, who is the Chief Theater Critic for Cititour.com and the former editor-in-chief and currently a contributing editor to TheaterMania.com. He is going to take us behind the scenes at Broadway and give us a little bit of a look at what’s going on with Broadway, the return to Broadway for both actors and theatergoers.</span><span style="font-weight: 400;"><br /> <br /></span></p> <h1><strong>Key Takeaways:</strong></h1> <p> </p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">[:29] Patricia O’Connell introduces Brian Lipton, a theater critic for Cititour.com and contributing editor to TheaterMania.com, and welcomes him to</span> <em><span style="font-weight: 400;">This is Capitalism.</span></em></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">[1:01] What does the closing of</span> <em><span style="font-weight: 400;">Phantom</span></em> <span style="font-weight: 400;">mean after 35 years? Is it just time? It has made its money back so many times that its lead producer, Cameron Mackintosh, could run it as long as he wanted to. With its closing notice, its grosses have soared to their highest in years. Winter is not the tourist season, and COVID-19 is still a factor.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">[3:01] All Broadway shows are capitalized, which is really the amount of money it takes to put the show on from start to finish: rehearsals, scenery, rent, and things up until day one. For a large musical now, $15 to $25 million is not an unusual capitalization. You have to make that money back during the run to get a profit.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">[3:38] Then you have the weekly running costs. The set’s already done, but you still have to pay rent, actors, and union people every week, and make that money back. For a musical like</span> <em><span style= "font-weight: 400;">Phantom</span></em><span style= "font-weight: 400;">, that’s estimated to be in the $750,000 to $1 million range because</s