In the article "The Making of The Color Purple" (see my previous post) BusinessWeek included a sidebar that lists high-profile shows that have lost lots of money. Gee, nice positioning guys...

Anyways, apparently the data was collected from a number of sources (Not Since Carrie, 40 Years of Broadway Musical Flops by Ken Mandelbaum, IBDB, Playbill.com, Musicals101.com, The Wall Street Journal, and The New York Times) and here they are:

Via Galactica, 1972 (one of the first musicals to lose serious money): $1 million (played 7 performances)

Carrie, 1988, $8 million/played 5 performances

Shogun the Musical, 1990, $6 million/played 72 performances

Capeman, 1998, $11 million (ouch!)/played 68 performances

Seussical, 2000, $10 million/played 198 performances

Dance of The Vampires, 2002, $12 million/played 56 performances (ouch, ouch!!)

Taboo, 2003, $10 million/played 100 performances

Bombay Dreams, 2004, $10 million/played 284 performances

The Mambo Kings, 2005, $12 million, never ran in New York (they've got to be kidding!)

Let's hope The Color Purple's $11 million doesn't end up on a list like that. The lead producer, Scott Sanders, estimates that "...if every performance is filled to 75% capacity, with the audience paying full price, The Color Purple will recoup its investment in one year." Yikes!

Technorati tags: Broadway Music Movie Musicals Musicals Blog Blogs Theater Theatre Entertainment