When 7 = 1

Timeout Chicago just published their top ten shows of 2008.  I'm proud to say that my day job landed two of those spots. 

What I found interesting was that the two shows were Caroline, or Change and Titus.

On a purely financially perspective there is no comparison between the two.  Caroline generated seven times as much single ticket revenue revenue as Titus.

From an artistic perspective, however, I could make a case that the big, messy, deeply interesting, Titus did as much to advance the reputation of the theatre as the grand ol' musical Caroline did.

I talk a lot about money on this blog and I don't want to minimize the importance of using marketing to draw resources (financial and otherwise) to your work.

But this is still the art business we are in and it was nice to see a show that was really good but didn't make the cash register hum get the praise it deserved.

I also think having those two shows as a contrast makes a tiny bit of the case why artists should have some sort of infrastructure (i.e. a well built nonprofit org, a smart and fast for-profit) to work within.

Having a strong infrastructure allows you to do the edgy work and manage the consequences of that.  It also allows you to build a bit of a legacy, so that your work as an artist can be considered over time versus just being judged one piece of art at a time.

 

Comments

[Heather]

Adam,

I don't want to take away from Court, but The Hypocrites also landed two mentions with Our Town and Miss Julie.

As you point out with your reference to 7 = 1 in relation to Titus and Caroline - The Hypocrites received the same differing box office returns in response to their two shows.

Both companies should be applauded for their contributions to the Chicago theater season. Each organization accepted the risk of taking a vastly different approach in their stagings of Titus and Miss Julie. Each company had the ability to take advantage of an incredible run for Caroline and Our Town.

[Adam Thurman]

Heather,

Good catch. It has been fixed and I stand corrected.