Business Spotlight Übungsheft 03/2025: Hörverständnis

Money for musicals

In recent years, the costs of put on a showein Stück auf die Bühne bringenputting on a show in a theatre[wg. Aussprache]theatre have risen dramatically (no pun intendedkein Wortspiel beabsichtigtno pun intended). According to The Economist, a production of the musical Hadestown, about the ancientalt, antikancient Greek mythSagemyth of Orpheus[wg. Aussprache]Orpheus and Eurydice[wg. Aussprache]Eurydice, in 2019 required an upfrontVoraus-upfront investment of $11.5 million. It’s estimated that putting on the same show today would cost $18 million. In New York City, the home of the modern musical, theatre productions are now so expensive that producers and investors have grown very cautiousvorsichtigcautious about what kinds of shows make it to the stage.

Cost is the main reason why musicals and plays are migrating to London’s West End, which, by comparison, is dirt cheap (ifml.)spottbilligdirt cheap. A revival of Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Sunset Boulevard, in 2024, needed an investment of $13.5 million on Broadway but just £2.3 million (or $3 million) in London. The running costsBetriebskostenrunning costs of shows are also much lower in London and other cities.

How has New York become so much more expensive? The cost of energy and raw materials has risen fast over the past few years, but that is true everywhere. The main difference is the cost of labourhier: Arbeitskräftelabour — specifically, the power of US unionhier: Gewerkschaftunions to raise wages in America’s entertainment industry. As a result, riskier, experimental theatre productions are now more likely to happen in London and elsewhere, while only guaranteed moneymakerhier: Erfolgsproduktionmoneymakers go to New York.