Hartford Business Journal

6 Hartford Business Journal • April 8, 2019 • www.HartfordBusiness.com By Frank Rizzo Special to the Hartford Business Journal T he musical phenomenon "Hamilton" is long gone from The Bushnell after its three- week, 24-performance run in December that attracted more than 66,000 patrons, some willing to spend more than $1,000 a ticket. But what effect did the show have on The Bushnell — and the Capital City? Financially, it brought in big bucks to the box office: more than $13 mil- lion, according to David Fay, president and CEO of The Bushnell. Of that gross figure, the theater — through a complex multi-tiered contract — got to keep more than $2 million. "It was one of the fairest deals for a blockbuster I have ever seen in my career," says Fay, without mentioning previous mega-hits from Disney and producer Cameron Mackintosh. "We can say now it was a completely sold-out run," says Fay, noting that producers resisted marketing that distinction while the show was in town because some tickets were being held back and then released to consumers up to the final performance. It was all part of the producers' strategy to foil scalpers who resell tickets at exorbi- tant prices — with none of that big bump going to those who created and produced the show. "We fought hard to keep the tickets out of the hands of brokers who were gouging people," says Fay. Working with the attorney general's office on consumer protec- tion, The Bushnell developed techniques to identify brokers who were buying tickets on the theater's website and then reselling them at a much higher figure. At the same time, the musical's producers developed a fluid pricing strategy — also known as "dynamic pricing" — that undercuts whatever figure brokers are selling tickets for online. "We cancelled 900 orders we identi- fied as broker-bought and then put them back into our system," says Fay. "We had a [woman] buy four handi- capped tickets on our website [for the face value of the ticket price] and then two of the tickets showed up on Stub- Hub selling for $1,000 a piece," says Fay. "I could tell you other stories that would curl your hair." If regular customers needed to return tickets for one reason or another The Bushnell had a policy of re-entering them back into the system at face value. The highest "dynamic pricing" ticket sold by The Bushnell was around $800, in an effort to undercut the high $1,200 ticket price brokers were ask- ing for at one point. "But $500 was the highest standard ticket we sold — and that was for our 'gold circle,' " says Fay. To counter criticism that the show was out of reach for many theater-goers, producers created a lottery system where 40 tickets per show were avail- able for $10, which meant that close to 1,000 people saw "Hamilton" in the 2,800-seat hall at drastically lower rates. Then there was the special perfor- mance as part of "EduHam," a special initiative that promotes an American history curriculum to sophomores and juniors at select low-income high schools around the country. Shortly after the musical opened, 2,800 students from around the state were bussed into the arts center and pre- sented their school projects and live performances on the "Hamilton" stage at an event that was emceed by one of the cast members. After a box lunch, the students saw a full special performance of the show. That event was paid for by the Gilder Lehrman Institute of Ameri- can History, the show's producers and money raised by The Bushnell. (This pro- gram is not presented in every city of the tour, which had to have local financial support, which The Bushnell raised.) Then Gov.-elect Ned Lamont was there for the student event where he witnessed the relationships among the arts, schools and students. It also didn't hurt that it was an opportunity for The Bushnell to bond with the incoming governor who is a key figure in deter- ARTS BIZ What did 'Hamilton' mean for Hartford? Musical gave The Bushnell and city a boost, though some arts venues say it crimped their attendance Frank Rizzo David Fay, president and CEO of The Bushnell, says the popular musical "Hamilton" will return to Hartford. The musical "Hamilton" brought in more than $2 million in revenue to The Bushnell during its run in Hartford at the end of 2018, but it may have siphoned off business from other area arts venues. Local high school students (shown right) also engaged the musical with a special education program called "EduHam." PHOTOS | CONTRIBUTED PHOTO | HBJ FILE

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