Investment Update
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
Patrick Houston April 2018 M +44 (0)7917 123 341 Investment T +44 (0)20 3475 4877 [email protected] Update culturalcapitalfund.co.uk Theatre The Moderate Soprano The Moderate Soprano is a play by David Hare that enjoyed a sold out Theatre Production run at Hampstead in 2015. The West End premiere will start at the Duke of York’s on April 12th 2018. The Director (Jeremy Herrin) and two leads (Roger Allam, Nancy Carroll) will be the same as in the first run with Bob Crowley in charge of design (Pinocchio; An American in Paris; Once etc.). The story follows that of Glyndebourne founder John Christie and soprano Audrey Mildmay and the creation of one of the world’s great opera houses. We are attracted by the combination of a strong team, tightly defined marketing plan and a subject matter that is likely to be of interest to serious theatregoers at a seasonally weak time of year. https://www.themoderatesoprano.com/ Shrek The Musical The first UK Tour of Shrek was a commercial success and we are Theatre Production pleased to have invested in the 2017 tour which commences in December 2017 and is booking through 2019. The opening night was in Edinburgh and reviews were strong. It is too early to speculate on the outturn for the but we expect a solid profit albeit rather less than the original tour. https://shrekthemusical.co.uk/buy-tickets/ The Cultural Capital Fund is part of the Bob & Co family bobandco.co.uk culturalcapitalfund.co.uk The Cultural Capital Fund | Update | April 2018 2 Paper Dolls Musical Theatre Development Paper Dolls (first shown at the Tricycle in February 2013) continues to receive an encouraging degree of interest from producers. We own a portion of the original IP (intellectual property). The show will run at the Mosaic Theatre, Washington DC between March 29th and April 22nd 2018 and we hope that this generates enough interest for a producer to take it forward to a commercial run. The Importance of Being Earnest Theatre Production This production is the CCF’s third investment with The Original Theatre Company and replaces the Wait Until Dark investment made in March 2017 which has fully recouped (see below). This well-known title has an interesting cast (Gwen Taylor, Kerry Ellis (West End musical star), Thomas Howes (Downton Abbey)) and is touring many of the usual UK provincial venues. The breakeven capacity is low and we have negotiated preferential terms. The run has been well received with Belfast being particularly strong at the box office. http://www.originaltheatre.com/portfolio-item/the-importance-of- being-earnest/ Dreamgirls Dreamgirls the musical debuted on Broadway in 1981 (6 Tony awards, Theatre Production 4 year run), was released as a film in 2006 (2 Oscars) and is often said to represent in some way the story of the challenges and successes of The Supremes. This show at the Savoy Theatre is the UK premiere supported by a cast of over 30 and a 14 piece band. The first preview was 19th November 2016, reviews were very strong and two Olivier awards were awarded in 2017. After a few months of around breakeven sales the recent Christmas period enjoyed strong box office as expected. Recoupment payments of 45% have been received to date and the show is booking through September 2018. http://www.dreamgirlswestend.com/ The Cultural Capital Fund is part of the Bob & Co family bobandco.co.uk culturalcapitalfund.co.uk The Cultural Capital Fund | Update | April 2018 3 The Comedy About A Bank Robbery Theatre company ‘Mischief Theatre’ and producer Kenny Wax Theatre Production are well known to Bob & Co through The Play That Goes Wrong which has returned a multiple of the original investment over 3 years and Peter Pan Goes Wrong. A Comedy About a Bank Robbery opened at the Criterion Theatre (588 seats) in April 2016 and was very well received by the critics. The play is a step-up from the previous offers, with a larger cast and more ambitious staging. Booking has been extended again to November 2018. As of March 2018 we had recouped our original investment and a profit pay out of an additional 60%. The Criterion is well placed for tourist and ‘walk up’ sales on top of the underlying demand. http://www.criterion-theatre.co.uk/home Wicked (UK/International Tour) The musical Wicked has been a phenomenon. Seen by over 50m Theatre Production people in 14 countries since the Broadway premiere in 2003, the 63 week World Tour began on July 20th 2016. The show began with a short run at the Bradford Alhambra where 97% of capacity was sold however the experience in Asia was mixed and the Istanbul date was cancelled. The lost weeks have a serious impact on the likelihood of recoupment. Fortunately we deliberately made a small investment intending to learn about tours of this type and the outturn is likely to be a loss of around 30% of our £20,000 investment. The CCF has received 60% recoupment payments to date. The Cultural Capital Fund is part of the Bob & Co family bobandco.co.uk culturalcapitalfund.co.uk The Cultural Capital Fund | Update | April 2018 4 The Ferryman After a five star, sold out run at the Royal Court Theatre, Jez Theatre Production Butterworth's new play The Ferryman transferred to the Gielgud Theatre in late June 2017. Directed by Sam Mendes, the initial cast included multi award-winning actor Paddy Considine, Laura Donnelly and Genevieve O'Reilly. The play has extended twice to May 2018 and the Broadway run has been announced with the same leads. 100% recoupment was achieved on November 9th. http://www.gielgudtheatre.co.uk/ The Height of the Storm We were attracted to The Height Of The Storm by the quality of the Theatre Production cast and creative team which includes Jonathan Pryce and Dame Eileen Atkins. Having read the play (written by Florian Zeller who wrote The Father amongst other things) it became apparent that it could be something quite special with skilful direction. The financial analysis further supported the investment with some of the most attractive terms we have seen for a while. The play opens at The Wyndham’s theatre on October 2nd. Madagascar This is the first UK outing for this enormously successful film which Touring Theatre Production took $533m globally on release and has had sequels since. Dramd recognition is high. Producers SellaDoor are known to us and we are essentially recycling the capital from the Footloose and Flashdance investments into this UK musical tour. The show commences on July 18th 2018 and is running through May 2019. http://madagascarthemusical.co.uk The Cultural Capital Fund is part of the Bob & Co family bobandco.co.uk culturalcapitalfund.co.uk The Cultural Capital Fund | Update | April 2018 5 Flashdance Alongside the Footloose investment, we took a position in Selladoor’s Touring Theatre Production Flashdance revival tour which started in August in Glasgow and is booking out through August 2018. There is social media and PR buzz around the show and leads Joanne Clifton (Strictly Come Dancing) and Ben Adams have both extended their contracts. Sales are strong and we expect a good return. www.flashdanceuktour.co.uk Beautiful – The Carole King The Broadway hit musical has been showing since January 2014. Musical With dynamic pricing in the USA the revenue effect of a ‘hit’ can be dramatic. The fund has received its nineteenth 10% profit distribution. Musical Theatre Production The show is now booking to July 2018. The West End production launched at the 1,200 seat Aldwych Theatre in February 2015. The producers confirmed that H1 2017 was tougher than expected as a result of the terrorist incidents and the show closed early in August 2017. In December 2017 the fund received a payment taking recoupment to 62.5%. We expect to lose around 30% on the West End run. That said we rolled the money into the UK tour which commenced in September and runs to June 2018 and where we have already recouped our original investment. The US Tour commenced in September 2015 (currently booking through to June 2018 and we maintained our investment position. The first repayment of 25% was received in December 2015 and to date the fund had received twenty one 10% profit distributions. The signs are that the show will shortly announce a booking extension to June 2019. http://beautifulonbroadway.com/ The Cultural Capital Fund is part of the Bob & Co family bobandco.co.uk culturalcapitalfund.co.uk The Cultural Capital Fund | Update | April 2018 6 In the Night Garden Live Touring Theatre The 2017 tour began in Blackheath on May 25th and ended in Manchester on August 28th. The feeling is that families booked fewer tickets per group and spent less in advance on goody- bags. The tour finished more strongly and, with the additional benefit of the Theatre Tax Relief royalty claim the year on year dividend payment should be up on 2016. In 2018 the show will be returning to the original site at the O2 (replacing Blackheath) which is expected to benefit ticket sales. There are signs that the brand is becoming less popular and a strategic rethink of the future tours is underway. https://www.nightgardenlive.com/ Room Room, the novel by Emma Donoghue was first published in 2010. Theatre Production Later in 2014, it was adapted highly successfully for cinema, receiving international acclaim and nominations for various awards. Room has been adapted once more for its theatre debut this year. Room completed the run at the Theatre Royal Stratford East and travelled via Dundee to the Abbey Theatre Dublin.