RTE’s Director of Strategy has admitted Toy Show The Musical “clearly wasn’t a commercial success” as the station reveals it haemorrhaged over €2.2m in taxpayers' money.
Toy Show the Musical ran at Dublin's Convention Centre last December and sold just 11,044 tickets, which cost €46.50.
But it was revealed just 20,000 people went to see the show. Only 11,044 of them were paying customers, with 5,500 tickets supplied to guests on a complimentary basis and a further 3,500 awarded as prizes.
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It has been revealed the musical made just €495,961 in revenue against costs of €2,699,193. In total, the project made a loss of €2,203,231 as revealed by RTE to the Oireachtas media committee on Wednesday.
Speaking during a grilling by Brendan Griffin at the Oireachtas committee, Rory Coveney said they took a “creative” risk regarding Toy Show the Musical but clearly wasn’t a “commercial success”.
He said: “We took a creative and commercial risk to try and create something unique to Irish families.. the show was, I’m not sure if anyone here was at the show, but those who attended absolutely loved it, particularly children. It clearly wasn’t a commercial success but it wasn’t from a lack of effort from everyone involved.
Asked by Mr Griffin how it was funded, Mr Coveney said: “From RTE funds.”
Mr Griffin asked if anyone advised that Toy Show The Musical wasn’t a good idea, Mr Coveney said: “We got a lot of advice from people in musical theatre, specialists who produced…”
Asked again if they were told by anyone not to produce the musical, Mr Coveney said: “No, I mean we were aware of the risks.”
The musical was predicted to be a great success before it had even started and was expected to deliver €4.1m for a sell-out 54 shows.
In reality, there were just 27 live shows. The total venue capacity for the shows that went ahead was 53,865.
Asked by Senator Marie Sherlock about the future of Toy Show The Musical, Mr Coveney confirmed it would not be returning this year – but could at some point in the future.
Asked what his expectations were for years two and three of the project, Mr Coveney said: “No, the only residual cost is the storage of the set which cost €8,000 per year until we decide if we’re doing it.
“Big difference in subsequent years is that you don’t have the development costs, which are obviously considerable, so the profit margin should go up in subsequent years assuming the revenue stays the same because your development costs are sunk into the first year.
“Turned out that didn’t happen so at the moment we are considering what to do. We’re not doing it this year but we’re considering what we might do in the future.”
At the time, RTÉ reported that cancellations were due to illness among the cast and crew and RTÉ said the team did “everything possible” to avoid cancellations.
These cancellations ended up forcing refunds worth €251,000.
A breakdown of costs associated with the musical, which was spearheaded by Mr Coveney, shows that almost half of the cost went towards hiring the Convention Centre venue, and “showrunning costs”.
Just over half a million was spent on creative team and management costs, while €369,853 went on rehearsal costs. €156,020 was spent on “marketing and press”.
Meanwhile, the writer of Toy Show the Musical has claimed working on the show was the “worst” experience of her professional career.
Lisa Tierney-Keogh, a successful Dublin playwright, co-wrote the musical's script alongside Derry Girls actor Jamie Beamish. Ms Tierney-Keogh claimed she and other creatives working on the show were still paid a "pittance" by RTE.
Taking to social media on Wednesday, Tierney-Keogh said she "nearly fell over" when she saw RTÉ's initial offer for taking on the writing opportunity.
"When I pushed back, I was met with shock and staggering hubris that I would dare to not accept the sh***y crumbs they were offering.
"When I tell people who don't work in the arts what I earned for working on this show, they are stunned. They can't believe how little I was paid."
Ms Tierney-Keogh, who has worked as an Associate Playwright at the Abbey Theatre, said she felt the underlying problem was that artists and creatives "are not valued" here in Ireland.
Last October, Ryan immediately distanced himself from the musical when it was first announced.
Speaking at the time, he said he hoped theatre bosses are doing the show with “proper thought and planning”.
Ryan told us: “I’ve nothing to do with that.
“I don’t believe it will go wrong. You know, I think it will be great and I wish them well, but it is an endeavour that isn’t…
“I don’t think they would do it without proper thought and planning and getting it right, so I hope they do that.”
Ryan added: “We made it quite clear - I said it on the TV show – I said that this show – I am not involved, I’m not in it. I wish everyone well in it.
“I couldn’t be clearer in that respect. All my focus is on the Toy Show this year.”
