Broadway ticket sales fall as the holiday weekend approaches

True to form for this time of year, the numbers for box office fell off this week, slipping as we head towards the upcoming Labor Day weekend: $16,940,465 compared to $17,853,836 the previous reporting period. The same week last season was considerably better at $18,620,045. Looking at the overall figures for this season, the total box office is $275,071,360 so far compared to the same time last season of $285,237,676, a drop of 3.6 percent.

Of the 19 productions that remain on Broadway, seven still came in at over a million: Wicked at the Gershwin, Billy Elliot at the Imperial, The Lion King at the Minskoff, “The Little Mermaid” before its closing on the 30th, Jersey Boys at the August Wilson, West Side Story at the Palace and Hair at the Al Hirschfeld.

Overall attendance this past week hit 184,326 or 86.4 percent, down from 192,359 from the previous reporting period. Only three productions enjoyed 95 percent or better attendance: “Wicked,” “Jersey Boys” and “The Little Mermaid.”

“Jersey Boys” saw the largest increase in box office and audience share, up a modest $17,000 at the ticket window and less than one percent in attendance over the previous week. Shrek at the Broadway reported the biggest loss, dropping about 15 percent in ticket sales and over nine percent in attendance, followed by South Pacific at the Beaumont, In the Heights at the Rodgers, Chicago at the Ambassador and Next to Normal at the Booth. 9 to 5, playing at the Marquis, is heading into its final week and will likely maintain its numbers.

Three hot items upcoming are a tribute to Bea Arthur who died April 25 of this year, by Angela Lansbury at the Majestic Theater and “Million Dollar Quartet” in the spring of 2010 in a theater yet to be announced. It is a new musical based on the 1956 recording session that featured a conjunction of stars—Elvis Presley, Johnny Cash, Jerry Lee Lewis and Carl Perkins. It features a book by Colin Escott and Floyd Mutrux and directed by Eric Schaeffer.

“Spider-Man” watchers will be pleased to know that previews are still scheduled to begin Feb. 25, 2010 at the Hilton and open in March.

Please note: Beginning with the week ending May 31, 2009, “Gross” represents Gross Gross and “Attendance” represents Total Attendance. For every week prior to May 31, these numbers represent Net Gross and Paid Attendance respectively. The Broadway League took this into account when comparing this season’s figures to the previous season’s and made adjustments accordingly.

Broadway Gross Ticket Sales Week ending August 30, 2009
All data provided by The Broadway League