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Broadway ticket sales go cold this past week, dropping for the second straight week
Broadway’s chill of the previous reporting period developed into a full-blown cold spell this past week, competing with Halloween and baseball’s World Series. Every venue showed a drop in revenue from the week before at $20,654,736 to $18,302,311 this past week. The changes ranged from a -0.6 percent drop from one week to the next for God of Carnage at the Jacobs to a -23 percent for Memphis at the Shubert.
Surprisingly, three productions posted a slight gain dollar-wise in this same period, reflecting sales of higher-dollar tickets: Ragtime at the Simon Theatre, a $94,763 increase, “God of Carnage”, a $90,290 and In the Next Room at the Lyceum, $64,449. Comparing one season to the next, theaters report a total gross of $439,351,797 to $442,968,617 for the 2007/2008 season.
Those productions with the biggest draw continued to be Wicked at the Gershwin followed by Billy Elliot at the Imperial, A Steady Rain at the Schoenfeld, The Lion King at the Minskoff and Jersey Boys at the August Wilson. The largest dollar drop from one week to the next was endured by West Side Story at the Palace, $1,489,548.
The poorest draws by gross were the special, Burn the Floor at the Longacre, and four plays, Oleanna at the Golden, The 39 Steps at the Helen Hayes, “In the Next Room (or The Vibrator Play)” at the Lyceum and Brighton Beach Memoirs at the Nederlander.
Finian’s Rainbow at the St. James opened October 29.
In previews at this time are:
• “Ragtime,” opening November 15
• “In the Next Room (or The Vibrator Play)” opening November 19
• Fela! at the Eugene O’Neill, opening November 23
Sadly, “Brighton Beach Memoirs” closed its doors after only nine performances November 1 in spite of some glowing reviews.
Good news on the horizon: it was announced this past week that a revival of “A View From the Bridge” will be launched at the Cort Theatre on December 28. Opening Night is scheduled for January 24, 2010 and it will run for a limited engagement of 14 weeks. Another revival will come to Broadway in the spring of 2010, the musical “Promises, Promises” based on the Billy Wilder film “The Apartment” starring Kristin Chenoweth and Sean Hayes, well-known as Jack in the television series “Will and Grace.”
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 November 1, 2009
All data provided by The Broadway League
Broadway Gross Ticket Sales | |||||||
| Production (Theatre) | Weekly Gross | Total Atten. | Prev. | Perf. | Total Capacity | Avg. Ticket Price | Atten. % |
| A Steady Rain (Schoenfeld) | $1,187,455 | 8,667 | 0 | 8 | 1,071 | $137.01 | 101.2% |
| After Miss Julie (American Airlines) | $212,498 | 4,368 | 0 | 8 | 740 | $48.65 | 73.8% |
| Billy Elliot (Imperial) | $1,357,268 | 11,261 | 0 | 8 | 1,421 | $120.53 | 99.1% |
| Brighton Beach Memoirs (Nederlander) | $119,561 | 4,272 | 0 | 8 | 1,201 | $27.99 | 44.5% |
| Burn the Floor (Longacre) | $199,039 | 4,224 | 0 | 8 | 1,044 | $47.12 | 50.6% |
| Bye Bye Birdie (Henry Miller) | $558,758 | 7,543 | 0 | 8 | 1,026 | $74.08 | 91.9% |
| Chicago (Ambassador) | $452,812 | 5,707 | 0 | 8 | 1,080 | $79.34 | 66.1% |
| Fela! (O’Neill) | $200,810 | 5,609 | 7 | 0 | 1,030 | $35.80 | 77.8% |
| Finian’s Rainbow (St. James) | $371,003 | 10,032 | 4 | 4 | 1,701 | $36.98 | 73.7% |
| God of Carnage (Jacobs) | $991,204 | 8,767 | 0 | 8 | 1,078 | $113.06 | 101.7% |
| Hair (Hirschfeld) | $627,172 | 7,413 | 0 | 8 | 1,412 | $84.60 | 65.6% |
| Hamlet (Broadhurst) | $751,526 | 7,754 | 0 | 8 | 1,174 | $96.92 | 82.6% |
| In the Heights (Rodgers) | $492,463 | 6,463 | 0 | 8 | 1,365 | $76.20 | 59.2% |
| In the Next Room (Lyceum) | $120,650 | 3,336 | 8 | 0 | 922 | $36.17 | 45.2% |
| Jersey Boys (August Wilson) | $1,112,351 | 9,784 | 0 | 8 | 1,222 | $113.69 | 100.1% |
| Mamma Mia! (Winter Garden) | $922,676 | 10,845 | 0 | 8 | 1,498 | $85.08 | 90.5% |
| Mary Poppins (New Amsterdam) | $570,206 | 8,751 | 0 | 8 | 1,797 | $65.16 | 60.9% |
| Memphis (Shubert) | $485,106 | 7,077 | 0 | 8 | 1,470 | $68.55 | 60.2% |
| Next to Normal (Booth) | $311,150 | 4,644 | 0 | 8 | 772 | $67.00 | 75.2% |
| Oleanna (Golden) | $192,932 | 3,404 | 0 | 8 | 804 | $56.68 | 52.9% |
| Ragtime (Simon) | $364,924 | 7,012 | 8 | 0 | 1,419 | $52.04 | 61.8% |
| Rock of Ages (Atkinson) | $454,427 | 6,275 | 0 | 8 | 997 | $72.42 | 78.7% |
| Shrek (Broadway) | $445,417 | 7,704 | 0 | 8 | 1,733 | $57.82 | 55.6% |
| South Pacific (Beaumont) | $609,001 | 6,154 | 0 | 8 | 1,041 | $98.96 | 73.9% |
| Superior Donuts (Music Box) | $278,966 | 4,742 | 0 | 8 | 991 | $58.83 | 59.8% |
| The 39 Steps (Hayes) | $138,621 | 2,617 | 0 | 8 | 589 | $52.97 | 55.5% |
| The Lion King (Minskoff) | $1,136,368 | 11,671 | 0 | 8 | 1,654 | $97.37 | 88.2% |
| The Phantom of the Opera (Majestic) | $742,415 | 10,128 | 0 | 8 | 1,615 | $73.30 | 78.4% |
| The Royal Family (Biltmore) | $217,833 | 3,715 | 0 | 8 | 650 | $58.64 | 71.4% |
| West Side Story (Palace) | $857,501 | 9,822 | 0 | 8 | 1,697 | $87.30 | 72.3% |
| Wicked (Gershwin) | $1,489,548 | 14,302 | 0 | 8 | 1,809 | $104.15 | 98.8% |
| Wishful Drinking (Studio 54) | $330,654 | 5,540 | 0 | 8 | 1,004 | $59.68 | 69.0% |
