Increased ticket sales highlight another solid week on Broadway

Box office ticket sales on Broadway bounced back this week, jumping to $22,133,461 from last week’s $21,220,442. Clearly continuing to gain on last season’s numbers of $920,866,892, this past week reached $932,396,983 for a difference of 1.3 percent increase over the same period to date. Attendance was also solid, reaching almost 82 percent.

Shining at over a million dollars in ticket sales were Wicked at the Gershwin, The Lion King at the Minskoff, The Addams Family at the Lunt-Fontanne, Billy Elliot at the Imperial and Jersey Boys at the August Wilson, all musicals.

Easily, the clear leader of current plays with ticket sales of $732,152 on Broadway is Fences at the Cort. Starring headliners Denzel Washington and Viola Davis, the play opened Monday to an enthusiastic reception by both critics and audiences.

Following three weeks of previews, the play Collected Stories at the Friedman saw the largest increase in percentage of audience share of any production, more than 16 percent over the previous reporting period. Dollar-wise, the musical American Idiot in its fifth week of previews posted a gain of $312,915 over the previous week’s box office gross. Experiencing the largest drop in revenue was the play Red at the Golden, a loss of sales representing a difference of $106,786 between the previous reporting period and this current week. “Red” also saw the largest decrease in audience share with a drop just over 27 percent.

A Little Night Music at the Walter Kerr and Jersey Boys at the August Wilson continue to post the Top Ticket at $350. The Best Buy as indicated by the Average Paid Admission category is the new musical production Everyday Rapture at the American Airlines at $18.92, likely due to papering the house in its first week of previews.

The revival of La Cage aux Folles at the Longacre which opened April 18 starring Kelsey Grammer, has received the best musical reviews of the spring, according to Playbill.com and may be headed for Tony nominations.

Opening nights celebrated this past week were:
• “American Idiot” at the St. James, April 20
• Sondheim on Sondheim at Studio 54, April 22
• Promises, Promises at the Broadway, April 25

This current week:
• “Fences” at the Cort, which opened April 26
• Enron at the Broadhurst, opened last night, April 27

Opening tonight is:
• “Collected Stories” at the Friedman

Launching previews this past week and opening tomorrow, April 29 is:
• “Everyday Rapture” at the American Airlines