Broadway ticket sales boosted by new productions
Broadway ticket sales are back at pre-Labor Day levels after another serious uptick through the week ending September 25. Across the board, productions rallied by $2.5 million for a strong $18,469,768 cumulative, with overall attendance averaging 88 percent capacity (206,595).
It was a strong sales week for nearly all productions, but the biggest booms were had by the Great White Way’s new arrivals. Two weeks after its opening night, “Follies” ticket sales surged 28 percent for an impressive $1.12 million close, aided by positive critical reviews and a newly extended run.
That draw was good enough to place the Bernadette Peters musical in fifth place, out of six million-dollar earners for the week ending September 25. The Stephen Sondheim revival joined the golden ranks of “Wicked” ($1.56 million), “The Lion King” ($1.35 million), “The Book of Mormon” ($1.29 million), “Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark” ($1.27 million), and “Jersey Boys” ($1.03 million).
Meanwhile in the battle of two star-powered newcomers, “Relatively Speaking” bested “The Mountaintop” in their first week of previews.
Combining three star-penned, one-act comedies under John Turturro’s direction, “Relatively Speaking” grossed an impressive $716,252 with a full week of eight preview performances. Since entering previews September 20, the show has drawn audiences of 98 percent capacity to the Brooks Atkinson Theatre.
Meanwhile, playing just five previews since its September 22 arrival, the Martin Luther King Jr. drama “The Mountaintop” sold tickets to the tune of $411,044. Star turns by Samuel L. Jackson and Angela Bassett filled the Jacobs Theatre to a respectable 87 percent capacity.
While “Relatively Speaking” drew a larger audience over the week for a bigger gross, those theatergoers who opted for “The Mountaintop” tickets paid more on average. With otherwise similar ticket prices and playhouse capacities, the first-week performance gap between the two could close noticeably by the end of the present Sept. 26 – Oct. 2 reporting week, during which time both productions will complete a full eight-preview frame.
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. % |
| Anything Goes (Sondheim) | $816,609 | 7,822 | 0 | 8 | 1,026 | $104.40 | 95.3% |
| Billy Elliot (Imperial) | $723,478 | 9,265 | 0 | 8 | 1,421 | $78.09 | 81.5% |
| Chicago (Ambassador) | $509,898 | 6,771 | 0 | 8 | 1,080 | $75.31 | 78.4% |
| Follies (Marquis) | $1,122,778 | 12,264 | 0 | 8 | 1,612 | $91.55 | 95.1% |
| How to Succeed… (Hirschfeld) | $867,424 | 9,518 | 0 | 8 | 1,424 | $91.14 | 83.5% |
| Jersey Boys (August Wilson) | $1,030,749 | 9,633 | 0 | 8 | 1,228 | $107.00 | 98.1% |
| Mamma Mia! (Winter Garden) | $825,127 | 10,488 | 0 | 8 | 1,498 | $78.67 | 87.5% |
| Man and Boy (American Airlines) | $229,157 | 4,092 | 8 | 0 | 728 | $56.00 | 70.3% |
| Mary Poppins (New Amsterdam) | $669,473 | 9,805 | 0 | 8 | 1,797 | $68.28 | 68.2% |
| Memphis (Shubert) | $775,877 | 10,351 | 0 | 8 | 1,470 | $74.96 | 88.0% |
| Priscilla…Desert (Palace) | $798,122 | 10,914 | 0 | 8 | 1,690 | $73.13 | 80.7% |
| Relatively Speaking (Atkinson) | $716,252 | 8,302 | 8 | 0 | 1,058 | $86.27 | 98.1% |
| Rock of Ages (Hayes) | $364,622 | 4,416 | 0 | 8 | 583 | $82.57 | 94.7% |
| Sister Act (Broadway) | $721,976 | 10,561 | 0 | 8 | 1,493 | $68.36 | 88.4% |
| Spider-Man…Dark (Foxwoods) | $1,269,403 | 12,979 | 0 | 8 | 1,930 | $97.80 | 84.1% |
| The Addams Family (Lunt-Fontanne) | $590,557 | 8,678 | 0 | 8 | 1,519 | $68.05 | 71.4% |
| The Book of Mormon (O’Neill) | $1,293,272 | 8,752 | 0 | 8 | 1,068 | $147.77 | 102.4% |
| The Lion King (Minskoff) | $1,352,896 | 13,422 | 0 | 8 | 1,677 | $100.80 | 100.0% |
| The Mountaintop (Jacobs) | $411,044 | 4,627 | 5 | 0 | 1,065 | $88.84 | 86.9% |
| The Phantom of the Opera (Majestic) | $833,171 | 11,303 | 0 | 8 | 1,615 | $73.71 | 87.5% |
| War Horse (Beaumont) | $985,970 | 8,513 | 0 | 8 | 1,069 | $115.82 | 99.5% |
| Wicked (Gershwin) | $1,561,913 | 14,119 | 0 | 8 | 1,809 | $110.62 | 97.6% |
