Broadway Ticket Sales Up From Last Week

By Carol-Ann Rudy
TicketNews.com
Week ending May 20th, 2007

This week’s ticket sales of $20,736,201 are up from the previous week’s sales of $20,063,202. As usual, there are five productions–all musicals–in the million-dollar-plus range. They are: “Wicked” $1,389,293 at 100% capacity; “Jersey Boys” $1,195,765 at 100%; “The Lion King” $1,163,233 at close to 99%; “Mary Poppins” $1,038,471 at almost 91%; and “The Color Purple” $1,016,304 at close to 90% capacity.

This is a good time to point out a paradox: grosses of the nine plays in production on Broadway are lower than those of the twenty-six musicals. However, looking at the percentage of seats filled in those theaters it can be seen that they are, for the most part, enjoying good audiences. For example, the top grossing play this past week was “A Moon for the Misbegotten” earning $578,961, but at 95% capacity. “Frost/Nixon” follows closely on its heels earning $483,641 at close to 85%, and “Deuce” earned $447,039 at almost 80%. “Inherit the Wind” has a good showing earning $441,356 and filling close to 84% of its seats. “The Year of Magical Thinking” earned $391,743 filling almost 90% of the theatre. . . The remaining plays fared adequately. “Journey’s End” came in last at $104,532, filling less than 25% of the theatre, but up 3% from the previous reporting period, perhaps due to the magic of the special citation awarded May 14th by the New York Drama Critics’ Circle.

The Tony nominations announced May 15th are expected to influence theatre patrons in the next few weeks to the awards night. The nominees include:
Best Play, “The Coast of Utopia,” “Frost/Nixon,” “The Little Dog That Laughed,”
and “Radio Golf.”

Best Musical, “Curtains,” “Grey Gardens,” “Mary Poppins,” and “Spring Awakening.”

Best Revival of a Play, “Inherit the Wind,” “Journey’s End,” “Talk Radio,”
and “Translations.”

Best Revival of a Musical, “The Apple Tree,” “A Chorus Line,” “Company,” and
“110 in the Shade.”

For other categories, click this link: Tony Nominations

In the meantime, the public enjoyed “The Pirate Queen” to the tune of $598,689 at just over 64% capacity, $49,795 less than the last reporting period, and 10% fewer patrons. “Coram Boy” in its third week grossed $274,853 at only 50% capacity. “Legally Blonde” kept them laughing with $864,430 at almost 89% capacity, down from last week.

Broadway Gross Reports, week ending May 20th, 2007

All data provided by The League of American Theatres and Producers