Broadway Gross Ticket Sales Week ending November 18, 2007

By Carol-Ann Rudy

Fourteen days and counting…of those eight shows up and running on Broadway during the the stagehands strike, it’s Mary Poppins turn to shine as the top box office champ with receipts of $1,122,801 and 100% attendance. Coming in a distant second was Xanadu with $385,715 and 85% attendance. Gauging by attendance, Cymbeline in previews at the Vivian Beaumont, had just 70%, the smallest audience of all. Keep in mind that none of the reported figures include those for Young Frankenstein.

Total ticket sales were $2,933,761, deadly pale compared to last week’s anemic $11,070,673 and this same week last season of $18,691,741.

The gross for the current season is $413,226,732. That amount no longer outstrips the previous season of $415,378,215.

Of the estimated 45,000 total jobs and the 32,000 full-time equivalent jobs in local restaurants and other businesses associated with or depending on Broadway, the tally of losses to New York City continues to climb after talks collapsed last Saturday.

At this time, all performances of the twenty-seven picketed shows are shuttered through Sunday, Nov. 25, except for ”Dr. Seuss’ How the Grinch Stole Christmas,” which won a court order to open. The shows closed until further notice are: A Bronx Tale, A Chorus Line, August: Osage County, Avenue Q, Chicago, The Color Purple, Curtains, Cyrano de Bergerac, The Drowsy Chaperone, the Farnsworth Invention, Grease, Hairspray, Is He Dead? Jersey Boys, Legally Blonde, Les Miserables, The Lion King, The Little Mermaid, Mamma Mia!, The Phantom of the Opera, Rent, Rock ‘n’ Roll, Spamalot, Spring Awakening, The Seafarer, Wicked, and Wicked: Behind the Emerald Curtain Tour.

Hungry for more? There’s a good selection of off-Broadway shows available, unaffected by the strike:
Off-Broadway, playing as scheduled includes Altar Boyz, Blue Man Group, Die Mommie Die, The Fantasticks, Forbidden Broadway, Frankenstein, Fuerzabruta, The Glorious Ones, I Love You, You're Perfect, Now Change, Jump, Make Me a Song, Speech & Debate, Stomp, and Things We Want.

How about Las Vegas? If you find yourself there in this Thanksgiving week, you’re in for a treat:
You can “Laughalot” with Monty Python’s Spamalot at the Wynn, The Producers at the Paris, choose from among three Cirque de Soleil productions: Mystere at Treasure Island, The Beatles, Love at the Mirage, or O is Forever at the Bellagio, or choose among a number of concerts.

Broadway Gross Ticket Sales
Week ending November 18, 2007

All data provided by The League of American Theatres and Producers