Nine productions surpass $1 million in ticket sales on Broadway last week

It was a very good week on Broadway as theatergoers flocked to the current 25 productions, with more than one-third of all shows enjoying box office ticket sales of over a million dollars.

The nine shows that surpassed the million dollar plateau were Wicked at the Gershwin, The Lion King at the Minskoff, The Addams Family at the Lunt-Fontanne, Promises, Promises at the Broadway, Mary Poppins at the New Amsterdam, Harry Connick, Jr. at the Simon, Billy Elliot at the Imperial, Jersey Boys at the August Wilson and The Phantom of the Opera at the Majestic.

Gross sales up ticked to $20,704,714 from the previous week's $20,126,659. Overall, gross sales for the season to date were $188,451,589. The same period last season reported sales of $182,497,311 for a difference of 3.3 percent.

Overall attendance for the week reached 85 percent with ten productions posting more than 95 percent capacity. Individually, West Side Story at the Palace saw an eight percent increase while La Cage aux Folles at the Longacre saw a 13 percent drop.

Race at the Barrymore remains the only play currently running on The Great White Way. The eponymous special, "Harry Connick, Jr.," posted the highest percentage of Gross Gross Potential at 111 percent, followed by "Wicked" and "The Lion King" at 109 and almost 101 percent respectively.

The largest increase in dollars at the ticket office was reported by "Harry Connick, Jr.," at $382,075 while the largest decrease was seen by Next to Normal at the Booth, with a drop of $110,347.

The Top Ticket this past week was posted by "Jersey Boys" at $350 while the Best Buy as suggested by the Average Paid Admission was posted by "Next to Normal" at $59.13.

Al Pacino will recreate his role as "Shylock" in Shakespeare's "The Merchant of Venice" at the Broadhurst Theatre from October 19 through January 9. It has been playing at the Delacorte Theater in Central Park for a total of eight weeks this summer and will see its last performance there on August 1.

Broadway Gross Ticket Sales Week ending July 25, 2010

All data provided by The Broadway League