Following a week of improved box office receipts, Broadway ticket sales slipped for the week ending Feb. 24. Overall, box offices saw a total of $17,910,138 compared to the previous reporting period of $18,802,116. It was also less than the same week last season. But as always, there are bright spots. There were four shows in the million-dollar category: Wicked, Jersey Boys, The Little Mermaid and The Lion King. Perennial family favorite Mary Poppins, although fifth on this list, had the biggest drop in revenues for the week: a loss of $108,867 and a drop of 10.9 percent in attendance. Once again, this list does not include Young Frankenstein, which is still not reporting ticket sales.
There are currently 11 plays and 23 musicals on Broadway and Tennessee William’s play Cat on a Hot Tin Roof was one of nine productions with a 90 percent or better house. Disappointingly, the musical Passing Strange, still in previews at the Belasco, racked up less than 24 percent attendance. It will likely generate more excitement when it celebrates its opening night this Thursday, Feb. 28.
Another musical opening on Feb. 21 to a more lucrative box office was Sunday in the Park with George at Studio 54. In contrast to “Strange,” it achieved 80 percent of the theater’s capacity.
A Bronx Tale, the one-man show starring Chaz Palmintieri at the Walter Kerr Theatre, closed its limited engagement Feb. 24. It was almost autobiographical for the well-known actor.
A return to the stage for Tony and Emmy award-winner Leslie Uggams—even if it isn’t Broadway, but Houston’s Theatre Under the Stars known as TUTS—is cause for applause. Playing the lead role in Hello, Dolly is almost a rite-of-passage for middle-aged singers, and isn’t it grand? Isn’t she grand!
Broadway Gross Ticket Sales Week ending February 24, 2008
All data provided by The League of American Theatres and Producers
| Production (Theatre) |
Weekly Gross | Total Atten. | Prev. | Perf. | Total Capacity | Avg. Ticket Price | Atten. % |
| A Bronx Tale (Walter Kerr) |
$319,717 | 4,752 | 0 | 7 | 949 | $67.28 | 71.5% |
| A Chorus Line (Schoenfeld) |
$340,510 | 5,505 | 0 | 8 | 1,069 | $61.85 | 64.4% |
| August: Osage County (Imperial) |
$534,740 | 7,591 | 0 | 8 | 1,419 | $70.44 | 66.9% |
| Avenue Q (Golden) |
$335,387 | 5,311 | 0 | 8 | 796 | $63.15 | 83.4% |
| Cat…Roof (Broadhurst) |
$617,693 | 8,764 | 8 | 0 | 1,168 | $70.48 | 93.8% |
| Chicago (Ambassador) |
$391,043 | 5,806 | 0 | 8 | 1,080 | $67.35 | 67.2% |
| Come…Sheba (Biltmore) |
$209,450 | 3,681 | 0 | 8 | 650 | $56.90 | 70.8% |
| Curtains (Hirschfeld) |
$562,364 | 8,507 | 0 | 8 | 1,422 | $66.11 | 74.8% |
| Grease (Atkinson) |
$642,564 | 8,201 | 0 | 8 | 1,072 | $78.35 | 95.6% |
| Hairspray (Neil Simon) |
$716,713 | 10,899 | 0 | 8 | 1,428 | $65.76 | 95.4% |
| In the Heights (Rodgers) |
$383,511 | 8,685 | 8 | 0 | 1,344 | $44.16 | 80.8% |
| Is He Dead? (Lyceum) |
$182,931 | 3,906 | 0 | 8 | 922 | $46.83 | 53.0% |
| Jersey Boys (August Wilson) |
$1,134,688 | 9,843 | 0 | 8 | 1,222 | $115.28 | 100.7% |
| Legally Blonde (Palace) |
$657,708 | 10,438 | 0 | 8 | 1,691 | $63.01 | 77.2% |
| Mamma Mia! (Cadillac Winter Garden) |
$759,707 | 10,516 | 0 | 8 | 1,498 | $72.24 | 87.8% |
| Mary Poppins (New Amsterdam) |
$866,201 | 11,874 | 0 | 8 | 1,797 | $72.95 | 82.6% |
| November (Barrymore) |
$426,472 | 5,816 | 0 | 8 | 1,058 | $73.33 | 68.7% |
| Passing Strange (Belasco) |
$81,740 | 1,897 | 8 | 0 | 1,010 | $43.09 | 23.5% |
| Rent (Nederlander) |
$463,427 | 8,516 | 0 | 8 | 1,181 | $54.42 | 90.1% |
| Rock ‘n’ Roll (Jacobs) |
$283,812 | 4,793 | 0 | 8 | 1,074 | $59.21 | 55.8% |
| Spamalot (Shubert) |
$726,641 | 10,127 | 0 | 8 | 1,441 | $71.75 | 87.8% |
| Spring Awakening (O’Neill) |
$550,020 | 8,125 | 0 | 8 | 1,090 | $67.69 | 93.2% |
| Sunday…George (Studio 54) |
$350,783 | 6,458 | 3 | 5 | 1,004 | $54.32 | 80.4% |
| The 39 Steps (American Airlines) |
$274,203 | 5,183 | 0 | 8 | 740 | $52.90 | 87.6% |
| The Color Purple (Broadway) |
$815,612 | 12,796 | 0 | 8 | 1,718 | $63.74 | 93.1% |
| The Farnsworth Invention (Music Box) |
$231,866 | 4,249 | 0 | 8 | 1,005 | $54.57 | 52.8% |
| The Homecoming (Cort) |
$190,276 | 3,691 | 0 | 8 | 1,082 | $51.55 | 42.6% |
| The Lion King (Minskoff) |
$1,103,949 | 11,857 | 0 | 8 | 1,654 | $93.11 | 89.6% |
| The Little Mermaid (Lunt-Fontanne) |
$1,128,557 | 12,071 | 0 | 8 | 1,518 | $93.49 | 99.4% |
| The Phantom of the Opera (Majestic) |
$677,262 | 9,880 | 0 | 8 | 1,607 | $68.55 | 76.9% |
| The Seafarer (Booth) |
$240,954 | 4,301 | 0 | 8 | 788 | $56.02 | 68.2% |
| Wicked (Gershwin) |
$1,507,849 | 14,472 | 0 | 8 | 1,809 | $104.19 | 100.0% |
| Xanadu (Hayes) |
$201,788 | 3,278 | 0 | 8 | 596 | $61.56 | 68.8% |
