True to June trends, it was another slow week on Broadway with total box office receipts of $18,239,680, up from last week’s gross of $17,595,100. Last year, the Way was enjoying $20,419,513 for the same week. Young Frankenstein is not reporting financials, but Variety estimates its box office at $868,000.
The high rollers this past week were: Wicked, The Lion King, Jersey Boys, The Little Mermaid and Mamma Mia!
Legally Blonde’s figures received a boost in ticket sales of more than $140,000 as MTV launched “Legally Blonde the Musical: The Search for Elle Woods” to replace Laura Bell Bundy. An estimated 12.5 million viewers watched it this past weekend. The stage production was nominated yesterday for two Emmy Awards.
Attendance, expressed as a percent of capacity, follows the high-rollers with the addition of South Pacific at 100 percent. Seeing the biggest increases in attendance over the previous reporting period were Mary Poppins who was up 11.7 percent as well as Legally Blonde and The Little Mermaid tying at an 11.6 percent jump. The biggest drop in attendance was seen by Rent at 26.5 percent followed by Thurgood at 12.8 percent. Xanadu didn’t fare much better with box office receipts of just $187,244, up 3.5 percent from the previous week but way short of its potential.
Again this week, Cry-Baby remains the lowest in average paid admission at $32.38, our “Best Value.” The highest average paid admission was Jersey Boys at $117.81, who also lay claim to the top ticket price of $351.50. And again, there’s a state of anticipation as everyone awaits one of the high points of the year, the Tony Awards, just a few days away on the 15th.
November, a comedy by David Mamet, ends its run at the Ethel Barrymore Theatre on July 13. That news may be responsible for this week’s bump in attendance from the previous reporting period’s low of 46 percent to 51 percent this past week.
Upcoming next spring will be the world premiere of a new play by Michael Jacobs, “Impressionism.” Jack O’Brien will direct it and Joan Allen and Jeremy Irons will star.
Broadway Gross Ticket Sales
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| Production (Theatre) |
Weekly Gross | Total Atten. | Prev. | Perf. | Total Capacity | Avg. Ticket Price | Atten. % |
| A Catered Affair (Kerr) |
$412,446 | 5,787 | 0 | 8 | 933 | $71.27 | 77.5% |
| A Chorus Line (Schoenfeld) |
$332,002 | 4,846 | 0 | 8 | 1,069 | $68.51 | 56.7% |
| August: Osage County (Music Box) |
$400,733 | 5,327 | 0 | 8 | 979 | $75.23 | 68.0% |
| Avenue Q (Golden) |
$263,089 | 4,199 | 0 | 8 | 796 | $62.66 | 65.9% |
| Boeing-Boeing (Longacre) |
$379,191 | 6,311 | 0 | 8 | 1,077 | $60.08 | 73.2% |
| Cat…Roof (Broadhurst) |
$694,741 | 8,927 | 0 | 8 | 1,168 | $77.82 | 95.5% |
| Chicago (Ambassador) |
$438,418 | 6,469 | 0 | 8 | 1,080 | $67.77 | 74.9% |
| Cry-Baby (Marquis) |
$232,269 | 7,173 | 0 | 8 | 1,611 | $32.38 | 55.7% |
| Curtains (Hirschfeld) |
$413,771 | 5,854 | 0 | 8 | 1,422 | $70.68 | 51.5% |
| Grease (Atkinson) |
$575,237 | 7,640 | 0 | 8 | 1,072 | $75.29 | 89.1% |
| Gypsy (St. James) |
$705,200 | 8,650 | 0 | 8 | 1,707 | $81.53 | 63.3% |
| Hairspray (Neil Simon) |
$607,005 | 9,439 | 0 | 8 | 1,428 | $64.31 | 82.6% |
| In the Heights (Rodgers) |
$659,937 | 8,803 | 0 | 8 | 1,344 | $74.97 | 81.9% |
| Jersey Boys (August Wilson) |
$1,158,688 | 9,835 | 0 | 8 | 1,222 | $117.81 | 100.6% |
| Legally Blonde (Palace) |
$590,753 | 9,443 | 0 | 8 | 1,691 | $62.56 | 69.8% |
| Les Liaisons Dangereuses (American Airlines) |
$265,399 | 5,287 | 0 | 8 | 740 | $50.20 | 89.3% |
| Mamma Mia! (Winter Garden) |
$882,657 | 11,541 | 0 | 8 | 1,498 | $76.48 | 96.3% |
| Mary Poppins (New Amsterdam) |
$789,724 | 12,204 | 0 | 8 | 1,797 | $64.71 | 84.9% |
| November (Barrymore) |
$284,001 | 4,299 | 0 | 8 | 1,058 | $66.06 | 50.8% |
| Passing Strange (Belasco) |
$213,089 | 4,058 | 0 | 8 | 998 | $52.51 | 50.8% |
| Rent (Nederlander) |
$330,942 | 5,280 | 0 | 8 | 1,181 | $62.68 | 55.9% |
| South Pacific (Beaumont) |
$763,341 | 8,134 | 0 | 8 | 1,041 | $93.85 | 97.7% |
| Spamalot (Shubert) |
$518,656 | 7,496 | 0 | 8 | 1,441 | $69.19 | 65.0% |
| Spring Awakening (O’Neill) |
$373,666 | 5,569 | 0 | 8 | 1,090 | $67.10 | 63.9% |
| Sunday…George (Studio 54) |
$351,897 | 5,929 | 0 | 8 | 1,004 | $59.35 | 73.8% |
| The 39 Steps (Cort) |
$228,792 | 4,508 | 0 | 8 | 787 | $50.75 | 71.6% |
| The Country Girl (Jacobs) |
$345,341 | 4,312 | 0 | 8 | 1,103 | $80.09 | 48.9% |
| The Lion King (Minskoff) |
$1,235,749 | 13,242 | 0 | 8 | 1,654 | $93.32 | 100.1% |
| The Little Mermaid (Lunt-Fontanne) |
$976,491 | 11,710 | 0 | 8 | 1,518 | $83.39 | 96.4% |
| The Phantom of the Opera (Majestic) |
$748,622 | 11,713 | 0 | 8 | 1,607 | $63.91 | 91.1% |
| Thurgood (Booth) |
$225,606 | 3,849 | 0 | 8 | 780 | $58.61 | 61.7% |
| Top Girls (Biltmore) |
$207,423 | 4,041 | 0 | 8 | 650 | $51.33 | 77.7% |
| Wicked (Gershwin) |
$1,447,560 | 14,472 | 0 | 8 | 1,809 | $100.02 | 100.0% |
| Xanadu (Hayes) |
$187,244 | 2,919 | 0 | 8 | 596 | $64.15 | 61.2% |
All data provided by The Broadway League
