Now in the twelfth week of the season, the gap between box office ticket sales this year and last year continues to close with there now being less than a one percent difference. Overall, there was $18,623,072 in ticket sales for the week compared to $18,701,222 for the previous reporting period. This continues the rosy outlook over the same week last season of only $17,865,229, all this with Young Frankenstein at the Hilton Theatre still not reporting its figures.
Once again we see familiar names as the leaders of the pack among the 27 productions on Broadway with Wicked at the Gershwin Theatre, The Lion King at the Minskoff, The Little Mermaid at the Lunt-Fontanne, Jersey Boys at the August Wilson, Mamma Mia! at the Winter Garden, and In the Heights at the Richard Rodgers Theatre all pulling in more than $1 million in sales. August: Osage County at the Music Box and Boeing-Boeing at the Longacre continued to post the best returns of the four plays. In their closing week, the musical “A Chorus Line” saw a ten percent drop in attendance, the largest of any production, while the play “Thurgood” saw the second largest increase in dollars at more than $325,000 for the week. Rent at the Nederlander posted the biggest increase of sales at $76,522 for a week’s return of more than $640,000.
Eight productions saw audiences at 95 percent or better attendance. Only [title of the show] at the Lyceum saw attendance that hit below the belt at just under 50 percent of the house and offers the Best Bargain as the lowest Average Paid Admission of $45 a ticket. The highest Average Paid Admission ticket belongs to “Jersey Boys” at $111 and the Top Ticket at $350. Cirque Dreams: Jungle Fantasy at the Broadway Theatre continued a small drop in attendance and ticket sales over the previous week.
Despite the fact that ticket sales have been strong over the past few weeks, the slowing economy forced the postponement of the Broadway revival of “Godspell.” The show was set to star American Idol finalist Diana DeGarmo and Tony nominee Gavin Creel. Other shows that have already been forced to postpone or cancel include “Brigadoon”, “Nice Work If You Can Get It” and “For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide When the Rainbow Is Enuf.”
Broadway Gross Ticket Sales
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| Production (Theatre) |
Weekly Gross | Total Atten. | Prev. | Perf. | Total Capacity | Avg. Ticket Price | Atten. % |
| A Chorus Line (Schoenfeld) |
$547,804 | 7,181 | 0 | 8 | 1,069 | $76.29 | 84.0% |
| August: Osage County (Music Box) |
$530,513 | 6,291 | 0 | 8 | 979 | $84.33 | 80.3% |
| Avenue Q (Golden) |
$324,180 | 4,910 | 0 | 8 | 796 | $66.02 | 77.1% |
| Boeing-Boeing (Longacre) |
$418,800 | 6,522 | 0 | 8 | 1,077 | $64.21 | 75.7% |
| Chicago (Ambassador) |
$588,995 | 8,026 | 0 | 8 | 1,080 | $73.39 | 92.9% |
| Cirque…Fantasy (Broadway) |
$532,416 | 9,180 | 0 | 8 | 1,738 | $58.00 | 66.0% |
| Grease (Atkinson) |
$696,092 | 8,141 | 0 | 8 | 1,072 | $85.50 | 94.9% |
| Gypsy (St. James) |
$735,468 | 9,886 | 0 | 8 | 1,707 | $74.39 | 72.4% |
| Hairspray (Neil Simon) |
$664,479 | 10,011 | 0 | 8 | 1,428 | $66.37 | 87.6% |
| In the Heights (Rodgers) |
$1,005,493 | 10,246 | 0 | 8 | 1,344 | $98.14 | 95.3% |
| Jersey Boys (August Wilson) |
$1,100,642 | 9,853 | 0 | 8 | 1,222 | $111.71 | 100.8% |
| Legally Blonde (Palace) |
$820,017 | 11,403 | 0 | 8 | 1,691 | $71.91 | 84.3% |
| Mamma Mia! (Winter Garden) |
$1,042,471 | 12,164 | 0 | 8 | 1,498 | $85.70 | 101.5% |
| Mary Poppins (New Amsterdam) |
$968,924 | 13,435 | 0 | 8 | 1,797 | $72.12 | 93.5% |
| Rent (Nederlander) |
$640,608 | 8,769 | 0 | 8 | 1,181 | $73.05 | 92.8% |
| South Pacific (Beaumont) |
$919,658 | 8,312 | 0 | 8 | 1,041 | $110.64 | 99.8% |
| Spamalot (Shubert) |
$613,972 | 8,940 | 0 | 8 | 1,441 | $68.68 | 77.6% |
| Spring Awakening (O’Neill) |
$434,861 | 6,331 | 0 | 8 | 1,090 | $68.69 | 72.6% |
| The 39 Steps (Cort) |
$282,780 | 5,113 | 0 | 8 | 787 | $55.31 | 81.2% |
| The Lion King (Minskoff) |
$1,339,392 | 13,236 | 0 | 8 | 1,654 | $101.19 | 100.0% |
| The Little Mermaid (Lunt-Fontanne) |
$1,124,329 | 12,122 | 0 | 8 | 1,518 | $92.75 | 99.8% |
| The Phantom of the Opera (Majestic) |
$912,386 | 12,830 | 0 | 8 | 1,617 | $71.11 | 99.2% |
| Thurgood (Booth) |
$325,232 | 5,431 | 0 | 8 | 780 | $59.88 | 87.0% |
| [title of show] (Lyceum) |
$162,745 | 3,616 | 0 | 8 | 922 | $45.01 | 49.0% |
| Wicked (Gershwin) |
$1,527,832 | 14,472 | 0 | 8 | 1,809 | $105.57 | 100.0% |
| Xanadu (Hayes) |
$362,983 | 4,367 | 0 | 8 | 596 | $83.12 | 91.6% |
