The lights on Broadway continue to shine in spite of the looming threat of a recession. The past week’s ticket sales beat out both the previous weeks and the same week last season with $16,587,238 in total sales compared to $15,558,404 and $16,044,883 respectively. The figures for the season are equally impressive, $336,714,056 compared to $331,893,764 for last season. Once again, figures do not include Young Frankenstein.
Among the 22 musicals, Wicked at the Gershwin, Jersey Boys at the August Wilson and The Lion King at the Minskoff continue to lead ticket sales of over a million dollars. The musical Billy Elliot, in its first week at the Imperial Theatre, made a good first impression dancing to the bank with more than $700,000 in box office sales. Looking at the fiscal performance of the nine plays on Broadway, All My Sons at the Schoenfeld ranked first at more than $665,000, followed by Equus at the Broadhurst at more than $662,000 and August: Osage County at the Music Box exceeding $391,000.
The Little Mermaid at the Lunt-Fontanne saw an increase of ten percent in attendance as well as the biggest increase in box office, up $115,000 from the previous reporting period. This was followed by “Equus” at more than an eight percent increase in audience. Legally Blonde at the Palace also saw an increase of eight percent with ticket sales up more than $105,000 over the previous week. Avenue Q at the Golden saw the biggest drop in attendance at eight percent.
The Best Buy according to Average Paid Admission continues to be [title of show] at the Lyceum, about $46. “Jersey Boys” continues to have the highest Average Paid Admission at almost $112 per ticket.
The past week saw the opening of the play The Seagull at the Walter Kerr Theatre on Oct. 2 and 13, a musical opening at the Jacobs Theatre on Oct. 5.
Broadway Gross Ticket Sales Week ending October 5, 2008
All data provided by The Broadway League
Broadway Gross Ticket Sales
|
|||||||
| Production (Theatre) |
Weekly Gross | Total Atten. | Prev. | Perf. | Total Capacity | Avg. Ticket Price | Atten. % |
| 13 (Jacobs) |
$125,793 | 2,588 | 6 | 1 | 1,042 | $48.61 | 35.5% |
| A Man For All Seasons (American Airlines) |
$271,879 | 4,981 | 8 | 0 | 740 | $54.58 | 84.1% |
| A Tale…Cities (Hirschfeld) |
$447,520 | 7,189 | 0 | 8 | 1,420 | $62.25 | 63.3% |
| All My Sons (Schoenfeld) |
$665,491 | 8,278 | 8 | 0 | 1,052 | $80.39 | 98.4% |
| August: Osage County (Music Box) |
$391,308 | 4,765 | 0 | 8 | 979 | $82.12 | 60.8% |
| Avenue Q (Golden) |
$248,279 | 4,070 | 0 | 8 | 796 | $61.00 | 63.9% |
| Billy Elliot (Imperial) |
$700,757 | 6,640 | 5 | 0 | 1,420 | $105.54 | 93.5% |
| Boeing-Boeing (Longacre) |
$350,664 | 5,503 | 0 | 8 | 1,085 | $63.72 | 63.4% |
| Chicago (Ambassador) |
$481,869 | 7,024 | 0 | 8 | 1,080 | $68.60 | 81.3% |
| Equus (Broadhurst) |
$662,213 | 7,144 | 0 | 8 | 1,206 | $92.69 | 74.0% |
| Grease (Atkinson) |
$453,615 | 6,383 | 0 | 8 | 1,072 | $71.07 | 74.4% |
| Gypsy (St. James) |
$696,728 | 10,638 | 0 | 8 | 1,707 | $65.49 | 77.9% |
| Hairspray (Neil Simon) |
$435,704 | 7,779 | 0 | 8 | 1,428 | $56.01 | 68.1% |
| In the Heights (Rodgers) |
$715,985 | 8,198 | 0 | 8 | 1,344 | $87.34 | 76.2% |
| Jersey Boys (August Wilson) |
$1,104,309 | 9,874 | 0 | 8 | 1,222 | $111.84 | 101.0% |
| Legally Blonde (Palace) |
$511,864 | 9,375 | 0 | 8 | 1,691 | $54.60 | 69.3% |
| Mamma Mia! (Winter Garden) |
$997,450 | 11,903 | 0 | 8 | 1,498 | $83.80 | 99.3% |
| Mary Poppins (New Amsterdam) |
$598,246 | 9,030 | 0 | 8 | 1,797 | $66.25 | 62.8% |
| South Pacific (Beaumont) |
$917,533 | 8,296 | 0 | 8 | 1,041 | $110.60 | 99.6% |
| Spamalot (Shubert) |
$424,766 | 6,224 | 0 | 8 | 1,441 | $68.25 | 54.0% |
| Speed the Plow (Barrymore) |
$180,553 | 3,217 | 4 | 0 | 1,058 | $56.12 | 76.0% |
| Spring Awakening (O’Neill) |
$320,661 | 5,417 | 0 | 8 | 1,090 | $59.20 | 62.1% |
| The 39 Steps (Cort) |
$221,277 | 4,164 | 0 | 8 | 787 | $53.14 | 66.1% |
| The Lion King (Minskoff) |
$1,096,496 | 12,652 | 0 | 8 | 1,654 | $86.67 | 95.6% |
| The Little Mermaid (Lunt-Fontanne) |
$809,439 | 10,331 | 0 | 8 | 1,518 | $78.35 | 85.1% |
| The Phantom of the Opera (Majestic) |
$681,462 | 10,164 | 0 | 8 | 1,615 | $67.05 | 78.7% |
| The Seagull (Walter Kerr) |
$396,195 | 5,988 | 2 | 6 | 947 | $66.16 | 79.0% |
| [title of show] (Lyceum) |
$148,510 | 3,209 | 0 | 8 | 914 | $46.28 | 43.9% |
| To Be…Be (Friedman) |
$127,740 | 2,453 | 8 | 0 | 650 | $52.08 | 47.2% |
| Wicked (Gershwin) |
$1,402,931 | 14,472 | 0 | 8 | 1,809 | $96.94 | 100.0% |
