Another great holiday week on Broadway with ticket sales hitting a high note of $24,334,02, a huge jump from the previous reporting period of $19,707,043. To date, this season comes close to last season with of $613,528,795 compared to $615,518,000 last year. Overall attendance hit 238,974 with seven productions reaching 95 percent or better attendance. Five shows achieved 100 percent or better of their Gross Gross Potential: Wicked at the Gershwin, The Lion King at the Minskoff, Billy Elliot at the Imperial, A Little Night Music at the Walter Kerr and Jersey Boys at the August Wilson in that order.
A whopping ten productions ranked at a million dollars or more at the box office: “Wicked” at the Gershwin, “The Lion King” at the Minskoff, “Billy Elliot” at the Imperial, West Side Story at the Palace, “Jersey Boys” at the August Wilson, The Phantom of the Opera at the Majestic, Mary Poppins at the New Amsterdam, Mamma Mia! at the Winter Garden, Shrek the Musical at the Broadway, and Irving Berlin’s White Christmas at the Marquis.
“Wicked” was the top selling show, breaking through the $2 million mark, coming in with a total of $2,092,745.
Posting the best increases in audience share from the previous week to this past week were “The Phantom of the Opera” up 25 percent, followed by “West Side Story” up almost 21 percent, “Mamma Mia!” up 20.2 percent and lastly Burn The Floor at the Longacre at 20 percent.
Sadly, another musical that should have made it, but lacked a high-profile star, is “Ragtime” at the Simon Theatre. It closes this coming Sunday, January 3, following 28 previews and 57 regular performances. Last week, it attracted just 63 percent of its audience capacity. In spite of excellent reviews, it was only able to recoup $4.7 million of its capitalization costs of $8.5 million.
On a happier note, David Rooney writing for Variety.com writes that “Mary Poppins,” in its sixth week of a 13-week engagement at the Ahmanson Theater, has become the highest-grossing theatrical event in Los Angeles in 2009. According to figures released by Disney, the show has generated more than $11 million at the local box office, with admissions to date topping 65,000.
Please note: Beginning with the week ending May 31, 2009, “Gross” represents Gross Gross and “Attendance” represents Total Attendance. For every week prior to May 31, these numbers represent Net Gross and Paid Attendance respectively. The Broadway League took this into account when comparing this season’s figures to the previous season’s and made adjustments accordingly.
Broadway Gross Ticket Sales Week ending December 27, 2009
All data provided by The Broadway League
Broadway Gross Ticket Sales
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| Production (Theatre) |
Weekly Gross | Total Atten. | Prev. | Perf. | Total Capacity | Avg. Ticket Price | Atten. % |
| A Little Night Music (Kerr) |
$985,662 | 7,412 | 0 | 8 | 931 | $132.98 | 99.5% |
| Billy Elliot (Imperial) |
$1,573,400 | 11,350 | 0 | 8 | 1,421 | $138.63 | 99.8% |
| Burn the Floor (Longacre) |
$454,132 | 6,764 | 0 | 8 | 1,044 | $67.14 | 81.0% |
| Bye Bye Birdie (Henry Miller) |
$638,698 | 7,763 | 0 | 8 | 1,026 | $82.27 | 94.6% |
| Chicago (Ambassador) |
$690,667 | 7,607 | 0 | 8 | 1,080 | $90.79 | 88.0% |
| Fela! (O’Neill) |
$695,310 | 6,894 | 0 | 7 | 1,030 | $100.86 | 95.6% |
| Finian’s Rainbow (St. James) |
$580,255 | 7,163 | 0 | 8 | 1,701 | $81.01 | 52.6% |
| God of Carnage (Jacobs) |
$493,863 | 5,956 | 0 | 8 | 1,078 | $82.92 | 69.1% |
| Hair (Hirschfeld) |
$845,329 | 8,067 | 0 | 8 | 1,412 | $104.79 | 71.4% |
| In the Heights (Rodgers) |
$895,479 | 9,098 | 0 | 8 | 1,365 | $98.43 | 83.3% |
| In the Next Room (Lyceum) |
$167,550 | 3,178 | 0 | 7 | 899 | $52.72 | 50.5% |
| Irving…White Christmas (Marquis) |
$1,013,789 | 10,030 | 0 | 9 | 1,615 | $101.08 | 69.0% |
| Jersey Boys (August Wilson) |
$1,290,426 | 9,746 | 0 | 8 | 1,222 | $132.41 | 99.7% |
| Mamma Mia! (Winter Garden) |
$1,137,628 | 11,475 | 0 | 8 | 1,498 | $99.14 | 95.8% |
| Mary Poppins (New Amsterdam) |
$1,142,176 | 12,554 | 0 | 8 | 1,797 | $90.98 | 87.3% |
| Memphis (Shubert) |
$612,425 | 7,789 | 0 | 8 | 1,470 | $78.63 | 66.2% |
| Next to Normal (Booth) |
$380,820 | 4,487 | 0 | 7 | 772 | $84.87 | 83.0% |
| Race (Barrymore) |
$532,801 | 5,659 | 0 | 8 | 1,058 | $94.15 | 66.9% |
| Ragtime (Simon) |
$616,303 | 8,051 | 0 | 9 | 1,419 | $76.55 | 63.0% |
| Rock of Ages (Atkinson) |
$671,174 | 6,760 | 0 | 8 | 997 | $99.29 | 84.8% |
| Shrek (Broadway) |
$1,055,261 | 10,844 | 0 | 8 | 1,733 | $97.31 | 78.2% |
| South Pacific (Beaumont) |
$764,658 | 7,042 | 0 | 8 | 1,041 | $108.59 | 84.6% |
| Superior Donuts (Music Box) |
$218,515 | 3,334 | 0 | 8 | 991 | $65.54 | 42.1% |
| The 39 Steps (Hayes) |
$256,391 | 3,245 | 0 | 8 | 589 | $79.01 | 68.9% |
| The Lion King (Minskoff) |
$1,714,566 | 13,235 | 0 | 8 | 1,654 | $129.55 | 100.0% |
| The Phantom of the Opera (Majestic) |
$1,248,943 | 11,744 | 0 | 8 | 1,615 | $106.35 | 90.9% |
| West Side Story (Palace) |
$1,356,456 | 12,729 | 0 | 8 | 1,697 | $106.56 | 93.8% |
| Wicked (Gershwin) |
$2,092,745 | 14,472 | 0 | 8 | 1,809 | $144.61 | 100.0% |
| Wishful Drinking (Studio 54) |
$208,609 | 4,526 | 0 | 8 | 1,004 | $46.09 | 56.3% |
