Broadway ticket sales climb to more than $20 million this past week

There was a healthy increase in ticket sales this past week, $20,836.876 compared to the previous reporting period of $18,747,373. The number of productions, 32, did not change from last week and could not account for the increase but a rise in attendance does. Total attendance reached almost 86 percent this past week compared to 83 percent the week ending March 14. The total gross for the season to date of $821,318,204 represents a 0.7 percent increase in dollars compared to the same point in time last season of $815,577,583.

There were a total of six productions that crossed the million-dollar plateau: Wicked at the Gershwin, The Addams Family at the Lunt-Fontanne, The Lion King at the Minskoff, Billy Elliot at the Imperial, Jersey Boys at the August Wilson and West Side Story at the Palace.

Nine productions saw audiences at 95 percent capacity or better this past week including the play Present Laughter at the American Airlines, enjoying full houses but closing March 21. The only other play to enjoy such audience response was A View from the Bridge at the Cort. Looking at musicals in addition to those million-dollar productions, Mary Poppins at the New Amsterdam saw the largest increase in attendance of any production at 16 percent over the previous week as well as the largest uptick in dollars at the box office: a $210,044 increase for a total of $970,415. Rock of Ages at the Brooks Atkinson also saw better than 95 percent capacity, with “West Side Story” just under the mark at 94.5 percent. The Miracle Worker at the Circle in the Square didn’t work any miracles; its audience share fell 14.6 percent.

All About Me at Henry Miller’s Theatre opened March 18. Opening Nights to look forward to are these productions, currently in previews:

• Come Fly Away at the Marquis, opening March 25
• Red at the Golden, opening April 1
• Lend Me a Tenor at the Music Box, opening April 4
• “The Addams Family” at the Lunt-Fontanne, opening April 8
• Million Dollar Quartet at the Nederlander, opening April 11
• Sondheim on Sondheim at Studio 54, opening April 22

Opening previews begin this current week for the musical American Idiot at the St. James Theatre on March 24. Directed by Tony Award winner Michael Mayer, It is based on the Grammy Award winning album by the group Green Day.

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 March 21, 2010

All data provided by The Broadway League