Broadway box office ticket sales climbed for the past week, ending May 9, to $21,744,393, up about 5 percent from the previous week’s tally of $20,712,883. The increase helped bring the season’s figures-to-date to $974,854,259, which is up 1.4 percent compared to the total for the same period the season before of $961,077,552.

Helping to boost the weekly ticket sales was the May 4 announcement of the 64th annual Tony Award nominations, and several of the productions honored were among the top earners for the week. Attendance this past week for the 25 musicals and nine plays was 77 percent compared to just under 76 percent the previous week.

Seven productions ranked in the million-dollar category including one play, the Tony nominated “Fences” at the Cort Theatre, which also saw the largest dollar increase at the box office, $220,444 over the previous reporting period. The others in the million-dollar circle were “Wicked” at the Gershwin; “The Lion King” at the Minskoff; Tony nominated “The Addams Family” at the Lunt-Fontanne; the Tony nominated “Promises, Promises” at the Broadway; “Billy Elliott: The Musical” at the Imperial; and “Jersey Boys” at the August Wilson.

TFL and ATBS for ticketing professionals

“The Phantom of the Opera” at the Majestic saw the largest dollar drop, $48,270, to bring its sales for the week down to $717,840. “Fences” also achieved 113.28 percent of its Gross Gross Potential, the record for the week.

Five productions reported 95 percent or better attendance. Compared to the previous reporting period, “Hair” at the Hirschfeld, saw the largest percentage increase in audience share, almost 25 percent, while the largest drop in audience share, 15.7 percent, was seen by the play “Collected Stories” at the Friedman.

There were no openings this past week but one closing: “Enron” at the Broadhurst closed on May 9, with disappointing ticket sales, $359,725 for the week, according to the Broadway League. It played only 22 previews and 15 regular performances. Although it may not have been an audience or critics’ favorite, it still garnered four Tony Award nominations.

Broadway Gross Ticket Sales Week ending May 9, 2010
All data provided by The Broadway League

Broadway Gross Ticket Sales
Week Ending May 9, 2010

Production
(Theatre)
Weekly Gross Total Atten. Prev. Perf. Total Capacity Avg. Ticket Price Atten. %
A Behanding in Spokane
(Schoenfeld)
$414,898 5,670 0 8 1,071 $73.17 66.2%
A Little Night Music
(Kerr)
$800,356 6,958 0 8 931 $115.03 93.4%
American Idiot
(St. James)
$784,523 9,364 0 8 1,709 $83.78 68.5%
Billy Elliot
(Imperial)
$1,116,112 11,021 0 8 1,421 $101.27 96.9%
Chicago
(Ambassador)
$468,269 6,149 0 8 1,080 $76.15 71.2%
Collected Stories
(Friedman)
$148,166 2,991 0 8 650 $49.54 57.5%
Come Fly Away
(Marquis)
$847,675 8,517 0 8 1,611 $99.53 66.1%
Enron
(Broadhurst)
$359,725 5,372 0 9 1,178 $66.96 50.7%
Everyday Rapture
(American Airlines)
$187,862 4,438 0 8 740 $42.33 75.0%
Fela!
(O’Neill)
$551,477 7,668 0 8 1,030 $71.92 93.1%
Fences
(Cort)
$1,008,104 8,776 0 8 1,079 $114.87 101.7%
God of Carnage
(Jacobs)
$260,819 3,840 0 8 1,078 $67.92 44.5%
Hair
(Hirschfeld)
$388,662 7,675 0 8 1,412 $50.64 67.9%
In the Heights
(Rodgers)
$531,617 7,888 0 8 1,344 $67.40 73.4%
Jersey Boys
(August Wilson)
$1,036,665 9,279 0 8 1,228 $111.72 94.5%
La Cage aux Folles
(Longacre)
$614,658 7,397 0 8 1,050 $83.10 88.1%
Lend Me a Tenor
(Music Box)
$339,546 4,520 0 8 999 $75.12 56.6%
Mamma Mia!
(Winter Garden)
$780,950 9,929 0 8 1,498 $78.65 82.9%
Mary Poppins
(New Amsterdam)
$795,127 10,944 0 8 1,797 $72.65 76.1%
Memphis
(Shubert)
$574,240 8,140 0 8 1,470 $70.55 69.2%
Million Dollar Quartet
(Nederlander)
$427,217 5,599 0 8 1,214 $76.30 57.7%
Next Fall
(Helen Hayes)
$132,749 2,593 0 8 589 $51.20 55.0%
Next to Normal
(Booth)
$276,686 4,445 0 8 772 $62.25 72.0%
Promises, Promises
(Broadway)
$1,175,789 13,024 0 8 1,747 $90.28 93.2%
Race
(Barrymore)
$341,203 4,488 0 8 1,058 $76.03 53.0%
Red
(Golden)
$441,728 5,471 0 8 804 $80.74 85.1%
Rock of Ages
(Atkinson)
$423,643 5,567 0 8 997 $76.10 69.8%
Sondheim on Sondheim
(Studio 54)
$377,078 5,817 0 7 1,004 $64.82 82.8%
South Pacific
(Beaumont)
$491,904 6,051 0 8 1,041 $81.29 72.7%
The Addams Family
(Lunt-Fontanne)
$1,274,582 11,598 0 8 1,519 $109.90 95.4%
The Lion King
(Minskoff)
$1,371,385 13,316 0 8 1,677 $102.99 99.3%
The Phantom of the Opera
(Majestic)
$717,840 9,792 0 8 1,615 $73.31 75.8%
West Side Story
(Palace)
$753,947 10,018 0 8 1,697 $75.26 73.8%
Wicked
(Gershwin)
$1,529,199 14,300 0 8 1,809 $106.94 98.8%