With more than a few theaters on Broadway empty and gearing up for a busy holiday season, tickets sales took a major hit last week. The box office totals from the 21 productions currently playing were down to $16,139,301, a considerable drop from the previous reporting period ending August 22 of $18,148,273.

Comparing ticket sales with the same week last year finds a total of only $16,940,465, a similar number to this year. Looking at the gross ticket sales from the same point in the season last year, ticket sales were $275,071,360 then, compared to $281,636,162 now, which is still 2.4 percent ahead.

As would be expected, attendance also took a drop to a reported 78.5 percent this past week compared to about 83 percent the previous week. Only four productions reported box office ticket sales of over a million dollars; those productions were Wicked at the Gershwin, The Lion King at the Minskoff, Jersey Boys at the August Wilson and Billy Elliot at the Imperial. The Addams Family at the Lunt-Fontanne took a drop in ticket sales this past week, which could be due to a vacationing Nathan Lane.

Six productions posted Top Tickets selling at $300 or more, including “Jersey Boys” at $350 while the Best Buy Ticket as suggested by the Average Paid Admission continues to be offered by Next to Normal at the Booth, $59.

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Only one production, “Wicked,” met and exceeded its full Gross Gross Potential at more than 106 percent. The only production to come close to that was “The Lion King” at 96.3 percent.

Comparing changes in revenue, A Little Night Music at the Kerr posted a modest gain of $57,658 over the previous week and a 5.9 percent increase in audience capacity. Conversely, “The Addams Family” posted the largest drop, $361,518 compared to the previous week with an almost 15 percent drop in audience capacity.

In other news, The New York Times reports that the Andrew Lloyd Webber musical sequel to “The Phantom of the Opera” called “Love Never Dies” may not make it to the stage of the Neil Simon Theater next spring after all. The productions opening was originally scheduled for this fall but has been delayed due to health problems experienced by Webber.

All data provided by The Broadway League

Broadway Gross Ticket Sales
Week Ending August 29, 2010

Production
(Theatre)
Weekly Gross Total Atten. Prev. Perf. Total Capacity Avg. Ticket Price Atten. %
A Little Night Music
(Kerr)
$596,663 7,045 0 8 931 $84.69 94.6%
American Idiot
(St. James)
$610,478 7,725 0 8 1,709 $79.03 56.5%
Billy Elliot
(Imperial)
$1,006,495 10,577 0 8 1,421 $95.16 93.0%
Chicago
(Ambassador)
$485,398 6,323 0 8 1,080 $76.77 73.2%
Come Fly Away
(Marquis)
$633,486 8,873 0 8 1,611 $71.39 68.8%
Fela!
(O'Neill)
$442,031 5,936 0 8 1,030 $74.47 72.0%
In the Heights
(Rodgers)
$555,905 7,585 0 8 1,344 $73.29 70.5%
Jersey Boys
(August Wilson)
$1,014,108 9,696 0 8 1,228 $104.59 98.7%
La Cage aux Folles
(Longacre)
$581,350 6,546 0 8 1,057 $88.81 77.4%
Mamma Mia!
(Winter Garden)
$830,277 9,466 0 8 1,490 $87.71 79.0%
Mary Poppins
(New Amsterdam)
$920,251 11,218 0 8 1,797 $82.03 78.0%
Memphis
(Shubert)
$841,523 9,367 0 8 1,470 $89.84 79.7%
Million Dollar Quartet
(Nederlander)
$437,005 5,391 0 8 1,214 $81.06 55.5%
Next to Normal
(Booth)
$285,421 4,828 0 8 772 $59.12 78.2%
Promises, Promises
(Broadway)
$985,433 11,158 0 8 1,747 $88.32 79.8%
Rock of Ages
(Atkinson)
$475,269 6,366 0 8 997 $74.66 79.8%
The Addams Family
(Lunt-Fontanne)
$764,231 8,602 0 8 1,519 $88.84 70.8%
The Lion King
(Minskoff)
$1,546,227 12,963 0 8 1,677 $119.28 96.6%
The Phantom of the Opera
(Majestic)
$774,626 9,924 0 8 1,615 $78.06 76.8%
West Side Story
(Palace)
$689,020 9,526 0 8 1,697 $72.33 70.2%
Wicked
(Gershwin)
$1,664,108 14,472 0 8 1,809 $114.99 100.0%
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