In an otherwise flat week for Broadway ticket sales, the season’s newer productions remained the box office’s standout performers.
The week ending October 23 drew a cumulative $21,527,954 in ticket sales — just about $200,000 more than the previous week. The Rialto also filled to about 88.5 percent capacity with 232,997 attendees spread across its 26 shows.
A rising leader among recently opened productions, “The Mountaintop” jumped nearly 20 percent to a robust $789,727 last week. The drama, starring Samuel L. Jackson and Angela Bassett, has been feeding off positive opening night reviews. Such is also the case with the Frank Langella-led “Man and Boy,” which rose 6.6 percent to $306,277 through October 23.
Also on the up-and-up was “Relatively Speaking,” which opened October 20 to mixed reviews. With the week split between previews and regular performances, ticket sales totaled $691,942. What would be a marginal 2 percent increase any other frame is favorable here, considering the comp-heavy opening week.
The one to watch in previews remains “Other Desert Cities,” which increased its sales by almost 35 percent to $450,599. Meanwhile, the gross for “Godspell” grew almost 20 percent to $321,760, and “Venus in Fur” more than doubled its sales to a still-modest $236,482. All three productions open in early November.
Elsewhere on the Great White Way, musicals “Follies” and “The Lion King” both saw sales dip around 6 percent. The downturn was enough to knock “Follies” out of $1 million territory yet again — down to a still-respectable $974,421. In the past five weeks, the Bernadette Peters musical has tallied three non-consecutive weeks in Broadway’s million-dollar clubhouse.
Despite having the biggest decrease of the week, “The Lion King” retained a strong enough hold on the box office to stay in second place overall with $1.56 million. The Disney tuner finished behind the ever-prevailing “Wicked” ($1.69 million) and just ahead of “Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark” ($1.50 million). Although solid in third, “Spider-Man” ticket sales also dropped about 5 percent through the week ending October 23.
Broadway’s next new entry is “Hugh Jackman, Back on Broadway,” the Hollywood A-lister’s newest song-and-dance extravaganza. The one-man show began previews October 25 at the Broadhurst Theatre, and the 10-week limited engagement opens November 10.
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. % |
| Anything Goes (Sondheim) |
$852,372 | 7,857 | 0 | 8 | 1,026 | $108.49 | 95.7% |
| Billy Elliot (Imperial) |
$849,504 | 10,298 | 0 | 8 | 1,421 | $82.49 | 90.6% |
| Chicago (Ambassador) |
$564,558 | 7,059 | 0 | 8 | 1,080 | $79.98 | 81.7% |
| Chinglish (Longacre) |
$322,469 | 6,165 | 8 | 0 | 1,077 | $52.31 | 71.6% |
| Follies (Marquis) |
$974,421 | 9,620 | 0 | 8 | 1,612 | $101.29 | 74.6% |
| Godspell (Circle in Square) |
$321,760 | 5,204 | 8 | 0 | 735 | $61.83 | 88.5% |
| How to Succeed… (Hirschfeld) |
$990,726 | 10,256 | 0 | 8 | 1,424 | $96.60 | 90.0% |
| Jersey Boys (August Wilson) |
$1,063,572 | 9,539 | 0 | 8 | 1,228 | $111.50 | 97.1% |
| Mamma Mia! (Winter Garden) |
$835,972 | 9,974 | 0 | 8 | 1,498 | $83.82 | 83.2% |
| Man and Boy (American Airlines) |
$306,277 | 4,823 | 0 | 8 | 728 | $63.50 | 82.8% |
| Mary Poppins (New Amsterdam) |
$776,227 | 10,343 | 0 | 8 | 1,797 | $75.05 | 71.9% |
| Memphis (Shubert) |
$790,711 | 10,117 | 0 | 8 | 1,470 | $78.16 | 86.0% |
| Other Desert Cities (Booth) |
$450,599 | 5,974 | 8 | 0 | 761 | $75.43 | 98.1% |
| Priscilla…Desert (Palace) |
$844,582 | 10,576 | 0 | 8 | 1,689 | $79.86 | 78.3% |
| Relatively Speaking (Atkinson) |
$691,942 | 8,328 | 3 | 5 | 1,076 | $83.09 | 96.7% |
| Rock of Ages (Hayes) |
$399,771 | 4,452 | 0 | 8 | 583 | $89.80 | 95.5% |
| Sister Act (Broadway) |
$735,622 | 9,854 | 0 | 8 | 1,493 | $74.65 | 82.5% |
| Spider-Man…Dark (Foxwoods) |
$1,502,153 | 14,074 | 0 | 8 | 1,930 | $106.73 | 91.2% |
| The Addams Family (Lunt-Fontanne) |
$733,874 | 9,712 | 0 | 8 | 1,519 | $75.56 | 79.9% |
| The Book of Mormon (O’Neill) |
$1,346,815 | 8,752 | 0 | 8 | 1,066 | $153.89 | 102.6% |
| The Lion King (Minskoff) |
$1,561,390 | 13,419 | 0 | 8 | 1,677 | $116.36 | 100.0% |
| The Mountaintop (Jacobs) |
$789,727 | 7,989 | 0 | 8 | 1,065 | $98.85 | 93.8% |
| The Phantom of the Opera (Majestic) |
$901,756 | 11,499 | 0 | 8 | 1,615 | $78.42 | 89.0% |
| Venus in Fur (Friedman) |
$236,482 | 4,107 | 8 | 0 | 650 | $57.58 | 79.0% |
| War Horse (Beaumont) |
$985,848 | 8,552 | 0 | 8 | 1,069 | $115.28 | 100.0% |
| Wicked (Gershwin) |
$1,698,824 | 14,454 | 0 | 8 | 1,809 | $117.53 | 99.9% |
