Broadway ticket sales remained steady through the week ending October 2. The current 22 production slate saw a slight increase in cumulative gross — up to $18,748,191 — with weekly attendance also up ever-so-slightly to 207,794.
Those numbers remain on par with receipts for the last week of September, which marked a major recovery for Broadway productions across the board.
Despite a respectable week’s ticket sales ($718,015) and attendance solid at 78 percent capacity, “Billy Elliot” producers announced on October 3 that the production’s three-year Broadway run is coming to an end.
Since its late 2008 Main Stem opening, the film-adapted tuner gained a reputation for weekly ticket sales surpassing $1 million — a number that became increasingly hard to reach in recent months. Even recent creative revisions to decrease the use of profanity and make the show more family-friendly couldn’t rally ticket sales.
“Billy Elliot’s” final Broadway performance will be January 8, 2012, after having played 40 previews and 1,304 regular performances. The musical’s cumulative gross through October 2 was just about $171.5 million.
Meanwhile, the smash-hit musical “The Book of Mormon” continued its upward trajectory, grossing more than $1.31 million through the week ending October 2 — a new high-point for the musical in its 32 weeks on the boards. Despite breaking its own best record, “Mormon” still finished the week in fourth place for total gross.
The irreverent musical came in behind regular leaders “Wicked” ($1.59 million), “The Lion King” ($1.41 million) and “Spider-Man” ($1.32 million), and just ahead of “Follies” ($1.13 million) and “Jersey Boys” ($1.05 million). With draws all on par with last week, these million-dollar shows gave Broadway its even footing through the week ending October 2.
Elsewhere on the Rialto, competitive ticket sales continued for “Relatively Speaking” and “The Mountaintop”, which both began previews in late September.
Of the two, “Relatively Speaking” remains in the lead at $664,407, but was down more than $50K from last week. Meanwhile, “The Mountaintop” is in the midst of an uptick to close the week at $584,897,” an increase of more than $170K. If the trend continues, ticket sales for both previews could equalize over the coming week.
Not all newcomers have been faring well, however. Frank Langella’s limited engagement “Man and Boy” has had dismal numbers since previews began September 9. Now less than a week out from its October 9 opening, the drama continues to gross just about 33 percent of its weekly potential, citing ticket sales of $216,636 for the week ending October 2.
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) |
$814,553 | 7,822 | 0 | 8 | 1,026 | $104.14 | 95.3% |
| Billy Elliot (Imperial) |
$718,015 | 8,878 | 0 | 8 | 1,421 | $80.88 | 78.1% |
| Chicago (Ambassador) |
$542,711 | 6,757 | 0 | 8 | 1,080 | $80.32 | 78.2% |
| Follies (Marquis) |
$1,132,226 | 12,386 | 0 | 8 | 1,612 | $91.41 | 96.0% |
| How to Succeed… (Hirschfeld) |
$868,161 | 9,678 | 0 | 8 | 1,424 | $89.70 | 85.0% |
| Jersey Boys (August Wilson) |
$1,046,561 | 9,753 | 0 | 8 | 1,228 | $107.31 | 99.3% |
| Mamma Mia! (Winter Garden) |
$819,826 | 10,171 | 0 | 8 | 1,498 | $80.60 | 84.9% |
| Man and Boy (American Airlines) |
$216,636 | 3,987 | 8 | 0 | 728 | $54.34 | 68.5% |
| Mary Poppins (New Amsterdam) |
$690,845 | 10,044 | 0 | 8 | 1,797 | $68.78 | 69.9% |
| Memphis (Shubert) |
$722,193 | 9,613 | 0 | 8 | 1,470 | $75.13 | 81.7% |
| Priscilla…Desert (Palace) |
$765,738 | 10,432 | 0 | 8 | 1,690 | $73.40 | 77.2% |
| Relatively Speaking (Atkinson) |
$664,407 | 7,978 | 8 | 0 | 1,058 | $83.28 | 94.3% |
| Rock of Ages (Hayes) |
$365,354 | 4,296 | 0 | 8 | 583 | $85.05 | 92.1% |
| Sister Act (Broadway) |
$744,742 | 10,582 | 0 | 8 | 1,493 | $70.38 | 88.6% |
| Spider-Man…Dark (Foxwoods) |
$1,324,204 | 13,209 | 0 | 8 | 1,930 | $100.25 | 85.6% |
| The Addams Family (Lunt-Fontanne) |
$635,602 | 8,994 | 0 | 8 | 1,519 | $70.67 | 74.0% |
| The Book of Mormon (O’Neill) |
$1,310,226 | 8,752 | 0 | 8 | 1,066 | $149.71 | 102.6% |
| The Lion King (Minskoff) |
$1,414,779 | 13,419 | 0 | 8 | 1,677 | $105.43 | 100.0% |
| The Mountaintop (Jacobs) |
$584,897 | 7,096 | 8 | 0 | 1,065 | $82.43 | 83.3% |
| The Phantom of the Opera (Majestic) |
$806,189 | 11,264 | 0 | 8 | 1,615 | $71.57 | 87.2% |
| War Horse (Beaumont) |
$966,578 | 8,365 | 0 | 8 | 1,069 | $115.55 | 97.8% |
| Wicked (Gershwin) |
$1,593,748 | 14,318 | 0 | 8 | 1,809 | $111.31 | 98.9% |