Overall ticket sales on the Great White Way fell slightly through the week ending September 23, but Broadway newcomers shined as they made significant gains this week.
According to figures posted by The Broadway League, receipts totaled $17 million through Sunday, a $330,000 decrease from the previous week. Fourteen shows experienced a decrease, while just eight saw an increase. Two shows in particular had a successful week in terms of sales — one a Broadway newcomer and the other, which played its final performance this week.
It was a good week for several Broadway newcomers. The new show “Grace” more than doubled its ticket sales over last week with receipts totaling $465,332, up $245,388. The show has earned a total of $685,276 in ticket sales since opening two weeks ago at the Cort Theatre, according to BroadwayWorld.com. “Cyrano de Bergerac” also experienced a significant gain with sales up $75,680 and receipts totaling $178,864.
J. William Bruce, sales representative for Applause-Tickets.com, told TicketNews that he is not surprised when it comes to the increase in ticket sales for “Grace,” as it is one of the few new shows on Broadway at the moment. “As we get later into October we will see more shows opening up so unless [‘Grace’] gets great reviews it will probably stay at about the same more or less.”
“An Enemy of the People,” had the greatest increase in capacity, up 12 percent, with an audience at 90 percent capacity. Ticket sales for the show increased only slightly; up $3,021 compared to the $20,509 jump in sales the previous week.
According to Bruce, the show is produced by the Manhattan Theatre Club, which is a subscriber-based theatre and offers tickets at a lesser rate than most shows, offering subscribers a reduced rate. “Therefore the average ticket price is less than most other shows,” Bruce told TicketNews via email.
“The Book of Mormon” held on to the top spot at the box office for the third consecutive week, playing to a packed house at 102.6 percent capacity, with ticket sales totaling $1.63 million. “Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark” and “Evita” are still top contenders despite their significant drop in sales this week. “Evita” had the greatest decrease with sales down nearly $130,000 and “Spider-Man” had the second greatest loss with sales down $109,138, according to Playbill.com — both managed to stay above the $1 million mark.
Ticket sales for “Chaplin” continued to fall through Sunday, down $16,666 from the previous week. The show, which has received mixed reviews, had the fifth lowest gross ($444,259) and capacity (72.3 percent) this week, according to Broadway.com.
Bruce told TicketNews that the drop in ticket sales does not surprise him since most shows see a decrease in September, but he expects things will pick up deeper into the fall.
Broadway said goodbye to another show this week. The Tony-winning revival of “Porgy and Bess” played their final performance, earning $891,566 in ticket sales, an increase of $97,324 over the previous week. The musical, which officially opened in January 2012 and had its run extended twice, ended its time on Broadway with gross sales totaling $25.4 million over 322 performances.
Broadway Gross Ticket Sales
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| Production (Theatre) |
Weekly Gross | Total Atten. | Prev. | Perf. | Total Capacity | Avg. Ticket Price | Atten. % |
| An Enemy…People (Friedman) |
$182,194 | 4,630 | 8 | 0 | 644 | $39.35 | 89.9% |
| Bring It On (St. James) |
$371,851 | 6,724 | 0 | 8 | 1,334 | $55.30 | 63.0% |
| Chaplin (Barrymore) |
$444,259 | 6,045 | 0 | 8 | 1,045 | $73.49 | 72.3% |
| Chicago (Ambassador) |
$619,591 | 7,425 | 0 | 8 | 1,080 | $83.45 | 85.9% |
| Cyrano de Bergerac (American Airlines) |
$178,864 | 3,854 | 8 | 0 | 727 | $46.41 | 66.3% |
| Evita (Marquis) |
$1,045,494 | 10,058 | 0 | 8 | 1,612 | $103.95 | 78.0% |
| Grace (Cort) |
$465,332 | 6,601 | 8 | 0 | 1,079 | $70.49 | 76.5% |
| Jersey Boys (August Wilson) |
$976,415 | 9,171 | 0 | 8 | 1,228 | $106.47 | 93.4% |
| Mamma Mia! (Winter Garden) |
$729,744 | 9,040 | 0 | 8 | 1,498 | $80.72 | 75.4% |
| Mary Poppins (New Amsterdam) |
$604,542 | 9,026 | 0 | 8 | 1,797 | $66.98 | 62.8% |
| Newsies (Nederlander) |
$800,484 | 9,249 | 0 | 8 | 1,195 | $86.55 | 96.7% |
| Nice Work If You Can Get It (Imperial) |
$902,213 | 9,252 | 0 | 8 | 1,439 | $97.52 | 80.4% |
| Once (Jacobs) |
$970,686 | 8,060 | 0 | 8 | 1,058 | $120.43 | 95.2% |
| Peter and the Starcatcher (Atkinson) |
$294,536 | 5,203 | 0 | 8 | 1,038 | $56.61 | 62.7% |
| Porgy and Bess (Rodgers) |
$891,566 | 9,281 | 0 | 8 | 1,335 | $96.06 | 86.9% |
| Rock of Ages (Hayes) |
$464,585 | 4,412 | 0 | 8 | 583 | $105.30 | 94.6% |
| Spider-Man…Dark (Foxwoods) |
$1,113,184 | 11,874 | 0 | 8 | 1,930 | $93.75 | 76.9% |
| The Book of Mormon (O’Neill) |
$1,626,122 | 8,752 | 0 | 8 | 1,066 | $185.80 | 102.6% |
| The Lion King (Minskoff) |
$1,555,752 | 13,222 | 0 | 8 | 1,677 | $117.66 | 98.6% |
| The Phantom of the Opera (Majestic) |
$803,236 | 10,566 | 0 | 8 | 1,605 | $76.02 | 82.3% |
| War Horse (Beaumont) |
$535,858 | 7,067 | 0 | 8 | 1,069 | $75.83 | 82.6% |
| Wicked (Gershwin) |
$1,495,735 | 13,562 | 0 | 8 | 1,809 | $110.29 | 93.7% |
| Wicked (Gershwin) |
$1,508,501 | 14,109 | 0 | 8 | 1,809 | $106.92 | 97.5% |
| Wit (Friedman) |
$232,701 | 4,016 | 0 | 8 | 650 | $57.94 | 77.2% |
All data provided by The Broadway League.
