Broadway ticket sales dropped nearly $2 million this past week as 16 of the 27 productions lost ground at the box office. “Sister Act” at the Broadway Theatre led the decrease in sales, dropping more than $250,000 from its previous total.

Overall, ticket sales totaled 21,841,230 for the week. Total revenue for this season so far is $110,425,882, up 1 percent over the same point last year of $109,298,094.

Six productions reported box office receipts in excess of $1 million this week: “Wicked” at the Gershwin at $1,835,710, “The Lion King” at the Minskoff, $1,753,577, “Spider-Man: Turn off the Dark” at the Foxwoods, $1,690,103, “The Book of Mormon” at the Eugene O’Neill, $1,251,015, “How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying” at the Al Hirschfeld, $1,132,532 and “Mary Poppins” at the New Amsterdam. The play “Master Class” at the Friedman Theatre, in its third week of previews, again reported the lowest return at the box office, $239,204.

“Bengal Tiger at the Baghdad Zoo” posted an impressive boost in ticket sales in its closing week, up more than 20 percent from the previous period, though still achieving only 36.76 percent of its Gross Gross potential. Looking at the returns of the remaining six plays, “War Horse” at the Beaumont continues to lead ticket sales at $981,613, up from the previous week’s sales of $960,285. “The Motherf**ker With The Hat” at the Broadway posted a distant second at $675,096.

ticketflipping provides valuable tools for ticket resale professionals

Attendance was up slightly this week from 87.41 percent to 87.67 percent. Nine shows reported 95 percent or better capacity with four shows reporting 100 percent or more. The musical “The Book of Mormon” repeated the last two-week’s 102.43 percent, followed by “Anything Goes” at the Stephen Sondheim, 100.69 percent, “War Horse” at the Beaumont, 100.04 percent and “The Lion King” at 100.01 percent. “Rain: A Tribute to the Beatles” at the Brooks Atkinson reported the smallest percentage at 63.24.

Looking at Gross Gross Potential, three shows achieved 95 percent or better: “Wicked,” 117.19 percent, up from 116.87 percent the previous week, “The Book of Mormon,” 105.27 percent, up from 102.29 percent and “The Lion King,” 103.75, up from 103.43 percent. Reporting the lowest figure was “Rain” at 29.38 percent.

A stunning Top Ticket of $477.00 was for “The Book of Mormon.” Five other productions posted tickets with face values at or exceeding $300. They were “Jersey Boys” at $350 followed by “How to Succeed in Business” at $302, with the $300 price tag for “Bengal Tiger,” “The Addams Family” and “Wicked.” “Rain: A Tribute to the Beatles” offered the best bargain-priced average ticket at $49.63.

All data provided by The Broadway League

Broadway Gross Ticket Sales
Week Ending June 3, 2011

Production
(Theatre)
Weekly Gross Total Atten. Prev. Perf. Total Capacity Avg. Ticket Price Atten. %
Anything Goes
(Sondheim)
$875,398 8,265 0 8 1,026 $105.92 100.7%
Baby It’s You!
(Broadhurst)
$387,647 7,141 0 8 1,141 $54.28 78.2%
Bengal Tiger…
(Rodgers)
$462,927 6,869 0 8 1,356 $67.39 63.3%
Billy Elliot
(Imperial)
$880,874 10,587 0 8 1,421 $83.20 93.1%
Catch Me…
(Simon)
$698,495 10,227 0 8 1,422 $68.30 89.9%
Chicago
(Ambassador)
$584,230 7,161 0 8 1,080 $81.58 82.9%
Ghetto Klown
(Lyceum)
$289,574 4,455 0 6 907 $65.00 81.9%
How to Succeed…
(Hirschfeld)
$1,132,532 11,345 0 8 1,424 $99.83 99.6%
Jersey Boys
(August Wilson)
$979,761 9,646 0 8 1,228 $101.57 98.2%
Jerusalem
Music Box
$399,748 5,923 0 8 997 $67.49 74.3%
Mamma Mia!
(Winter Garden)
$792,888 9,471 0 8 1,498 $83.72 79.0%
Mary Poppins
(New Amsterdam)
$1,005,341 12,951 0 8 1,797 $77.63 90.1%
Master Class
(Friedman)
$239,204 4,711 8 0 650 $50.78 90.6%
Memphis
(Shubert)
$728,280 9,948 0 8 1,470 $73.21 84.6%
Priscilla…Desert
(Palace)
$760,804 8,968 0 8 1,689 $84.84 66.4%
Rain
(Atkinson)
$265,645 5,353 0 8 1,058 $49.63 63.2%
Rock of Ages
(Hayes)
$348,529 4,223 0 8 583 $82.53 90.5%
Sister Act
(Broadway)
$738,755 9,593 0 8 1,749 $77.01 68.6%
Spider-Man…Dark
(Foxwoods)
$1,690,103 15,174 0 8 1,930 $111.38 98.3%
The Addams Family
(Lunt-Fontanne)
$625,653 11,058 0 8 1,519 $56.58 91.0%
The Book of Mormon
(O’Neill)
$1,251,015 8,752 0 8 1,068 $142.94 102.4%
The Lion King
(Minskoff)
$1,753,577 13,418 0 8 1,677 $130.69 100.0%
The Mother****…Hat
(Schoenfeld)
$675,096 8,104 0 8 1,071 $83.30 94.6%
The Normal Heart
(Golden)
$531,788 6,358 0 8 804 $83.64 98.8%
The Phantom of the Opera
(Majestic)
$926,045 11,667 0 8 1,615 $79.37 90.3%
War Horse
(Beaumont)
$981,613 8,555 0 8 1,069 $114.74 100.0%
Wicked
(Gershwin)
$1,835,710 14,400 0 8 1,809 $127.48 99.5%
vegas.com advertisement