Broadway consists of the 40 professional theaters scattered across New York City’s Theatre District, including the Ambassador, Imperial, Majestic, and Shubert Theatres, among others. Collectively, the theaters are quoted to bring in over $900 million dollars a year. Theatre in New York got its foot-hold during the mid-to-late 1700s, at which time The Park, The Bowery, and The Astor Place Theatres were established. Originally focusing on the works of Shakespeare, Broadway moved in the musical direction during the mid-1800s with productions of “The Black Crook,” and the Gilbert and Sullivan “H.M.S. Pinafore,” among others. Actors on Broadway make a big distinction between their profession on what they call the “legitimate stage,” and other more variety oriented acts like vaudeville and burlesque.
Current masterpieces to hit Broadway for the 2009-2010 season include “Chicago,” “South Pacific,” “Wicked,” “Hair,” “Phantom of the Opera,” “The Lion King,” and “Jersey Boys,” to name a few.
Broadway ticket sales continued to improve for the week ending April 27, as the warmer weather appears to be heating up box office receipts. Total ticket sales (excluding Young Frankenstein, which is still not reporting figures) reached $20,335,690, an improvement over the prior week’s gross of $18,791,333 and only...
Read more
Broadway ticket sales for the week ending April 20, 2008 held steady with a take of $18,791,333, a slight increase over the previous week’s tally of $18,543,795. While this is good news for in the short term, the amount is still below the same period from last season, however,...
Read more
Broadway ticket sales, which have been on a bit of a rollercoaster ride as of late, improved for the week ending April 13 compared to the previous reporting period. Last week’s low was $17,944,821 compared to this week’s tally of $18,543,795, not counting the revenue of Young Frankenstein. The...
Read more
From Los Angeles to New York to London, it’s been a long road to Broadway but Lyle Kessler’s dark comedy “Orphans” will arrive on the Great White Way in January, 2009. Film star Al Pacino has been courted for the role of Harold, a businessman who is kidnapped by...
Read more
This season has seen its share of revivals of tried-and-true musical gems. Now it appears that “Brigadoon,” the Scottish village that appears out of the mist every hundred years, will appear once again to theatergoers on Broadway. Ostar Productions and producer Liza Lerner announced this week that the revival...
Read more
Just when things looked so rosy for Broadway ticket sales, figures for the week ending April 6 took a bit of a nosedive. The total sum of box office sales was $17,944,821, considerably lower than the same week last year, as well as lower than the more than $21...
Read more
Another up-and-coming week as Broadway box offices continue to thrive. The figures are all good; ticket sales for the week ending March 30 were $21,156,392 (not including figures from Young Frankenstein), almost a cool $2 million more than the same week last season and up from last week’s great...
Read more
Rent, the seventh-longest running show on Broadway, had its “lease” extended. Instead of closing on June 1 as planned, producers announced this week that overwhelming ticket demand caused them to change their minds and extend the musical until Sept. 7, and ticket holders who bought tickets to the original...
Read more
Broadway ticket sales for the week ending March 23 continued to show solid signs of life. To paraphrase the old saying, O, Broadway—How do we love thee? Let us count the ways! First, there are no less than six shows, all musicals, in the million-dollar club for the week:...
Read more
Spring is in sight as sure as the time change over the weekend, and it seems only fitting that the fiscal temperature on Broadway begins to thaw with the warming weather. The total Broadway box office receipts for this past week ending March 9, excluding Young Frankenstein which is...
Read more
