This Week On Broadway, Newsies And Once See Slight Decline In Capacity Following Rosh Hashanah Week, Other Shows Like The Book Of Mormon And Wicked Experienced Minor Revenue Increases


Cinderella Shows See Slight Decrease on Broadway

Newsies The Musical Broadway Show Poster

Newsies and Once, both Cinderella stories over the summer, have seen slight declines in business this post Rosh Hashanah week (both saw over 3% decrease in their total capacity). Whether or not this bodes ill for these new musicals going forward remains to be seen, but it could be that the post-Tony Awards buzz is starting to wear off- The departure of Jeremy Jordan probably didn't help, but his inclusion into NBC's "Smash" may raise awareness of his roots.

The longer-running Broadway show hits The Book of Mormon, Jersey Boys, and Wicked all experienced slight upturns in revenue, proving the value of having a well-marketed, much-buzzed-about "brand name" to sell to tourists who are looking for a title they recognize (but have probably already seen Phantom, Chicago and Mamma Mia!). Porgy and Bess received its anticipated last minute buying spree and closed with a strong 87% full and $96 average ticket paid, it actually placed ninth in highest grossing Broadway show this week - not bad for this new perspective on Gershwin's classic. Its run was rocky, but encouraging - as it did recoup its investment.

Some Shows are Facing Challenges

An Enemy of the People's struggle continues, as its average paid admission went down from an already low $44.74 last week to $39.35 this week. The other new production of a classic play to recently start performances, Cyrano de Bergerac, is also having difficulties, with its capacity falling from 74.39% to 66.27%. However, Cyrano did at least see an increase in average paid admission from $38.16 to $46.41, less papering and more paid audience. Does papering a Broadway show actually save a show, or does it create the air of desperation from which a show can never recover?

The Following are the Broadway Ticket Sales Numbers from the Week Ending September 23, 2012:

Broadway Show Ticket Analysis for week ending 9/23/12
Show NameGrossGrossTotalAttn
%Cap
AvgPaidAdm
AN ENEMY OF THE PEOPLE
$182,194
4,630
89.87%
$39.35
BRING IT ON THE MUSICAL
$371,851
6,724
63.01%
$55.30
CHAPLIN
$444,259
6,045
72.31%
$73.49
CHICAGO
$619,591
7,425
85.94%
$83.45
CYRANO DE BERGERAC
$178,864
3,854
66.27%
$46.41
EVITA
$1,045,494
10,058
77.99%
$103.95
GRACE
$465,332
6,601
76.47%
$70.49
JERSEY BOYS
$976,415
9,171
93.35%
$106.47
MAMMA MIA!
$729,744
9,040
75.43%
$80.72
MARY POPPINS
$604,542
9,026
62.79%
$66.98
NEWSIES
$800,484
9,249
96.75%
$86.55
NICE WORK IF YOU CAN GET IT
$902,213
9,252
80.37%
$97.52
ONCE
$970,686
8,060
95.23%
$120.43
PETER AND THE STARCATCHER
$294,536
5,203
62.66%
$56.61
PORGY AND BESS
$891,566
9,281
86.90%
$96.06
ROCK OF AGES
$464,585
4,412
94.60%
$105.30
SPIDER-MAN TURN OFF THE DARK
$1,113,184
11,874
76.90%
$93.75
THE BOOK OF MORMON
$1,626,122
8,752
102.63%
$185.80
THE LION KING
$1,555,752
13,222
98.55%
$117.66
THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA
$803,236
10,566
82.29%
$76.02
WAR HORSE
$535,858
7,067
82.64%
$75.83
WICKED
$1,495,735
13,562
93.71%
$110.29
Total:
$17,072,241
183,074
82.57%
$88.56

*Broadway Grosses provided courtesy of The Broadway League