Broadway Show Ticket Sales Analysis W/E 02/08/2015 Where Fish In The Dark Begins Its Run With Brilliant Box Office Results. If/Then Struggles After Hiatus.


“Fish in the Dark” Strong Out Of The Gates

On February 2, 2015, Larry David’s Fish in the Dark began previews at the Cort Theatre. In its first week of seven performances, it fared brilliantly at the box office. As previously reported, this play broke advance box office records due to the notoriety of its writer and star, Larry David, who rose to fame principally through the TV show Curb Your Enthusiasm as well as through co-creating Seinfeld.

In the week ending February 8, 2015, the show brought in a weekly gross of $993,940, which is especially not bad given that was with only seven performances. It made 113.39% of its gross potential, with an average paid admission of $130.95 and a top ticket price of $423.00. Miraculously, it had the fifth highest gross this week on Broadway, following only the mega hit musicals The Lion King, The Book of Mormon, Wicked, and Aladdin. Once again, that was with one fewer performance that week than the other shows.

“If/Then” Struggling Following Week-Long Hiatus

Idina Menzel, the star of the presently running musical If/Then, took a weeklong hiatus from performing in that show in order to travel to Phoenix, Arizona to sing the National Anthem at Super Bowl XLIX on February 1, 2015. Without her, the producers felt it best to cancel performances for that entire week, rather than bring in an understudy.

Menzel’s fame is clearly soaring, due in large part to her recent success playing the lead part and singing the hit song “Let It Go” from the Disney animated film Frozen, as well as John Travolta’s heavily referenced flub of her name, calling her Adele Dazeem. It is for this reason she was asked to sing the National Anthem at the Super Bowl.

Menzel Is Proving To Have Star Power

However, If/Then isn’t doing quite as well. It’s clear that without Menzel at center stage, this musical would be faring even less well. Still, in the first week back after this week-long hiatus, the musical brought in $563,156, which was only 43.65% of its gross potential. With an average paid ticket price of $76.71, the show is clearly doing a lot of discounting. Still, it only managed to reach an average capacity of 70.0%.

The following are the Broadway ticket sales numbers for the week ending February 8, 2015:

Broadway-Show-Ticket-Analysis-2-8-15
Show Name GrossGross Total Attn %Capacity AvgPdAdm
A DELICATE BALANCE $456,872 4,427 69.00% $103.20
A GENTLEMAN’S GUIDE TO LOVE AND MURDER $584,938 5,838 80.46% $100.19
ALADDIN $1,203,871 13,090 94.97% $91.97
BEAUTIFUL $966,461 7,330 89.30% $131.85
CABARET $932,882 7,016 98.21% $132.96
CHICAGO $447,331 5,903 68.32% $75.78
CONSTELLATIONS $530,585 5,132 98.69% $103.39
DISGRACED $333,741 4,633 63.09% $72.04
FISH IN THE DARK $993,940 7,590 101.05% $130.95
HEDWIG AND THE ANGRY INCH $473,945 4,507 74.59% $105.16
HONEYMOON IN VEGAS $359,163 4,849 51.63% $74.07
IF/THEN $563,156 7,341 69.99% $76.71
IT’S ONLY A PLAY $474,936 5,633 65.38% $84.31
JERSEY BOYS $616,604 6,870 69.93% $89.75
KINKY BOOTS $819,594 8,385 73.60% $97.75
LES MISÉRABLES $511,848 6,773 60.09% $75.57
MAMMA MIA! $362,236 5,157 55.29% $70.24
MATILDA $692,151 9,328 81.42% $74.20
ON THE TOWN $379,914 5,420 36.15% $70.09
THE BOOK OF MORMON $1,455,237 8,715 102.19% $166.98
THE CURIOUS INCIDENT OF THE DOG IN THE NIGHT-TIME $738,815 7,130 87.55% $103.62
THE ELEPHANT MAN $721,450 4,651 100.15% $155.12
THE LION KING $1,463,314 13,180 96.91% $111.03
THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA $583,683 7,818 60.89% $74.66
THE RIVER $503,377 5,703 102.42% $88.27
WICKED $1,262,017 12,266 84.76% $102.89
YOU CAN’T TAKE IT WITH YOU $334,244 4,507 52.50% $74.16
Totals $18,766,304 189,192 77.35% $97.66

Broadway ticket sales raw data are provided courtesy of The Broadway League All other data, text, opinion, charts and commentary are copyright © 2015 nytix.com