BROADWAY TICKET REVENUE RISES
There was an uptick in total Broadway ticket sales this week, with earnings rising from just a little above 17 million last week to $18,085,583.

KINKY BOOTS STRUTS ITS STUFF
So far Kinky Boots, which boasts a score by pop songstress Cyndi Lauper, is looking like one of the more promising new musicals of the season.  It began previews last week and enjoyed 100% attendance, and still saw an impressive 96.84% of the theater filled this week.  The actual ticket earnings are not nearly as good, coming in at $66.06 average paid admission this week, but so far there has been strong buzz indicating that the show is a crowd pleaser.

MATILDA, BREAKFAST, AND VANYA DEBUT
The musical Matilda, a hot property coming in from London, and the play Breakfast at Tiffany’s both began preview performances on Broadway this week.  Good word-of-mouth from the West End production helped fill Matilda to 96.10% capacity, with an average paid admission of $77.15.  Breakfast at Tiffany’s, based on the Truman Capote story, didn’t start off quite as well, earning just $57.05 per ticket, but 81.05% attendance isn’t bad for a new play. Another newcomer, Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike, saw a disappointing average admission of $54.79, but a healthy 88.66% of the theater filled.

The following are the Broadway ticket sales numbers from the week ending March 10, 2013:

Broadway ticket sales raw data are provided courtesy of The Broadway League All other data, text, opinion, charts and commentary are copyright © 2012 nytix.com

BROADWAY TICKET SALES DROP AGAIN This week sees yet another decrease in Broadway’s total ticket revenue.  Broadway’s earnings are down by more than a million from last week, coming in at a total of $17,192,695.

LUCKY GUY STARTS HIGH A surprise to no one, the new Nora Ephron play Lucky Guy — starring Tom Hanks, making his Broadway debut — has begun Broadway previews on a financial high.  Selling out at 101.74%, the show is earning an average paid admission of $153.17.  For offering audiences the unique experience of seeing one of the world’s favorite movie stars on the Broadway stage, it is expected that Lucky Guy will continue to do great numbers during its run.

FOUR SHOWS TAKE A FINAL BOW Four Broadway shows concluded this week, all ending their runs with respectable numbers.  Barry Manilow’s Manilow on Broadway did the best, taking in an average paid admission of $120.38 in its final week.  The long-running Disney family favorite Mary Poppins enjoyed a full theater in its last week, with 97.60% attendance.  Well-reviewed plays The Other Place and Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? had good (if not great) sales, each earning over $300,000 for the week.

MARY POPPINS FINISHES STRONG AFTER 6 YEARS OF PRODUCTION
After announcing closing in early January, Mary Poppins finished strong with a gross for over a million dollars in Broadway ticket sales this past week.  Gross ticket sales averaged $650,000 (by week) from January to mid-February.  It was not until the final 3 weeks that the Broadway show experienced an elevation in sales.  Mary Poppins ended their 6 year production consecutively breaking 1 million dollars in gross ticket sales in the production’s final weeks.

The following are the Broadway ticket sales numbers from the week ending March 3, 2013:

Broadway ticket sales raw data are provided courtesy of The Broadway League All other data, text, opinion, charts and commentary are copyright © 2012 nytix.com

TOTAL BROADWAY TICKET SALES DECREASE
Following last week’s big increase to $19,053,138, this week Broadway saw a dip in total ticket revenue as sales dropped down to $18,315,913. As with most winters, Broadway has continued to see ticket sales go up and down, with mostly very modest numbers overall. But fortunately spring is around the corner, so Broadway can expect to see ticket sales steadily increase as new Broadway shows open.

NEW SHOWS START SLOW
Two new shows, the one-woman play Ann and the new musical Hands on a Hardbody, have just started preview performances on Broadway, but so far they have seen only modest ticket sales. Ann, which stars Holland Taylor as Texas governor Ann Richards, filled its theater to 61.94% capacity with an average paid admission of $54.38. At 88.55% capacity, Hands on a Hardbody did a better job of getting people in seats, but the average admission was only $57.86 per ticket.

THE LION KING ON TOP THIS WEEK
Six Broadway shows earned over one million dollars this week, including popular newcomer Cinderella, soon-to-be-closing Mary Poppins (no doubt enjoying last-minute business from people who want to see it before it goes), Spiderman, The Book of Mormon, and Wicked. The top earner was Disney’s The Lion King, bringing in $1,779,324.

The following are the Broadway ticket sales numbers from the week ending February 24, 2013:

Broadway ticket sales raw data are provided courtesy of The Broadway League
All other data, text, opinion, charts and commentary are copyright © 2012 nytix.com

BIG JUMP IN BROADWAY TICKET SALES
Total Broadway ticket revenue saw a $4 million increase this week, leaping from the previous week’s very poor $15,048,035 up to $19,053,138. Part of the credit for the increase likely goes to the fact that this was a holiday weekend (President’s Day weekend) and holidays are typically a popular time for Broadway shows.

BIG HITS OF THE WEEK
Surprisingly there were a grand total of seven Broadway shows that made it over the million mark this week. As usual, the Top 3 was made up of The Book of Mormon, The Lion King, and Wicked (which earned the most at $1,875,920). The other million dollar babies were Mary Poppins, Spiderman, Once, and newcomer Cinderella.

CINDERELLA SELLS OUT
Following its very promising first week, Cinderella is already looking like it may be the big Broadway hit of the spring season. The theater was filled to 100% capacity this week, and it earned a total of $1,056,544.

The following are the Broadway ticket sales numbers from the week ending February 17, 2013:

Broadway ticket sales raw data are provided courtesy of The Broadway League
All other data, text, opinion, charts and commentary are copyright © 2012 nytix.com

BROADWAY TICKET SALES TAKE ANOTHER DIVE
Broadway’s overall ticket revenue dipped even further this week, dropping from the already low $16,564,311 down to $15,048,035.  Blame for the decrease can be given to winter storm Nemo, which meteorologists began hyping early in the week.  The snow began battering New York City on Friday afternoon, carrying on through the night.  Though Broadway shows weathered the storm and kept their doors open, some methods of transportation into the city experienced temporary closures and delays, making it difficult for commuters to come in to see Broadway shows.  Furthermore, the weather forecaster-inspired hysteria surrounding the winter storm most likely spooked many would-be Broadway ticket buyers into staying away from Broadway all weekend, despite the fact that the storm was effectively over by Saturday morning and public transit within the city was running just fine.

THE HEIRESS DOES WELL DURING FINAL WEEK
One of the more successful play revivals on Broadway this season, The Heiress ended its limited run on a high note, nearly selling out its theater at 96.65% capacity at an average paid admission of $101.04.  The production no doubt has enjoyed a boost from the fact that its two stars are both in hot properties right now — Jessica Chastain in the film Zero Dark Thirty and Dan Stevens in the popular PBS drama Downton Abbey, currently airing its third season.

The following are the Broadway ticket sales numbers from the week ending February 10, 2013:

Broadway ticket sales raw data are provided courtesy of The Broadway League
All other data, text, opinion, charts and commentary are copyright © 2012 nytix.com

SLIGHT DECREASE IN OVERALL BROADWAY SALES
This week Broadway saw a small decrease in total ticket revenue, dipping to an overall take of $16,564,311, down from $17,182,845 the previous week. This is the lowest amount that Broadway has earned in total ticket sales since the week ending 11/4/2012, when Broadway sales were at approximately 13 and a half million due to the after-effects of the destructive
super-storm Sandy.

BARRY MANILOW ON BROADWAY
New York native Barry Manilow has returned to his hometown and taken over a Broadway theater for a limited engagement. The pop icon had to cancel a few performances of Manilow on Broadway due to sickness, making for a rocky start, but nonetheless he enjoyed great total sales of $796,714 at an average paid admission of $119.61. Barry Manilow does not necessarily command a huge percentage of the traditional Broadway audience, but enough “fanilows” came out to fill 81.68% of the theater.

SALES FOR CAT ON A HOT TIN ROOF FALL
Cat on a Hot Tin Roof has been seeing its initially strong numbers falling over the last few weeks. For a classic play revival, an average paid admission of $98.41 is perfectly respectable, but this particular revival happens to feature film star Scarlett Johansson, making it surprising that the theater was only at 66.39% capacity this week. Part of the problem is
no doubt due to the winter blues, but it also may be that Broadway is less hospitable to big stars in plays than it has been in the past, as we saw the Katie Holmes-starring Dead Accounts also bring in poor numbers last fall. Grace, starring Paul Rudd, also under-performed earlier in the season.

The following are the Broadway ticket sales numbers from the week ending February 3, 2013:

Broadway ticket sales raw data are provided courtesy of The Broadway League
All other data, text, opinion, charts and commentary are copyright © 2012 nytix.com

Ricky Martin in Evita on Broadway

BROADWAY TICKET SALES DOWN AGAIN
Total Broadway ticket sales appear to be in a bit of a yo-yo pattern this month, having been at nearly $18 million a couple weeks ago, jumping up to more than $19 million last week, and now back down to $17,182,845.

EVITA ENDS ITS RUN STILL TOPPING ONE MILLION
The Broadway revival of Evita starring Ricky Martin concluded its Broadway run this past Saturday.  Due largely to Martin’s presence, the Andrew Lloyd Webber / Tim Rice musical has enjoyed big numbers throughout its run, frequently topping the million mark in weekly ticket sales.  This week was no exception, with Evita bringing in $1,018,693 for its final week.  However, the show by no means sold out its large theater, not quite reaching 80% capacity, and selling tickets at an average admission price of $99.01.

CINDERELLA STARTS STRONG
Cinderella made a big impression during her first week at the Broadway ball.  The Rodgers & Hammerstein musical filled its theater to 98.82% capacity, selling tickets at an average paid admission of $103.63.  These numbers, along with continued strong sales from Annie, indicate that Broadway audiences are hungry for family-friendly shows beyond the Disney brand, which has tended to monopolize that market with The Lion King and the soon-to-be-closing Mary Poppins.

The following are the Broadway ticket sales numbers from the week ending January 27, 2013:

Broadway ticket sales raw data are provided courtesy of The Broadway League
All other data, text, opinion, charts and commentary are copyright © 2012 nytix.com

MODEST INCREASE IN BROADWAY TICKET SALES
Following last week’s nosedive in Broadway ticket revenue, this week saw total ticket sales increase by nearly two million dollars, raising from $17,802,126 to $19,579,646. Barring a miracle, though, the winter doldrums are likely to ensure that Broadway sales remain modest for the next couple months.

GLENGARRY, GOLDEN BOY, AND PETER END THEIR RUNS
Three Broadway plays sold their final tickets last week, as their runs concluded on January 20. Glengarry Glen Ross featuring Al Pacino went out with a bang, one of just six shows to make over a million this week — and the only one of those that’s a play (the other Millionaire Club members were The Book of Mormon, The Lion King, Spiderman, Evita, and the week’s top earner, Wicked). Golden Boy enjoyed better than usual attendance during its final week, filling the theater to 84.35% capacity. And Peter and the Starcatcher performed respectably, earning a total of $502,223, with an average paid admission of $79.55.

BARRY MANILOW COMES TO BROADWAY
Grammy Award winning songwriter and recording artist Barry Manilow began performances of his limited-run Barry Manilow on Broadway concerts, and so far his fans have been coming out in droves. Filling the theater to 88.47% capacity, the show sold tickets at an impressive average paid admission of $155.22.

The following are the Broadway ticket sales numbers from the week ending January 20, 2013:

Broadway ticket sales raw data are provided courtesy of The Broadway League
All other data, text, opinion, charts and commentary are copyright © 2012 nytix.com

TOTAL BROADWAY TICKET SALES TAKE A DIVE
The warm glow of Christmas and the cheer of New Year’s has thoroughly worn off as the chill of winter sales has settled in.  Broadway’s total ticket sales revenue dropped by several million from the previous week’s $24,501,265 all the way down to $17,802,126.  Following several show closings on January 6, there were five fewer Broadway shows playing this past week, which no doubt contributed to the lower numbers.  But, mostly, the poor sales are simply due to the annual Broadway winter blues.  January is a notoriously bad month on the Great White Way, with all of the tourists having returned home from Christmas vacation and all the locals saving their pennies after having spent so many of them over the holidays.

CAT ON A HOT TIN ROOF FARING WELL SO FAR
The only show that has dared to start performances so far during this bleak time on Broadway, the Rob Ashford-directed revival of the Tennessee Williams’ classic Cat on a Hot Tin Roof has been doing well so far, filling its theater to 85.15% capacity and selling tickets at an average paid admission of $89.02.  Most play productions could not expect to enjoy such (relatively) high numbers, but Cat on a Hot Tin Roof has the advantage of a high-profile cast headed by film star Scarlett Johansson (The Avengers).

MILLIONAIRES’ CLUB DWINDLES TO FOUR
Many Broadway shows, such as Annie, Evita, and Mary Poppins, soared past the million dollar mark during the bounty of the holiday period, but this week only four shows managed to make more than that.  The top three shows were the usual suspects, Wicked, The Book of Mormon, and The Lion King, with The Book of Mormon just barely coming out on top with a total of $1,630,961.  The fourth entry was Spiderman, Turn Off the Dark, which earned $1,129,755.

The following are the Broadway ticket sales numbers from the week ending January 13, 2013:

Broadway ticket sales raw data are provided courtesy of The Broadway League
All other data, text, opinion, charts and commentary are copyright © 2012 nytix.com

BROADWAY TICKET SALES DROP FROM LAST WEEK’S HIGH

The following are the Broadway ticket sales numbers from the week ending January 6, 2013:

Broadway ticket sales raw data are provided courtesy of The Broadway League
All other data, text, opinion, charts and commentary are copyright © 2012 nytix.com