NEW BROADWAY SHOWS BOOST GROSS TICKET REVENUE

Broadway saw a bigger leap in total ticket sales this past week, as the revenue surged from $20,614,956 to $22,023,787.  Some of that is due to increased interest in existing shows, but most of the increase comes as a result of three new Broadway shows appearing on the boards this week.

GLENGARRY GLEN ROSS REPORTS OUTSTANDING TICKET SALES
David Mamet’s Glengarry Glen Ross made an impressive debut, selling 99.88% of the theater at an average paid admission of a whopping $164.47 (second only to The Book of Mormon, at $189.13 per ticket).  These numbers would normally be considered extraordinary for a revival of a Broadway play, but they are a little less surprising when you consider Glengarry Glen Ross stars the legendary actor Al Pacino.

THE ORIGINAL JERSEY BOYS TAKE BROADWAY
Another newcomer, Frankie Valli and The Four Seasons on Broadway, also showed enviable numbers, filling the Broadway Theatre to 96.10% capacity, with an average paid admission of $125.00.  This limited-run concert event is not only a big draw for fans of 1960s pop music, but it is also no doubt bringing in fans of the hit musical Jersey Boys who appreciate the opportunity to see the real-life Jersey boy Frankie Valli singing live on Broadway. The show doesn’t have any of the other members of the original singing group other than Mr Valli, but fans don’t seem to care, driving the show to robust ticket sales.

EDWIN DROOD STARTS PREVIEWS ON BROADWAY
The third new Broadway show this week, The Mystery of Edwin Drood, did not make as big of an impression, but it has not yet had enough performances to give a very clear sense of what kind of ticket sales it might have (hence the very small gross of $176,694).  So far, though, it is filling at 86.72% at a very low average paid admission ticket price of $41.12.  This musical, based on an unfinished Charles Dickens novel, rarely gets produced and has a clever gimmick of allowing the audience to choose the ending, so it could easily benefit from positive word-of-mouth as Broadway previews continue.

The following are the Broadway ticket sales numbers from the week ending October 21, 2012:

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 NUMBERS RISE STEADILY
Following last week’s impressive $3 million jump in ticket sales, total weekly revenue on Broadway seems to be on a slow and steadily upward trend, with a roughly $500,000 increase since last week.  As more new Broadway shows start performances, which is happening every week now, the numbers are certain to continue to rise.

LEWIS BLACK MAKES GOOD SHOWING IN SHORT RUN ON BROADWAY
Comedian Lewis Black’s limited-run one-man show Running on Empty made a fine showing in its debut week, filling the theater to 100% capacity and earning an average paid admission price of $89.30.  Given that it is an extremely limited engagement (scheduled to play only from October 9-20), has a relatively low ticket price for a Broadway show, and taking into account that Black has a built-in cult following of comedy fans, it is not surprising that Running on Empty is already a success.  Its next and final week is likely to do just as well.

BROADWAY MUSICAL SCANDALOUS BEGINS PREVIEWS
Another Broadway newcomer, Scandalous, is not faring quite as well so far.  Its 88.68% theater capacity is fairly strong, but the average paid admission is quite low at $55.33.  The fact that the new musical is getting quite a bit of exposure on The Today Show due to Kathie Lee Gifford’s involvement (she penned the book and lyrics) has helped fill seats, but clearly most people are taking advantage of the show’s discounts, which have been readily available for weeks. It also appears that “Papering” is in effect for this show, which has a dramatic effect on the average price paid, dragging it down to be the least profitable show on Broadway, something the producers will not be able to afford to do in the long term.

TRENDS AMONG TOP SHOWS CONTINUE
Nice Work If You Can Get It, which joined the millionaire’s club last week when it brought in over a $1 million in weekly revenue, is continuing strong at $1,076,731 in total sales.  Evita, Jersey Boys, Once, Spider-Man the Musical, The Book of Mormon, The Lion King, and Wicked are the only other Broadway shows that made over one million last week, with The Lion King and Wicked narrowly beating out The Book of Mormon in total sales as they did last week due to the fact that their theaters are so much larger and they have more seats to sell.  The Book of Mormon continues to get the most bang for its buck by far, receiving an average paid admission of $189.63 (compared to The Lion King‘s $132.93).

THE LION KING AND WICKED TAKE TOP BROADWAY SALES SPOT AGAIN
Last week, The Lion King and Wicked surpassed The Book of Mormon in Gross Sales for the first time ever, mostly due to the increase in average ticket prices for the holiday week.  This week, Broadway producers went back to their normal non-holiday prices and although the top three Broadway shows sold 100% of their of their tickets, the Lion King won again, beating Wicked by $78,000 and pounding Book of Mormon by over $100,000 into third place, identifying in shift in fortunes.

The Book of Mormon has been sold-out continuously for the last year, but the relatively small size of the theater seems to be limiting the amount of sales revenue this Broadway show can generate. Mormon has only one variable factor left that they can adjust to improve overall sales revenue and that is their base ticket price.  But even with the highest average face-value ticket price on Broadway, The Book of Mormon has continued to sell-out making it appear that their tickets are still under priced, even at this high price  - consumers appear to be willing to pay much higher prices for this show and are less sensitive to price than the producers anticipated. No comment from the show on the thinking behind this, but the forums seem to indicate that its an honorable, albeit naive, move because they do not want to appear to be price gouging their audience – but that’s exactly what happens when the after market ticket brokers get hold of their tickets and when this kind of profit yield left on the table for them to grab, money that should belong to the production itself rather then in ticket brokers pockets. In our value analysis, the amount of yield on this show is the Average Face Value of $189.93 compared to the AVG Value of ticket broker sales at $297.52, a profit yield of $108 per ticket for ticket brokers.

The following are the Broadway ticket sales numbers from the week ending October 14, 2012:

BIG INCREASE IN OVERALL BROADWAY TICKET SALES
Total Broadway ticket sales saw a huge upsurge this week, rising from just over $17 million last week to $20,107,204.  This is a good sign that the new Broadway season has officially started, as tourists begin making their autumn pilgrimages to New York City and locals start to check out the season’s new Broadway shows.

NEW MUSICAL ANNIE DEBUTS
Annie debuts on the chart this week and is already showing promising numbers, such as a theater filled at 84.86% capacity.  This is not surprising considering Annie is already a famous “brand,” complete with its iconic orphan protagonist and a slew of well-known songs, including “Tomorrow” and “It’s a Hard Knock Life”.

THE HEIRESS OPENED THIS WEEK
The other new show to begin performances this week is The Heiress, and that one is showing even better numbers, filling at 93.66% capacity with an average paid admission of $84.59.  Even with only a few performances under its belt, The Heiress is already showing up this season’s other classic play revivals, An Enemy of the People, Cyrano de Bergerac, and Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, which have not been able to get their average paid admissions to rise even as high as $60.  But that is likely because The Heiress has a secret weapon in co-star Dan Stevens, who has gained a cult following over the last couple years with his role in the PBS smash success Downton Abbey.  And their star, Jessica Chastain, has been a break-out film star, appearing in such movies as The Tree of Life and The Help.
The ticket sales chart is only considering The Heiress based on three shows because the show premiered just last Saturday, October 6. 2012.  With a high average ticket price, a capacity of 93.66% and continued support of these actors we anticipate the The Heiress will do well in upcoming weeks.

THE BOOK OF MORMON DETHRONED AS TOP BROADWAY SHOW
This week, leading up to the extended Columbus Day weekend, the Broadway ticket market saw The Lion King and Wicked rise above the sold out Book of Mormon for the first time in gross ticket sales.
These three shows are close to 100% capacity, so they didn’t actually sell any more tickets – they just priced their ticket face value higher to get the extra financial boost during the popular holiday run-up week. The producers at The Book of Mormon also attempted to raise their prices to match this increased demand, but they lacked the experience of the other shows and didn’t raise it enough, losing out on their their top spot in Broadway ticket sales revenue. The Book of Mormon ended up committing the Broadway cardinal sin of allowing ticket brokers to yield more value from their ticket purchases in a popular time and not funneling those profits back into the Broadway production.
For the record, The Lion King raised their average ticket prices by $17.19 (from $119.27 to $136.46) after reaching a 100% capacity in previous weeks.  The Lion King is now the top grossed show this week in ticket sales, surpassing The Book Of Mormon.

WICKED MOVES INTO THE NO.2 SLOT
Wicked jumped on the band wagon with a $10.61 increase in their average ticket price from $114.32 to $124.93.  This increased both their Gross Margin in addition to the number of tickets sold by 1,026, landing Wicked as the second highest grossing Broadway show in ticket sales.  The Book of Mormon had been the top grossing show for some time, but not this week.  With only a $3.71 increase in ticket price, the sold out show The Book Of Mormon increased their overall gross, but not nearly enough to keep pace with the other Broadway shows and thus lost their #1 spot and were effectively relegated to the #3 spot.

The following are the Broadway ticket sales numbers from the week ending October 7, 2012:

September closed out with a slight sales increase on Broadway, as total ticket revenue rose from $17,072,241 the previous week to $17,166,463 this week.  Longtime runner Jersey Boys cracked the one million mark for the first time since May, bringing in $1,052,914 in sales.

Virgina Woolf Opens on Broadway
Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, the only new entry on the chart this week, had a decent start of previews, filling the theater to 85.60% capacity.  The Steppenwolf Theatre Company production of the Edward Albee classic should get some significant attention as one of the prestige productions of the season, given its pedigree (Steppenwolf is one of the country’s most respected theaters, and Albee is considered by many to be the greatest living American playwright) and the fact that it stars Pulitzer Prize winning writer Tracy Letts (August: Osage County) playing opposite August‘s breakout star Amy Morton.

Peter and the Starcatcher Show Ticket Sales Strength
Peter and the Starcatcher saw some modest improvements, with capacity rising to 68.64% (from last week’s 62.66%) and average paid admission increasing to $59.80 (up from $56.61 last week).  But though the increases may be encouraging, the numbers are still low overall, leading to the play announcing its intention to close in January.  No doubt the show’s producers are counting on Peter‘s family friendliness to carry it through the holidays, but it still fails to appeal to that demographic on a scale that can influence mass ticket sales.

Rock of Ages Shows An Unexplained Chart Disparity In Sales Data
Rock of Ages continues with its unexplained ticket sales graph disparity (see graph below) between Average Paid Admission and Total Attendance model when compared to other Broadway shows (the same kind of disparity can also be seen in Book of Mormon ticket sales and even this season’s hit Once, to a lesser degree) — possibly indicating that its location at the Helen Hayes Theatre may be stifling its ticket sales efficiency curve, as the Helen Hayes Broadway theatre only has 597 seats.  Would this Broadway show still be as popular if it was in a less intimate venue, of say 800 seats instead of 600?  A brief history of this show sees Rock of Ages starting Off-Broadway at New World Stages with 430 seats, moved to the Brooks Atkinson Theatre with a 1000 seats (where tickets sold well, but not stellar), and then on to the Helen Hayes with 597 seats in January 2011, where it still remains with strong sales, but the graph clearly indicates ticket sales inefficiency. It would be interesting to see the sales curve in another, slightly larger theater. It’s clear that a production like The Book of Mormon would suffer if it moved to a larger venue, but the jury is out with Rock of Ages – it is after all an amazing  ”big” music and rock concert experience show, quite unlike anything else on Broadway.

This week it appears that Broadway show ticket ‘papering’ is in effect at An Enemy Of The People, Cyrano de Bergerac, and Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, indicated by their low ticket grosses, low average paid admission, and high capacity.

The following are the Broadway ticket sales numbers from the week ending September 30, 2012:

*Broadway Grosses provided courtesy of The Broadway League

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.

Meanwhile 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.

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 Grosses provided courtesy of The Broadway League

Broadway rallied slightly this week, pushing back up above the $17 million mark in total ticket sales revenue.  The summer tourists may have all fled, but the locals have recovered from their vacations and back-to-school preparations, giving them time to get back into the swing of seeing Broadway shows.

Two new productions, Cyrano de Bergerac and Grace, began previews mid-week, accounting for their particularly low grosses ($103,184 and $219,944, respectively).  With a very low average paid admission of $38.16 so far, Cyrano will need to start building good word-of-mouth to get its numbers up.  Grace, on the other hand, is already selling at nearly 90% capacity with an average paid admission of $76.05.  That play has a secret weapon in the form of star Paul Rudd, whose presence will be a big draw to movie fans who might not otherwise go to a Broadway show.

A slew of recent closings (mostly of shows that had been struggling at the box office) in the last few weeks have helped pave the way for the many new shows opening this fall.  But one straggler in particular is Peter and the Starcatcher, which came in quite low at $373,814 in sales this week.  Its numbers have bounced around quite a bit, with the theater filling anywhere from 60% to 80% capacity over the last several weeks.  The family-friendly show will be getting some stiff competition from Annie, A Christmas Story, and Elf soon, so Peter and the Starcatcher may have a difficult time running much longer.

The following are the Broadway ticket sales numbers from the week ending September 16, 2012:

*Broadway Grosses provided courtesy of The Broadway League

Total Broadway ticket sales revenue continued to fall sharply again this week, as anticipated, during this first week of September, bringing in less than $17 million total.  The period between “summer break” and the opening of the new Fall shows can be a little bleak, but producers are hoping that once the new season gets into full swing over the next couple months, business will pick up, which the ticket sales history from previous years confirms.

This week, the Broadway big guns like Evita and Wicked were far from filling to capacity, hovering around the 85% capacity mark.  The Book of Mormon continues to blow the rest of the shows out of the water, filling to 102.63% capacity week after week – with a huge average paid admission of $187.37.

The newly opened musical Chaplin surprised everyone by leaping to 94.06% capacity (up from last week’s 75.35%), though average paid admission remains relatively low at $62.16. Unfortunately, the show received poor reviews from the Broadway critics, but as everyone knows, only the out-of-towners read the reviews –  New Yorkers like to make up their own mind about shows and instead operate on word-of-mouth from their own social networks, which has been favorable for this show, prior to the critics’ reviews delivered this week. This bio-musical about Charlie Chaplin has an open-ended closing date.

Gore Vidal’s The Best Man didn’t go out with a bang, but it did have a solid closing week, with the average paid admission nearly hitting the $100 mark.  Far less impressive was the first week for the Manhattan Theatre Club production of An Enemy of the People, which had an average paid admission of a mere $46.04 this past week.  Lower numbers are to be expected given that the play is only in previews, so reviews and word-of-mouth could give it a boost in the next few weeks – this could also speak to the producers papering the theatre, dragging the numbers into the gutter.

The following are the Broadway ticket sales numbers from the week ending September 9, 2012:

*Broadway Grosses provided courtesy of The Broadway League

Summer went out with a whimper on Broadway, as the final week of August had the lowest total ticket sales for the Great White Way all summer season.  Presumably most people preferred to spend the Labor Day weekend barbecuing or buying school supplies rather than seeing a Broadway show.

New kid on the block Chaplin saw a modest but encouraging increase in attendance and average paid admission this week.  But this wonderful musical about a silent film star may be a hard sell in coming weeks, this new show may need to see some really positive reviews from the critics when it opens next week, especially if it hopes to survive the season.

The closing show Clybourne Park ended its Broadway run with solid numbers, filling to over 86% capacity over the course of the week.  But this week’s other closer, One Man, Two Guvnors, really went out with a bang at almost 98% capacity and an average ticket price of $111 (which is impressive for a play with no major Hollywood stars in it) – which is a masterclass in how to close a show.

Wicked recovered the ground that it lost last week, and Nice Work turned around its slump with a nice rally. Porgy and Bess dropped to last place, with its closure scheduled for Sept 23, it is hoped that it can remain viable until then.

All bets are off heading into the “back to school” season, where this summer’s Broadway successes may have trouble selling to the Broadway audience demographic shift that happens around this time of year.

The following are the Broadway ticket sales numbers from the week ending September 2, 2012:

*Broadway Grosses provided courtesy of The Broadway League

Book Of Mormon

This week saw some interesting changes in Broadway ticket sales with the total ticket sales revenue dipping below the $20 Million mark in quite some time.

Newsies continues to drive ahead with phenomenal ticket sales growth; Sister Act finds its “last chance” audiences before closing on Sunday, boosting its sagging popularity; and Once continued its hot streak since its Tony wins with another entry in the exclusive million dollar club (where a show’s ticket gross is above $1 Million in a week).

Newsies sold every seat they could muster this week by hard selling the week beforehand through multiple marketing outlets and then operating the new strategy of short-term discounting to sell the small excess inventory – anticipate them to take this strategy forward over the coming weeks. The ticket discounting took a toll on the show’s average paid admission, dragging it down to $101.77, but they filled every seat in theater (as well as the standing room spots). This speaks volumes to the whole spirit of Newsies as the Broadway upstart that gains more fans the more people actually see it, much like the original movie that was panned by critics and was lackluster in the movie theaters. With apologies to Shawshank, can anyone say Newsies Redemption?

Wicked ticket sales cooled a little this week with its tickets sold dropping below 90% inventory for the first time ever. The show remains second only to the Lion King in terms of total attendance and the Gershwin Theatre is a big theatre to fill – so unless ticket sales turn around for Wicked, anticipate the introduction of incentives to boost ticket sales in September, even perhaps Newsies-style, with short vertical discount offers that sell the unsold ticket inventory laid bare by too much inventory and not enough buyers, especially in the back-to-school season.

The Book of Mormon continues to lead with a stellar ticket sales records in capacity and an astounding average price paid of $186.41, which indicates their continued ability to wrestle the profits for this show away from ticket brokers and into the hands of the producers, where they rightfully belong. The “long in the tooth” Chicago managed to eek out a surprising 85.96% capacity, by combining big online and TDF TKTS ticket discounts and pushing big group discounts.The Lion King remains the top dog in sales due to the popular summer vacation, but is anticipated to falter as school starts in September.

Although it has an open ended run, Nice Work If You Can Get It looks like it’s heading to the chopping block with a dismal 50% of tickets sold, the very worst performing show on Broadway.  Their average paid admission also took a dive to $86, from previous weeks at $100, which seemed oddly high compared to the percentage of unsold ticket inventory –  although their management team have been surprisingly reluctant to pursue all available marketing avenues, so they could yet turn their sagging ticket sales around.

The following are the Broadway ticket sales numbers from the week ending August 26, 2012:

*Broadway Grosses provided courtesy of The Broadway League

The following are the Broadway ticket sales numbers from the week ending August 19, 2012:

*Broadway Grosses provided courtesy of The Broadway League