This week’s notable movements on Broadway are:

“Of Mice and Men” Breaks a Million in its Final Week

The revival of John Steinbeck’s Of Mice and Men played its final performance on Sunday, July 27, 2014.  Starring James Franco, Chris O’Dowd, and Leighton Meester, the show attracted a fair amount of press attention upon its premiere; however the reviews were mixed, with the celebrity appeal and inherent value of the classic play superseding actual praise for the production.  Nevertheless, in its final week, audiences flocked to catch Franco in his last moments onstage.  The weekly gross last week was $1,038,106, which was the first week the show broke through the million dollar mark.  It was also the first time it earned over 100% of its gross capacity, coming in at 109.97%.  The average ticket price was also at a high of $121.06.  The show even beat out some major musicals including this year’s Tony Award winning show A Gentleman’s Guide to Love and Murder.  These sales were likely helped by the recent announcement that this production will be the first Broadway show ever to be recorded and screened live as part of the National Theatre Live screening series.

“Violet” Gasping for Air

This Roundabout musical starring Sutton Foster has already announced its closing date: August 10, 2014.  In its final weeks, it is at the bottom of the Broadway barrel.  This past week, it grossed only $357,776, which was only 46.38% of its gross potential.  This is quite low, especially for a musical.  However, because it is produced by a not-for-profit theatre institution, this musical does not face the same commercial pressures as most Broadway shows that are fronted by private funds.  With a top ticket price of $142.00, the show’s average ticket price this week was $73.74.  Still, though Violet earned the title of lowest grossing show this week, it was beat out by one show in terms of lowest percentage earned of its gross potential. Bullets over Broadway, which has also announced its closing date of August 24, 2014, grossed a higher amount of $663,950 this past week.  However, because it is in a larger theatre with a greater earning capacity, it managed to bring in only 43.80% of its gross potential.  This musical, unlike Violet, is not backed by a not-for-profit theatre institution.

The following are the Broadway ticket sales numbers for the week ending July 27, 2014:

Broadway ticket sales raw data are provided courtesy of The Broadway League All other data, text, opinion, charts and commentary are copyright © 2014 nytix.com

This week’s notable movements on Broadway are:

“The Cripple of Inishmaan” Ends on a High Note

The Daniel Radcliffe led revival of The Cripple of Inishmaan concluded performances this Sunday, July 20, 2014.  Throughout its run, box office sales were somewhat of a disappointment, hovering around $500,000 for the weekly gross.  However, in the final week of its run, fans did turn out to catch the Harry Potter star in his final performances.  In that week, the gross was a record for the show at $740,711, which was 76.35% of its gross potential.  Prior to this past week, the highest percentage for gross potential for any full performance week was 66.37%.  With an average ticket price of $88.63, the show was filled up to an average 97.4% capacity in the week ending July 20, 2014.

“Holler If Ya Hear Me” Also Ramps It Up, But Still at the Bottom of the Pack

Also closing on Sunday, July 20, 2014 was the Tupac Shakur inspired musical Holler if Ya Hear Me.  Unlike The Cripple of Inishmaan, this show closed much earlier than expected.  Still, in its final week, sales did increase, with a weekly gross of $266,984.  Still, that was only 29.11% of its gross potential.  Only running since June 2, 2014, this musical’s highest weekly gross prior to its final week was $170,652, which was only 21.19% of its gross potential.  This past week, the average ticket price was still only $39.51, and despite such heavy discounting, it only filled up to an average audience capacity of 76.0%.

Overall An Excellent Week For Broadway

This past week, almost every single show had a higher weekly gross than it did the week before.  The only one exception was the Idina Menzel musical If/Then, which had a weekly gross decrease of $27,115.  On the other hand, the entire industry was in the black, with an overall increase of $2,232,430.  The highest increase was seen by The Lion King, which grossed the highest of any show on Broadway at $2,431,017, which was an incredible $279,608 higher than its previous week’s gross.  Just behind was The Book of Mormon, which grossed $1,817,551, showing an increase of $196,277 from the week prior.

The following are the Broadway ticket sales numbers for the week ending July 20, 2014:

Broadway ticket sales raw data are provided courtesy of The Broadway League All other data, text, opinion, charts and commentary are copyright © 2014 nytix.com

This week’s notable movements on Broadway are:

The Biggest Winner Was the Biggest Loser

Wicked is generally in the top two highest grossing shows of any given week, neck in neck with Disney’s The Lion King.  This week was no different.  It was the second highest earning show of the week ending July 13, 2014, grossing a total of $1,936,778, which was 115.21% of its gross potential.  The gravity defying musical was only beaten by one, as expected: The Lion King, which grossed $2,151,409, coming out to 95.72% of its gross potential.  However, interestingly, Wicked was not only one of the biggest winners this past week in terms of overall weekly gross, but it was also the biggest loser: in terms of gross differential from the week before.  In a week when a majority of the shows increased in comparison to last week (which is more a matter of poor sales last week), Wicked went down by the highest amount, losing $51,314 in comparison to the week prior.  The Lion King, on the other hand, increased by $85,240 from the week before.  This goes to show that even the highest earning musicals can vastly fluctuate from week to week.  Although $1,936,778 is no chump change, it is still significantly less than Wicked earned in the previous week.

Plays Picking Up As They Near Closing

The Cripple of Inishmaan starring Daniel Radcliffe has not done exceedingly well at the box office over the course of its run.  In fact, it has announced that it will close in one week on July 20, 2014.  In anticipation of its closing, audiences are taking notice.  This past week, the show grossed $596,630, which was an increase of $129,241 from the previous week.  In fact, it was the show’s second highest grossing week to date.  Time will tell whether sales continue to increase in its final week of performances.  Similarly, Of Mice and Men had sales significantly pick up in anticipation of its closing on July 27, 2014.  Last week, it grossed $862,862, which was an increase of $107,506 from the previous week.  Unlike with The Cripple of Inishmaan, however, this weekly gross is not an extraordinary increase, so it may just be part of its normal cycle of fluctuations.  In the final two weeks, we will be able to analyze whether this is in fact due to anticipation of closing.

The following are the Broadway ticket sales numbers for the week ending July 13, 2014:

Broadway ticket sales raw data are provided courtesy of The Broadway League All other data, text, opinion, charts and commentary are copyright © 2014 nytix.com

This week’s notable movements on Broadway are:

A Summer of Musicals

In the week ending July 6, 2014, only 4 out of the 30 shows playing on Broadway are considered to be straight plays, and one of those – Lady Day at Emerson’s Bar & Grill – is really a play with music.  Based on the box office figures, this seems to be for good reason, as the plays grossed far less than the musicals over the course of the week.  While many plays were on Broadway in the months leading up to the Tony Awards, most of them have closed by this point in the summer.  Though Lady Day has just announced an extension until September 21, 2014, the rest of the plays are not slated to be on for much longer.  The Cripple of Inishmaan starring Daniel Radcliffe, which only brought in $467,389 this past week, will close on July 20, 2014, and Of Mice and Men starring James Franco, which grossed $755,356 last week, will close on July 27, 2014.  The last of these plays, The Realistic Joneses, played its final performance this past week on July 6, 2014, finishing with a modest weekly gross of $420,300, which was only 58.65% of its gross potential.

On the other hand, the grosses for musicals were quite healthy last week.  The frontrunners were, as expected, The Lion King with a gross of $2,066,169, and Wicked with a gross of $1,988,092.  Just behind those two megahits was The Book of Mormon with a gross of $1,578,566, followed by a new lead contender Aladdin with a gross of $1,498,146.  This goes to show that summer on Broadway is truly a season of musicals, as theatergoers tend to be tourists who flock to the musical fare.  Local New Yorkers, on the other hand, tend to get out of the city over the hot summer season, and instead prefer to attend the theatre during the fall and spring, when straight plays do much better at the box office.

“The Realistic Joneses” Was An Underappreciated Play This Season

Playing its last performance at the end of last week, The Realistic Joneses did not go out with much fanfare.  It only grossed $420,300, which was actually a decrease of $7,856 from the week before.  Generally, even for shows that have not done particularly well over the course of their runs, the final week shows an upswing.  However, The Realistic Joneses did not even manage to woo large audiences in their last week of performances.  Not only did this show do fairly poorly at the box office, it was completely snubbed for the Tony Awards, failing to receive a single nomination.  This most likely contributed to the poor box office performance at the end of the run.  Since it began performances on March 13, 2014, the highest weekly gross was $619,507.  Despite these unimpressive financials, the show received very positive reviews, was selected as a New York Times critics pick, and is considered by many theatre aficionados to have broken new ground in terms of structure and content for a play on Broadway.  This is further evidence that quality does not necessitate financial success in the world of theatre.

The following are the Broadway ticket sales numbers for the week ending July 6, 2014:

Broadway ticket sales raw data are provided courtesy of The Broadway League All other data, text, opinion, charts and commentary are copyright © 2014 nytix.com

This week’s notable movements on Broadway are:

“All The Way” Goes Out With A Bang

The Robert Schenkkan penned Lyndon B. Johnson bioplay All The Way closed at the end of this past week on June 29, 2014, and not without fanfare.  Starring Bryan Cranston in the presidential leading role, this play deals with the Civil Rights period of U.S. history, and Martin Luther King, Jr. is also a major character.  Though it had been off to a moderate start at the box office, this show picked up in awards season, winning the Tony Award for Best Play among a slew of other honors.  In its second to last week, the show broke the box office record for a new play on Broadway with a weekly gross of $1,425,001.  However, in its final week of performances, the play attracted an extremely impressive rise of $198,494 on top of its previous week’s record-setting numbers, grossing a new record-setting total of $1,623,495.  This made it the fourth highest grossing show on Broadway that week, with only the megahit musicals Wicked, The Lion King, and The Book of Mormon ahead of it.  For a straight play on Broadway, that is a major coup.

“Bullets Over Broadway” May Be On Its Last Legs

Based on the Woody Allen feature film of the same name, the musical Bullets Over Broadway had a lot of hype going into production.  However, since it has been running, very little attention has been paid to it.  Most notably, it failed to receive a Tony Award nomination for Best Musical, and its box office numbers are now showing the brunt of this inattention.  In this past week, the show grossed only $602,629, which was a decrease of $153,930 from the previous week.  Perhaps its biggest star attraction is Zach Braff, who was out for a single performance in that eight performance week.  Still, this drop in numbers may be an indication that this show is about to enter a period of decline, and may not hold up past the summer.

“Aladdin” Reaches New Heights

This past week, the Disney stage production of Aladdin grossed $1,502,696, which is its highest weekly earnings to date.  In the week prior, the show brought in $1,325,987, which was still impressive.  In this past week, its high gross made it the fifth highest grossing show on Broadway, after Wicked, The Lion King, The Book of Mormon, and All The Way.  This bodes well for the musical entering the summer season, and will most likely mean that it continues to bring in high sales throughout this traditionally tourist-driven season.

The following are the Broadway ticket sales numbers for the week ending June 29, 2014:

Broadway ticket sales raw data are provided courtesy of The Broadway League All other data, text, opinion, charts and commentary are copyright © 2014 nytix.com

This week’s notable movements on Broadway are:

Ticket Sales Have Risen Along With The Temperature

As we are officially in the summer season, and the weather is consistently lovely, the Broadway industry is seeing a healthy season of sales.  In the week ending June 22, 2014, the collective total of Broadway shows saw an increase of $1,513,333 from the week before.  Of the 34 shows presently running, only seven earned less money this week than the week prior, with the rest seeing an increase in ticket sales.  The biggest increase was seen by All the Way, which won the Tony Award for Best Play (along with a slew of other honors this season), and which is playing a strictly limited engagement; it will be forced to close in August due to the schedule of its cast.  It earned $195,542 more this week from the previous week, when it had already seen a healthy increase.  The biggest loser this week is Casa Valentina, which earned $73,413 less than the previous week, only bringing in a total weekly gross of $182,859.  That play will also be closing this summer, but it has done much less well in terms of both box office and awards this season.

Summer Blockbuster Musicals

Also with the summer season officially underway, it is becoming clear which shows will be the big summer blockbusters.  Unsurprisingly, the biggest earners this week were the megahit musicals The Lion King and Wicked, which brought in $2,098,868 and $2,027,347 respectively.  Playing in a much smaller theatre, but performing equally well in terms of gross potential, was The Book of Mormon, which brought in $1,641,677 this past week.  Not far behind is All the Way with $1,425,001, which is an immense accomplishment to be the fourth highest earner as a straight play, when musicals have a greater earning potential as well as a bigger precedent for attracting the big bucks at the box office.  In order, the next biggest grosses were achieved by Kinky Boots, Aladdin, Beautiful, Matilda, Les Misérables, Hedwig and the Angry Inch, Motown the Musical, and The Phantom of the Opera.  All of those titles were in the million dollar club this past week.  Trailing not too far behind were A Gentleman’s Guide to Love and Murder, which won the 2014 Tony Award for Best Musical, as well as Jersey Boys, a long-running hit whose movie adaptation is just hitting the theaters.

The following are the Broadway ticket sales numbers for the week ending June 22, 2014:

Broadway ticket sales raw data are provided courtesy of The Broadway League All other data, text, opinion, charts and commentary are copyright © 2014 nytix.com

This week’s notable movements on Broadway are:

Broadway Show Ticket Sales Analysis w/e 6/15/2014

“All The Way” Gaining Momentum

All the Way is the Tony Award winning Best Play of 2014, and that success is showing at the box office.  It helps that the star of the show is Bryan Cranston, one of America’s most celebrated actors for such performances as his leading role as Walter White on the television show Breaking Bad.  Written by Robert Schenkkan and directed by Bill Rauch, this play has been doing excellently at the box office since it began performances on February 10, 2014.  It has been hovering over the $1 million mark, with a steady increase since the awards season has begun.  But after this play has shown well above others in several awards ceremonies, national word has spread.  In the week ending June 15, 2014, the show grossed $1,229,459, which was an increase of $288,909, the highest increase of any show this week.  With an average paid ticket of $128.90, the show reached 89.86% of its gross potential.  This is a very high number specifically for a play, putting it in competition against some of the top earning musicals.

“Holler if Ya Hear Me” Still Struggling

This Tupac Shakur inspired musical opened at an unusual time, too late for Tony Award consideration and when the summer season is beginning, when many tourists go for lighter musical fare.  Though a musical, this show deals with themes that may be traditionally less desirable in the warmer season.  Though the show will open later this week and is still in previews, it is still abnormally low that it only grossed $163,586 in a week of eight performances.  With an average paid admission of $24.35, the show only made 18.32% of its gross potential, by far the lowest of any show this past week.  The second lowest show in terms of reaching its gross potential, Mothers and Sons, just announced that it will be closing at the end of next week.  With a weekly gross of $156,116, it only grossed 20.34% of its gross potential.

Other Shows Having Difficulties

There are other shows that are earned less than half of their gross potential, many of which are produced by not for profit theatre institutions.  Casa Valentina, produced by Manhattan Theatre Club at the Samuel J. Friedman Theatre, only earned 43.73% of its gross potential, though it was nominated for the Tony Award for Best Play, which it did not win.  Furthermore, Violet, a musical produced by the Roundabout Theatre Company, only grossed 44.42% of its potential.

The following are the Broadway ticket sales numbers for the week ending June 16, 2014:

Broadway ticket sales raw data are provided courtesy of The Broadway League All other data, text, opinion, charts and commentary are copyright © 2014 nytix.com

This week’s notable movements on Broadway are:

In Anticipation of the Tony Awards, Nominated Shows See Boost

The week ending June 8, 2014 culminated in the 68^th Annual Tony Awards, held at Radio City Music Hall.  Almost every single nominated show saw an increase in ticket sales this week form the week prior.  The winner for Best Musical, A Gentleman’s Guide to Love and Murder, earned a weekly gross of $733,879, which was an increase of $32,900 from the week before.  It will be interesting to watch how much this gross increases now that the award has been taken home.  Furthermore, Hedwig and the Angry Inch, which also received a slew of nominations and won four awards, grossed $1,021,708 this past week, which was an increase of $42,465 from the week prior.  This is an extremely hot ticket, which is a major achievement with its countercultural themes.  The winner of Best Play, All the Way, earned $940,550 in the week approaching the Tony Awards, which was an increase of $27,635 from the week before.  Finally, the winner of Best Play Revival was A Raisin in the Sun, which earned a whomping $1,226,464, up $40,888 from the week before.

Long-Running Shows Slow Down

In contrast, many long-running shows saw a decrease in sales this week.  Mamma Mia! earned $89,116 than it did the week before, Motown the Musical went down by $21,038, the 2012 Best Musical winner Once decreased by $24,401 this week, Rock of Ages went down by $12,187, The Lion King saw a decrease of $9,801, The Phantom of the Opera went down by $95,397, and even the megahit The Book of Mormon saw a decrease in weekly grosses this week of $36,161.  This goes to show that theatregoers are indeed paying attention to awards news, and they are flocking to see the shows that were in contention for awards this past Sunday evening.

Holler if Ya Hear Me is Not Being Heard

This week saw the beginning of previews for a new musical based on the music and life of Tupac Shakur: Holler if Ya Hear Me.  With an almost full week of seven performances, this musical only grossed $148,964, which is only 19% of the show’s gross potential.  The average ticket price was only $24.10, as the production must have been heavily discounting and also offering many complimentary seats, still managing to fill 81.2% of its audience capacity.  In a noisy climate with much awards excitement, it makes sense that this unusually themed musical would get lost in the undertow.  However, once reviews come out after its opening on June 19, 2014, the show will have more of a chance of catching wind.

The following are the Broadway ticket sales numbers for the week ending June 8, 2014:

Broadway ticket sales raw data are provided courtesy of The Broadway League All other data, text, opinion, charts and commentary are copyright © 2014 nytix.com

This week’s notable movements on Broadway are:

An unequivocal loss for Broadway

In the week ending June 1, 2014, without fail, every single Broadway show grossed less money than it did the week before.  The fact that there was not a single exception to this fact is astonishing.  It is true that last week was a particularly good week for Broadway, with the entire industry earning $1.5 million dollars more than it had the week previously.  Still, the entire industry seems to have lost a “double or nothing” bet, as this week the gross was over $3 million less than it was last week.  The show that lost the least was Hedwig and the Angry Inch, which only grossed $3,232 less than it had the week before.  The biggest loser was Pippin, which earned only $488,036, a loss of $206,509 from the week before.  Still, despite this fact, four shows earned more than 100 percent of their gross potential (which is accounted for by the price of premium seats): these were Wicked which earned 107.35% of its potential, A Raisin in the Sun which grossed 108.45% of its potential, The Book of Mormon, which reaped in 117.07% of its potential, and Hedwig and the Angry Inch, which managed to earn 117.36% of its gross potential.

What could explain this phenomenon?

The previous week included Memorial Day weekend, during which tourists flocked to New York City, and New Yorkers took themselves out to the theatre.  However, this past week, the number of theatregoers not only went back to its pre-Memorial Day levels, but also doubled its loss.  Perhaps there was a saturation point with how much theatre people wanted to see, be they tourists or locals.  Or, perhaps the bout of warm weather and the onslaught of June, marking the true arrival of summer, persuaded people to get out of town for the weekend.  These are all just hypotheses, however, as the market of theatregoers ebbs and flows like any industry, and this week just happened to be a low.

Theatre subsidized by not-for-profits subsists despite low grosses

Shows performing on the lower end of the box office spectrum are often produced by not-for-profit theatre institutions.  Act One, the Lincoln Center bio-play about Moss Hart, earned $395,328 this week, which was only 36.4% of its gross potential.  Casa Valentina, the Tony Award nominated play by Harvey Fierstein about transvestitism in the 1960s, is staying afloat with a gross of only $245,811 because it is produced by Manhattan Theatre Club.  Violet, a musical revival produced by Roundabout Theatre Company, earned only 47.37% of its gross potential, which is particularly low for a musical, and yet it is still surviving.

The following are the Broadway ticket sales numbers for the week ending June 1, 2014:

Broadway ticket sales raw data are provided courtesy of The Broadway League All other data, text, opinion, charts and commentary are copyright © 2014 nytix.com