Four New Shows Began Previews: Oh Hello On Broadway, The Encounter, Heisenberg, And The Front Page. Musicals Took A Dip As These Plays Began.


Three Shows Began Previews On September 20th

On September 20, 2016, three shows began previews on Broadway. Playing a full eight performance week was the Complicte production of Simon McBurney’s The Encounter. In its first full week, The Encounter brought in $325,531, which represents 46.9% of its gross potential.

With a top ticket price of $223, the average paid admission was $57.03, and the audience was filled up to 93.1% on average in the John Golden Theatre. That same day, Heisenberg began previews at the Samuel J. Friedman Theatre starring Denis Arndt and Mary Louise Parker in a Manhattan Theatre Club production.

"The Front Page" Opens At Broadhurst Theatre

That show brought in a weekly gross of $267,064, with represents 42.8% of its gross potential over seven performances. With a top ticket price of $150, the average paid admission was $63.97, and the audience capacity was filled up to 90.1%. Finally, that same day, The Front Page began previews at the Broadhurst Theatre.

With a starry cast including John Goodman, Nathan Lane, Jefferson Mays, Sherie Rene Scott, John Slattery, and Halley Feiffer, the show is sure to be an extremely fun time. In its first six performances this past week, The Front Page brought in $921,998, which represents 101.6% of that show’s gross potential. Nathan Lane ensemble pieces do well right out the gate, as evidence by It’s Only a Play two years ago.

“Oh, Hello” Begins And Broadway Takes A Turn

Furthermore, in this past week, Oh, Hello on Broadway began previews, starting September 23, 2016. Featuring the comedy duo Nick Kroll and John Mulaney, Oh, Hello on Broadway brought in $247,237 over three performances, representing 85.7% of its gross potential.

A low budget show appealing to a built-in comedy, but not necessarily Broadway, audience, Oh, Hello is demonstrating a fairly strong ability to make strides on this theatrical terrain. Meanwhile, despite the wild gains by these new shows, there was a counter effect where the long-running summer hit musicals took a backseat in terms of ticket sales. An exception was Hamilton, which released a bulk of seats this past week, and brought in a weekly gross of $2,419,442, or 110.7% of its gross potential, taking a leap of $260,404 more than the week before.

Big Decreases For Wicked And Paramour

Hamilton also played nine performances this past week. However, big decreases were seen by such shows as Wicked, which went down by $214,546, Paramour, which went down by $198,794 to reach a weekly gross of $800,590, Matilda, which went down by $172,129 to reach a weekly gross of only $574,430, Fiddler on the Roof, which went down by $166,430 to reach a weekly gross of $513,316, Chicago, which went down by $144,808 to reach a weekly gross of $486,016, and Jersey Boys, which went down by $141,957 to reach a weekly gross of $606,097.

As the fall season begins to take hold, and some of the plays are entering the scene, the long-running musicals will demonstrate which are on the out and out, and which will hold on for another season.

The following are the Broadway ticket sales numbers for the week ending September 25, 2016:

broadway-show-ticket-analysis-09-25-16
# Show Name GrossGross TotalAttn %Capacity AvgPdAdm
5 ALADDIN $1,272,615 13,212 95.63% $96.32
9 AN AMERICAN IN PARIS $878,319 9,990 74.37% $87.92
6 BEAUTIFUL $940,488 8,129 99.04% $115.70
28 BLACK TO THE FUTURE $157,184 1,573 96.74% $99.93
7 CATS $933,237 9,506 86.42% $98.17
22 CHICAGO $486,016 6,038 69.88% $80.49
21 FIDDLER ON THE ROOF $513,316 6,767 49.55% $75.86
1 HAMILTON $2,419,442 12,100 101.77% $199.95
26 HEISENBERG $267,064 4,175 90.09% $63.97
23 HOLIDAY INN $359,828 5,228 65.48% $68.83
18 JERSEY BOYS $606,097 6,436 65.51% $94.17
14 KINKY BOOTS $721,051 7,452 65.41% $96.76
19 MATILDA $574,430 8,110 70.79% $70.83
27 OH, HELLO ON BROADWAY $247,237 2,456 89.86% $100.67
13 ON YOUR FEET! $788,492 8,074 62.07% $97.66
12 PARAMOUR $800,590 9,744 64.24% $82.16
15 SCHOOL OF ROCK $706,840 8,548 71.47% $82.69
20 SOMETHING ROTTEN! $526,414 7,231 65.42% $72.80
3 THE BOOK OF MORMON $1,294,532 8,732 102.39% $148.25
24 THE CHERRY ORCHARD $355,242 4,864 83.29% $73.03
16 THE COLOR PURPLE $676,184 7,149 85.03% $94.58
25 THE ENCOUNTER $325,531 5,708 93.15% $57.03
8 THE FRONT PAGE $921,998 7,177 101.63% $128.47
17 THE HUMANS $621,203 6,990 84.42% $88.87
2 THE LION KING $1,789,056 13,356 98.44% $133.95
11 THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA $821,066 9,344 72.77% $87.87
10 WAITRESS $876,282 7,411 88.65% $118.24
4 WICKED $1,285,548 11,739 81.21% $109.51
TOTALS $22,165,299 217,239 81.24% $97.31

Broadway ticket sales raw data are provided

courtesy of The Broadway League. All other data, text, opinion, charts, and commentary are copyright © 2016 nytix.com