Excellent Week On Broadway, With The Whole Industry Showing An Increase Of Over $3 Million. Unfortunately, Transit And A Bronx Tale, Struggle.


Long-Running Musicals See Major Upturn This Week

Actress Rachel Tucker in green makeup and black witch hat

In the week ending November 13, 2016, the entire Broadway industry experienced an increase in ticket sales of $3,501,252 over the course of 32 shows.

Major increases were seen by shows such as Wicked, which went up by $316,582 to reach a weekly gross of $1,752,417, Hamilton, which went up by $225,200 to reach a weekly gross of $2,452,746, Matilda, which went up by $194,624 to reach a weekly gross of $955,175, School of Rock – the Musical, which went up by $187,368 to reach a weekly gross of $1,061,975.

More Big Increases

The Color Purple, which went up by $166,873 to reach a weekly gross of $695,669, On Your Feet!, which went up by $161,883 to reach a weekly gross of $876,636, Fiddler on the Roof, which went up by $155,740 to reach a weekly gross of $760,639, Kinky Boots, which went up by $152,954 to reach a weekly gross of $888,131, Aladdin, which went up by $135,594 to reach a weekly gross of $1,425,618, and The Phantom of the Opera, which went up by $129,847 to reach a weekly gross of $906,205.

That is just a portion of the shows that saw increases in the six figures. Whereas the previous week saw an average gross per show of $818,676, this week’s average per-show gross was $902,506.

“A Bronx Tale” And “In Transit” Hitting Their Strides

a bronx tale

Two shows that have recently begun previews are now playing more performances per week, but still not full performance weeks. A Bronx Tale, the new musical based on the one-man show by Chazz Palminteri, and co-directed by Robert De Niro and Jerry Zaks, brought in a weekly gross this past week of $678,926 over seven performances.

Still, while it only played three performances the previous week, that week had a percentage reached of gross potential of 91.58%, whereas this past week had a percentage reached of gross potential of 82.36%.

A Talented Collaborative Team

Therefore, the show may be creeping up to a full eight-performance week, and yet the grosses show signs of declining from the promising first partial week’s figures. As for In Transit, the new a cappella musical with book, music, and lyrics co-written by four individuals including Kristen Anderson-Lopez, the co-composer of Frozen, the show began previews this past week to an unpromising start.

Over the course of five performances, the show brought in a weekly gross of $180,893, which represents just 39.43% of gross potential. With some recognizable names such as Justin Guarini and Telly Cheung, but no major stars, this a cappella musical may have a tough time making a name for itself, even in light of some other a cappella success stories such as the Pitch Perfect films and the television show “The Sing Off,” both of which share a music supervisor with In Transit.

Only Three Shows Decrease

Still, overall this past week was an excellent one on Broadway, with only three shows showing a decrease in sales, and those were negligible decreases at that. For instance, the biggest decrease was seen by The Front Page, a new production of a comedy revival that went down by $28,797 to reach a very impressive weekly gross of $1,253,703.