New Shows You Can’t Take It With You And It’s Only A Play Began Performances This Past Week, With The Latter Doing Exceptionally Well At The Box Office.


New Shows: “You Can’t Take It With You” And “It’s Only A Play”

There were two new Broadway shows that began previews in the week ending August 31, 2014. First, on August 26, 2014, You Can’t Take It With You began performances at the Longacre Theatre. This is the fifth revival of the Moss Hart and George S. Kaufman comedy that originally premiered in 1936, this time starring James Earl Jones, Rose Byrne, and Annaleigh Ashford in an ensemble cast.

In terms of box office, the show is off to a moderate start. In its first week of 8 performances, it grossed $519,102, which represents 53.80% of its gross potential.

"It's Only A Play" Premieres With A-List Stars

In comparison, It’s Only a Play began performances on August 28, 2014. Also a New York revival through a Broadway premiere, this Terrence McNally play features a cast of A-list stars including Nathan Lane, Matthew Broderick, Stockard Channing, F. Murray Abraham, Megan Mullally, and Rupert Grint.

The A-list nature of this cast is certainly showing at the box office. In its first week of 5 performances, It’s Only a Play grossed $793,046, which represents a whomping 112.45% of the show’s gross potential. This play looks well poised to take the Broadway fall season by storm.

As the Fall Comes In, Musicals Take A Side Seat

Throughout the summer, the big blockbuster musicals indubitably sold exceptionally well in comparison to plays. In fact, for several summer weeks, no straight plays were running at all.

As new plays are beginning to begin performances on Broadway, and as the summer tourists are no longer arriving in full force, the bigger musicals are starting to show a slight decline. The Lion King had a gross this week that was $23,364 lower than the week before, and Wicked declined this week by $87,040.

Changes At The Broadway Box Office

Furthermore, Mamma Mia! decreased by $52,645, Beautiful: The Carole King Musical decreased by $39,360, The Phantom of the Opera went down by $39,318, Cabaret decreased by $18,369, and Hedwig and the Angry Inch went down by $13,293.

Meanwhile, It’s Only a Play stormed onto the scene with $793,046 over only 5 performances, and This Is Our Youth increased its gross by $24,758 from the week before.

The following are the Broadway ticket sales numbers for the week ending August 31,2014:
Broadway Show Ticket Sales Analysis w/e 8/31/14
Show GrossGross Total Attn %Cap AvgPdAdm
A GENTLEMAN’S GUIDE TO LOVE AND MURDER $942,205 7,339 101.14% $128.38
ALADDIN $1,506,683 13,780 99.97% $109.34
BEAUTIFUL $1,243,050 7,738 94.27% $160.64
CABARET $796,251 6,437 90.10% $123.70
CHICAGO $589,219 7,411 85.78% $79.51
CINDERELLA $638,177 8,551 61.04% $74.63
HEDWIG AND THE ANGRY INCH $635,445 6,560 93.06% $96.87
IF/THEN $672,147 8,186 78.05% $82.11
IT’S ONLY A PLAY $793,046 5,402 101.07% $146.81
JERSEY BOYS $834,445 8,333 84.82% $100.14
KINKY BOOTS $1,246,584 10,743 94.30% $116.04
LADY DAY AT EMERSON’S BAR & GRILL $558,256 4,715 98.76% $118.40
LES MISÉRABLES $878,730 9,423 83.60% $93.25
MAMMA MIA! $697,483 8,027 86.05% $86.89
MATILDA $1,096,864 11,398 99.49% $96.23
MOTOWN THE MUSICAL $1,100,811 11,603 96.24% $94.87
ONCE $481,616 6,231 73.55% $77.29
PIPPIN $608,962 7,448 94.04% $81.76
ROCK OF AGES $372,667 4,199 90.03% $88.75
THE BOOK OF MORMON $1,682,942 8,752 102.63% $192.29
THE LION KING $1,932,032 13,603 100.02% $142.03
THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA $980,290 11,260 87.69% $87.06
THIS IS OUR YOUTH $390,372 6,437 75.84% $60.65
WICKED $1,708,228 13,727 94.85% $124.44
YOU CAN’T TAKE IT WITH YOU $519,102 7,929 92.37% $65.47
Totals: $22,905,606 215,232 90.35% $105.10
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