Broadway Showed A Slow Down In Its Box Office This Past Week, Although The Numbers Are Not Dismal Due To The Strength Of A Few Long-Running Musicals.
Box Office Numbers Dwindle As Hit Musicals Hold Strong
![cat eyes cats poster broadway musical](https://www.nytix.com/assets/wp-uploads/2013/03/cats2-300x183.jpg)
In the week ending September 24, 2017, the box office for Broadway theatre had a slower week than the one previous, but overall, the numbers held their own due to the ongoing strength of certain long-running musicals.
Over the course of the week, the 26 shows running brought in a collective gross of $23,991,939, which is a decrease of $971,237 for these shows. With an average top ticket price of $296.17, the average paid ticket was $116.23, and the audiences across the board were at an average capacity of 81.95%.
Big Decrease In Audience Capacity
This is a significant downturn from an average audience capacity last week of 87.93%. The biggest decrease was seen by Cats, which brought in a weekly gross of $570,470, a decrease of $187,580 from the week before. In addition, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory went down by $155,578 to reach a weekly gross of $668,216, while Kinky Boots went down by $149,167 to reach a weekly gross of $695,289.
![Aladdin and The Lion King on Broadway](https://www.nytix.com/assets/wp-uploads/2017/01/Aladdin-and-The-Lion-King-on-Broadway.jpg)
Meanwhile, Miss Saigon saw a decrease of $127,354 in its weekly gross, bringing it to a figure this past week of $567,871. Even the powerful musical Wicked saw a decrease of $84,344, bringing it to a still impressive weekly gross of $1,408,133. The musical Anastasia went down by $83,898, bringing it to a weekly gross of $784,878, School of Rock the Musical went down by $70,719, bringing it to weekly gross of $606,236, and Waitress the Musical went down by $59,744, bringing it to a weekly gross of $636,992.
Long-Running Hits Show Increase
Nevertheless, some long-running musicals did show an increase in ticket sales. The Lion King went up by $67,781 to reach a weekly gross of $1,859,496, Aladdin went up by $14,604 to reach a weekly gross of $1,344,625, and The Book of Mormon went up by $7,704 to reach a weekly gross of $1,193,378. These shows holding strong allowed the overall grosses this past week to remain on the higher end.
“Time and the Conways” Picks Up Steam But Still Lags Behind
![time and the conways](https://www.nytix.com/assets/wp-uploads/2017/09/Webp.net-resizeimage-39.jpg)
This past week, Time and the Conways entered its first full week of 8 performances, up from last week’s first partial week of 3 previews. While the show did demonstrate the largest increase of any of this past week, that number was inflated by the fact that it played an additional 5 performances.
In any case, Time and the Conways also did demonstrate an increase in terms of gross potential, but a very slight one. The show went up by $172,101 to reach a weekly gross of $264,917, which represents 41.90% of play’s gross potential.
Beloved Star Elizabeth McGovern
In contrast, the previous and first week of just 3 performances brought in a weekly gross of $92,816, which represents 39.15% of gross potential. This revival of a play by J.B. Priestley stars Elizabeth McGovern, Steven Boyer, Anna Camp, and Gabriel Ebert, but its subject matter and revival status make it a difficult sell to audiences.
While the show saw a minor upshift in ticket sales this past week, it still has a long way to go to build up momentum before the opening night reviews come out after October 10, 2017. Elizabeth McGovern is a beloved star of Downton Abbey, so when the press start covering the opened show widely, word of mouth should pick up, even if the show never reaches sell-out status.