This week’s notable movements on Broadway are:

“Wicked” Performs Excellently Every New Year

This past week, from December 28th to January 3rd, encompassed the New Years holiday, and Wicked brought in its third highest gross ever in its 12 year run: $2,940,096. The second highest gross of all time occurred the week before New Years in 2013, and the highest gross ever – $3,201,333 – was earned the week before New Years in 2014. Meanwhile, the fourth highest gross ever was last year this same week before New Years. One reason for these extraordinarily high grosses is that Wicked is among the hit shows that opts to add a ninth performance in this highly trafficked holiday week. Still, New Years is not the only week of the year that Wicked does that. In any case, beyond the ninth performance, this week was extraordinary for Wicked on average per performance as well, as the show brought in 146.83% of its gross potential. In terms of gross potential, this past week was the fifth highest ever in the 12 year run. All of the top four weeks in terms of gross potential were also either the week right before or after New Years. In terms of gross potential, the top week of all time was this equivalent week one year ago, the week ending January 4, 2015, when Wicked brought in a lower overall gross but a higher percentage of gross potential: 163.02%. The reason is that last year that week had only eight performances.

An Increasingly Excellent Performance Across All of Broadway

This past week, of the 38 shows presently running, only three saw an almost negligible decrease in ticket sales, while 35 shows saw an increase in sales. Overall, the industry saw an increase of $6,793,672 with respect to the week before, bringing in a total industry weekly gross of $43,065,472. That amounts to an average of $1,133,302 per show. These numbers are skewed by the high performers such as Wicked ($2,940,096), The Lion King ($2,878,505), Aladdin ($2,398,110), The Book of Mormon ($2,024,551), and Hamilton ($1,959,785). The average was meanwhile brought down by newly arrived Manhattan Theatre Club show Our Mother’s Brief Affair, which earned only $113,194 across six performances, as well as low performers Dames at Sea, which wrapped up its run with only $211,207 across nine performances, The Gin Game which brought in $349,779, and Thérèse Raquin, which brought in $370,028. In addition to Dames at Sea, several other shows concluded their run at the end of this past week as well, including Hand to God ($425,669), Sylvia ($391,703), Lord of the Dance: Dangerous Games ($870,337), and The Illusionists, which hit it out of the park in the final week of its run with a gross of $1,801,327 across 13 performances. As The Illusionists is a magic show, it is able to perform many more shows a week than the average Broadway show, for which eight is just about the maximum before reaching exhaustion, either of performer energy or of audience interest, or both. The following are the Broadway ticket sales numbers for the week ending January 3, 2016:

Show Name	GrossGross	TotalAttn	%Capacity	AvgPdAdm
A GENTLEMAN’S GUIDE TO LOVE AND MURDER	$764,181	7,970	97.64%	$95.88
A VIEW FROM THE BRIDGE	$518,228	7,074	86.61%	$73.26
ALADDIN	$2,398,110	15,542	99.99%	$154.30
ALLEGIANCE	$552,338	6,997	82.75%	$78.94
AN AMERICAN IN PARIS	$1,349,303	11,546	85.96%	$116.86
BEAUTIFUL	$1,042,635	7,857	95.72%	$132.70
CHICAGO	$1,033,996	9,239	95.05%	$111.92
CHINA DOLL	$697,576	5,312	70.99%	$131.32
DAMES AT SEA	$211,207	4,069	77.55%	$51.91
FIDDLER ON THE ROOF	$1,725,264	14,408	93.78%	$119.74
FINDING NEVERLAND	$1,477,505	12,770	94.34%	$115.70
FUN HOME	$717,261	5,642	95.30%	$127.13
HAMILTON	$1,959,785	10,745	101.67%	$182.39
HAND TO GOD	$425,669	5,836	94.49%	$72.94
JERSEY BOYS	$922,954	7,939	92.36%	$116.26
KING CHARLES III	$604,833	6,478	82.88%	$93.37
KINKY BOOTS	$1,359,430	11,982	93.49%	$113.46
LES MISÉRABLES	$1,245,505	11,221	99.55%	$111.00
LORD OF THE DANCE: DANGEROUS GAMES	$870,337	11,750	68.86%	$74.07
MATILDA	$1,556,824	12,947	100.46%	$120.25
MISERY	$817,415	6,806	72.34%	$120.10
NOISES OFF	$438,491	5,554	93.82%	$78.95
ON YOUR FEET!	$1,495,724	12,538	96.39%	$119.30
OUR MOTHER’S BRIEF AFFAIR	$113,194	2,591	66.44%	$43.69
SCHOOL OF ROCK	$1,671,622	13,122	102.10%	$127.39
SOMETHING ROTTEN!	$1,155,633	10,354	77.64%	$111.61
SPRING AWAKENING	$688,989	8,017	86.82%	$85.94
SYLVIA	$391,703	6,950	72.10%	$56.36
THE BOOK OF MORMON	$2,024,551	9,846	102.63%	$205.62
THE COLOR PURPLE	$1,003,357	8,247	98.09%	$121.66
THE CURIOUS INCIDENT OF THE DOG IN THE NIGHT-TIME	$789,908	7,564	92.88%	$104.43
THE GIN GAME	$349,779	5,611	87.45%	$62.34
THE ILLUSIONISTS – LIVE ON BROADWAY	$1,801,327	15,149	84.26%	$118.91
THE KING AND I	$1,050,922	6,988	83.43%	$150.39
THE LION KING	$2,878,505	15,198	99.57%	$189.40
THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA	$1,651,287	13,288	91.99%	$124.27
THÉRÈSE RAQUIN	$370,028	5,452	76.43%	$67.87
WICKED	$2,940,096	17,119	98.76%	$171.74
Totals	$43,065,466	357,718	89.28%	$111.93

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