This Past Week The Entire Broadway Industry Saw A Massive Leap Of Almost $7 Million, However Certain Shows Are Finding It Difficult To Keep Up Including Lord Of The Dance Dangerous Games


This Week’s Notable Movements on Broadway are:

Thanksgiving Holiday Results in Healthy Ticket Sales on Broadway

In the week ending November 29, 2015, the entire Broadway industry had 38 shows running, the total gross of which amounted to $33,851,356. This represents an average gross per show of $890,825, and is an increase of $6,910,729 from the week before. The overall average paid admission was $117.53, with an average top ticket price of $249.12. Of the 38 shows running, 28 saw an increase in sales, and 10 saw a decrease in sales. However, the increases were much more significant than the decreases. For example, the biggest increase was seen by Wicked, which opted to include 9 performances in this holiday week comprising Thanksgiving, and which increased by $782,716 from the week before.

Fiddler on the Roof brought in an excellent gross of $1,221,716, including an increase of $731,657 from last week’s partial week of performances. The Lion King went up by $723,998 to reach the phenomenal gross of $2,436,498. Aladdin went up by $699,501 to reach a weekly gross of $2,048,348, and School of Rock played its first full week of performances, entailing an increase of $567,539 to reach a weekly gross of $1,304,251. In total, 20 individual shows saw an increase of six figures this past week, resulting in an overall very healthy week.

“Lord of the Dance: Dangerous Games” Among Dangerously Low Grossing Shows

This past week, the honor of lowest percentage reached of gross potential went to Lord of the Dance: Dangerous Games, Michael Flatley’s Irish dancing show in the enormous Lyric Theatre. With a weekly gross of just $311,737, the show has the supposed potential to sell tickets amounting to a gross of $1,685,588. The Lyric Theatre is notoriously difficult to fill up due to its gigantic size, but previous shows such as Spiderman: Turn Off the Dark, and even On the Town, did a better job than Lord of the Dance is presently doing in this venue. This represents just 18.5% of the show’s gross potential, even with an additional performance this week bringing the total to 9 shows that week.

While Lord of the Dance brought in the lowest percentage of its gross potential, there were five shows that brought in less in terms of weekly gross. Dames at Sea, which recently announced its premature closing in early January, only brought in $127,199 this past week of eight performances, representing just 22.8% of its gross potential. This is an increase of the negligible amount of $128 from the week before. Even in the small Helen Hayes Theatre, the audience was notoriously sparse at an average of 37.3% capacity this past week.

Other Shows are Facing a Box Office Decrease

Hand to God, which made a big splash last year before Tony Awards season, is also on its last legs. This past week, it brought in only $211,795, representing just 33.7% of its gross potential. Additional low grosses were seen by The Gin Game with $241,917, Fool for Love with $245,366, and Sylvia with $306,496. These shows will likely be among the easiest to secure discounts tickets to in this holiday season.

The Following are the Broadway Ticket Sales Numbers for the Week Ending November 29, 2015:

Broadway Show Ticket Analysis w/e 11-29-15
Show NameGrossGrossTotalAttn%CapacityAvgPdAdm
A GENTLEMAN’S GUIDE TO LOVE AND MURDER
$499,556
5,427
74.79%
$92.05
A VIEW FROM THE BRIDGE
$523,447
6,266
74.10%
$83.54
ALADDIN
$2,048,348
13,633
98.68%
$150.25
ALLEGIANCE
$490,878
5,340
63.15%
$91.92
AN AMERICAN IN PARIS
$1,305,329
10,305
76.72%
$126.67
BEAUTIFUL
$970,795
7,188
87.57%
$135.06
CHICAGO
$582,301
6,559
75.91%
$88.78
CHINA DOLL
$693,200
4,105
96.00%
$168.87
DAMES AT SEA
$127,199
1,742
37.35%
$73.02
FIDDLER ON THE ROOF
$1,221,716
12,898
94.45%
$94.72
FINDING NEVERLAND
$1,082,122
10,094
83.89%
$107.20
FOOL FOR LOVE
$245,366
3,341
74.69%
$73.44
FUN HOME
$724,240
5,467
92.35%
$132.47
HAMILTON
$1,833,886
10,739
101.62%
$170.77
HAND TO GOD
$211,795
2,987
48.36%
$70.91
JERSEY BOYS
$715,382
6,699
68.19%
$106.79
KING CHARLES III
$584,950
5,428
69.45%
$107.77
KINKY BOOTS
$954,445
8,768
76.97%
$108.86
LES MISÉRABLES
$847,062
9,191
81.54%
$92.16
LORD OF THE DANCE: DANGEROUS GAMES
$311,737
4,593
26.92%
$67.87
MATILDA
$1,158,878
10,485
91.52%
$110.53
MISERY
$711,371
5,646
60.01%
$126.00
OLD TIMES
$365,051
4,944
83.51%
$73.84
ON YOUR FEET!
$1,261,413
11,035
84.83%
$114.31
SCHOOL OF ROCK
$1,304,251
11,604
97.61%
$112.40
SOMETHING ROTTEN!
$947,391
8,564
67.52%
$110.62
SPRING AWAKENING
$438,374
4,807
58.56%
$91.19
SYLVIA
$306,496
5,208
60.78%
$58.85
THE BOOK OF MORMON
$1,771,091
9,717
101.28%
$182.27
THE COLOR PURPLE
$736,425
7,451
88.62%
$98.84
THE CURIOUS INCIDENT OF THE DOG IN THE NIGHT-TIME
$716,314
6,557
80.51%
$109.24
THE GIN GAME
$241,917
3,073
54.74%
$78.72
THE ILLUSIONISTS – LIVE ON BROADWAY
$816,110
7,576
54.78%
$107.72
THE KING AND I
$966,143
6,687
79.84%
$144.48
THE LION KING
$2,436,498
13,512
99.59%
$180.32
THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA
$1,045,645
10,318
80.36%
$101.34
THÉRÈSE RAQUIN
$363,361
4,965
60.91%
$73.18
WICKED
$2,290,873
15,099
92.84%
$151.72
Totals
$33,851,352
288,018
76.33%
$109.70

Broadway ticket sales raw data are provided courtesy of The Broadway League All other data, text, opinion, charts and commentary are copyright © 2015 nytix.com