By Jennifer R Jones | Posted on December 04, 2014 12:14 PM
In The Week Ending November 30, 2014, Ticket Sales Were A High. This Is Primarily Due To Its Being Thanksgiving Weekend. The Illusionists Opened Big.
“The Illusionists” Launching Onto The Scene
In the week ending November 23, 2014, The Illusionists - Witness the Impossible began previews. With only seven performances since the first preview on November 26, 2014, the show brought in a first weekly gross of $1,048,858. Though this only represents 76.07% of the show’s gross capacity, that is still a huge amount out of the gates. With a top ticket price of $175.00, the show’s average paid ticket was $107.44, which represents little to no discounting.
This magic spectacle show is different from the average Broadway fare. Opening over Thanksgiving weekend, the show was a major draw for tourists who were looking for something a little less intellectual and a little more spectacular. It will wait to be seen whether the show’s grosses continue to pick up as word of mouth spreads and reviews come out, but for now this show appears to be doing very well on the Great White Way.
An Overall High Week On Broadway
This past week, of the 36 shows presently running on Broadway, all but five saw an increase in ticket sales from the week before. Those five that saw a decline were Love Letters (went down by $102,662), The Last Ship (went down by $38,645), The Real Thing (went down by $24,509), Disgraced (went down by $20,904), and Honeymoon in Vegas (went down by $14,859).
All the rest of the shows saw an increase in sales. Other than The Illusionists – Witness the Impossible, which began previews this week and therefore saw a huge increase from zero the week before, the highest increase was seen by Wicked, which increased by $979,623.
“It’s Only A Play” Playing In The Musical Leagues
Following next was The Lion King with an increase of $711,252, Matilda with an increase of $690,490, and The Phantom of the Opera with an increase of $454,438. Overall, this increase can be explained by the fact that it was Thanksgiving weekend, so tourists were crawling all over the city in great numbers, comparably to over the summer season. They therefore flocked to the more tourist-friendly fare, such as these big blockbuster musicals.
Since it began previews, It’s Only a Play has made over one million dollars in every full performance week. It is squarely amidst a slew of musical in this range of numbers. It could not be more clear that it is only a play, not a musical, and still tourists and locals alike are flocking to it. This is clearly due to the A-list cast, as the reviews were only mild.
The following are the Broadway ticket sales numbers for the week ending November 30, 2014:
| Show | GrossGross | Total Attn | %Cap | AvgPdAdm |
| A DELICATE BALANCE | $807,472 | 5,650 | 88.06% | $142.92 |
| A GENTLEMAN’S GUIDE TO LOVE AND MURDER | $974,924 | 7,046 | 96.47% | $138.37 |
| ALADDIN | $1,759,955 | 13,784 | 100.00% | $127.68 |
| BEAUTIFUL | $1,405,434 | 8,026 | 97.78% | $175.11 |
| CABARET | $948,085 | 7,101 | 99.40% | $133.51 |
| CHICAGO | $583,103 | 6,614 | 76.55% | $88.16 |
| CINDERELLA | $1,115,935 | 13,197 | 94.21% | $84.56 |
| DISGRACED | $412,694 | 5,009 | 68.21% | $82.39 |
| HEDWIG AND THE ANGRY INCH | $653,674 | 6,135 | 87.03% | $106.55 |
| HONEYMOON IN VEGAS | $351,277 | 5,078 | 54.86% | $69.18 |
| IF/THEN | $615,096 | 6,452 | 61.52% | $95.33 |
| IT’S ONLY A PLAY | $1,354,791 | 8,002 | 93.57% | $169.31 |
| JERSEY BOYS | $920,735 | 7,913 | 80.55% | $116.36 |
| KINKY BOOTS | $1,314,521 | 10,293 | 90.35% | $127.71 |
| LES MISÉRABLES | $992,609 | 9,806 | 86.99% | $101.22 |
| LOVE LETTERS | $309,103 | 3,978 | 53.21% | $77.70 |
| MAMMA MIA! | $662,155 | 7,334 | 78.62% | $90.29 |
| MATILDA | $1,454,493 | 11,463 | 100.06% | $126.89 |
| MOTOWN THE MUSICAL | $1,011,459 | 9,200 | 76.31% | $109.94 |
| ON THE TOWN | $885,138 | 8,975 | 59.87% | $98.62 |
| ONCE | $563,704 | 6,362 | 75.09% | $88.60 |
| PIPPIN | $670,217 | 6,847 | 86.45% | $97.88 |
| ROCK OF AGES | $360,759 | 3,664 | 78.56% | $98.46 |
| SIDE SHOW | $466,970 | 5,800 | 55.64% | $80.51 |
| THE BOOK OF MORMON | $1,875,135 | 8,751 | 102.61% | $214.28 |
| THE CURIOUS INCIDENT OF THE DOG IN THE NIGHT-TIME | $952,041 | 7,750 | 95.16% | $122.84 |
| THE ELEPHANT MAN | $958,970 | 6,219 | 100.44% | $154.20 |
| THE ILLUSIONISTS – WITNESS THE IMPOSSIBLE | $1,048,858 | 9,762 | 89.11% | $107.44 |
| THE LAST SHIP | $458,563 | 6,418 | 59.47% | $71.45 |
| THE LION KING | $2,422,719 | 13,602 | 100.01% | $178.11 |
| THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA | $1,131,137 | 11,319 | 88.15% | $99.93 |
| THE REAL THING | $451,370 | 5,220 | 88.18% | $86.47 |
| THE RIVER | $906,275 | 5,629 | 101.10% | $161.00 |
| THIS IS OUR YOUTH | $341,572 | 4,977 | 58.64% | $68.63 |
| WICKED | $2,432,132 | 15,714 | 96.52% | $154.77 |
| YOU CAN’T TAKE IT WITH YOU | $548,572 | 5,479 | 63.83% | $100.12 |
| Totals: | $34,121,642 | 284,569 | 82.85% | $115.18 |
