This week’s notable movements on Broadway are:

A Downturn from Last Week’s Excellent Grosses

In the week ending July 26, 2015, the overall Broadway industry took a dip of $1,183,075 from the week before. Of the 28 shows presently running, only 11 saw an increase in ticket sales, whereas 17 saw a decrease in ticket sales. Furthermore, the increases were much smaller than the decreases. The biggest increase was seen by Kinky Boots, which brought in $41,850 from the week before. In contrast, the biggest decrease was seen by Hedwig and the Angry Inch which went down by $275,979 from the week before. Furthermore, The Lion King saw a decrease of $211,515, Fish in the Dark saw a decrease of $185,258, The King and I saw a decrease of $183,813, Wicked saw a decrease of $165,183, and The Book of Mormon saw a decrease of $149,069. Still, most of these large downturns were seen by the highest grossing shows. For instance, though The Lion King decreased by $211,515, it still brought in a weekly gross of $2,408,501 and was the highest grossing show of the week. Therefore, it is not so much that this past week was a poor one on Broadway, but rather than the week prior was excellent in terms of ticket sales.

“Hamilton” Continues to Rake It In

This past week was Hamilton’s second week running on Broadway, and it is still in previews. This week, it earned $14,075 more than the week before, bringing in an excellent weekly gross of $1,302,511. That represents an astounding 111.51% of its gross potential. With a top ticket price of the comparably low amount of $275.00, the average paid admission was $140.21. This demonstrates that no discounting is taking place for this hot new musical with book, music, and lyrics by, and also starring, Lin Manuel-Miranda, the creator of In the Heights. Hamilton has been very buzzy since its Off-Broadway run at the Public Theater, which is also the origin theatre of Fun Home which took home the Tony Award for Best Musical this past season. At this rate, if the reviews are as excellent as the buzz, Hamilton should be a shoe-in for the Tony Award for Best Musical next year, though that is almost an entire year away. Its success may even be enough to dissuade producers who are developing new musicals to rush their shows to Broadway, and they might be inclined to wait until the following season when there is a less obvious contender for this prestigious award. This past week, Hamilton was filled up to 100.5% of audience capacity on average in the Richard Rodgers Theatre, which is up from 100.3% from the week before. It doesn’t hurt that President Obama was widely reported to have since this show in previews. When the show opens on August 5, 2015, it may become even more difficult to snag a ticket. The following are the Broadway ticket sales numbers for the week ending July 26, 2015:

Show Name	GrossGross	TotalAttn	%Capacity	AvgPdAdm
A GENTLEMAN’S GUIDE TO LOVE AND MURDER	$546,611	6,831	94.14%	$80.02
ALADDIN	$1,831,846	13,818	100.01%	$132.57
AMAZING GRACE	$297,904	5,243	56.40%	$56.82
AN ACT OF GOD	$1,011,538	7,753	96.33%	$130.47
AN AMERICAN IN PARIS	$1,429,500	12,819	95.44%	$111.51
BEAUTIFUL	$986,399	7,769	94.65%	$126.97
CHICAGO	$674,699	8,023	92.86%	$84.10
FINDING NEVERLAND	$1,162,145	11,659	96.90%	$99.68
FISH IN THE DARK	$716,936	7,716	89.89%	$92.92
FUN HOME	$805,369	6,105	103.13%	$131.92
HAMILTON	$1,302,511	9,290	100.47%	$140.21
HAND TO GOD	$339,642	4,527	73.30%	$75.03
HEDWIG AND THE ANGRY INCH	$405,108	5,576	92.29%	$72.65
IT SHOULDA BEEN YOU	$404,467	5,864	72.43%	$68.97
JERSEY BOYS	$683,286	7,158	72.86%	$95.46
KINKY BOOTS	$951,252	9,666	84.85%	$98.41
LES MISÉRABLES	$812,848	9,664	85.73%	$84.11
MAMMA MIA!	$932,929	9,403	100.80%	$99.22
MATILDA	$1,133,454	11,462	100.05%	$98.89
ON THE TOWN	$476,502	8,194	54.66%	$58.15
PENN & TELLER ON BROADWAY	$1,237,512	10,824	82.80%	$114.33
SOMETHING ROTTEN!	$1,067,457	11,664	87.46%	$91.52
THE BOOK OF MORMON	$1,505,083	8,748	102.58%	$172.05
THE CURIOUS INCIDENT OF THE DOG IN THE NIGHT-TIME	$867,969	7,712	94.70%	$112.55
THE KING AND I	$969,161	7,127	85.09%	$135.98
THE LION KING	$2,408,501	13,570	100.01%	$177.49
THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA	$1,090,134	12,182	94.88%	$89.49
WICKED	$2,002,632	15,201	98.66%	$131.74
Total	$28,053,394	255,568	89.41%	$105.83

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