Newsies The Musical Broadway Show Poster
Newsies and Once, both Cinderella stories over the summer, have seen slight declines in business this post Rosh Hashanah week (both saw over 3% decrease in their total capacity). Whether or not this bodes ill for these new musicals going forward remains to be seen, but it could be that the post-Tony Awards buzz is starting to wear off- The departure of Jeremy Jordan probably didn't help, but his inclusion into NBC's "Smash" may raise awareness of his roots. Meanwhile the longer-running Broadway show hits The Book of Mormon, Jersey Boys, and Wicked all experienced slight upturns in revenue, proving the value of having a well-marketed, much-buzzed-about "brand name" to sell to tourists who are looking for a title they recognize (but have probably already seen Phantom, Chicago and Mamma Mia!). Porgy and Bess received its anticipated last minute buying spree and closed with a strong 87% full and $96 average ticket paid, it actually placed ninth in highest grossing Broadway show this week - not bad for this new perspective on Gershwin's classic. Its run was rocky, but encouraging - as it did recoup its investment. An Enemy of the People's struggle continues, as its average paid admission went down from an already low $44.74 last week to $39.35 this week. The other new production of a classic play to recently start performances, Cyrano de Bergerac, is also having difficulties, with its capacity falling from 74.39% to 66.27%. However, Cyrano did at least see an increase in average paid admission from $38.16 to $46.41, less papering and more paid audience. Does papering a Broadway show actually save a show, or does it create the air of desperation from which a show can never recover? The following are the Broadway ticket sales numbers from the week ending September 23, 2012:
Broadway Show Ticket Analysis for week ending 9/23/12
Show Name GrossGross TotalAttn %Cap AvgPaidAdm
AN ENEMY OF THE PEOPLE $182,194 4,630 89.87% $39.35
BRING IT ON THE MUSICAL $371,851 6,724 63.01% $55.30
CHAPLIN $444,259 6,045 72.31% $73.49
CHICAGO $619,591 7,425 85.94% $83.45
CYRANO DE BERGERAC $178,864 3,854 66.27% $46.41
EVITA $1,045,494 10,058 77.99% $103.95
GRACE $465,332 6,601 76.47% $70.49
JERSEY BOYS $976,415 9,171 93.35% $106.47
MAMMA MIA! $729,744 9,040 75.43% $80.72
MARY POPPINS $604,542 9,026 62.79% $66.98
NEWSIES $800,484 9,249 96.75% $86.55
NICE WORK IF YOU CAN GET IT $902,213 9,252 80.37% $97.52
ONCE $970,686 8,060 95.23% $120.43
PETER AND THE STARCATCHER $294,536 5,203 62.66% $56.61
PORGY AND BESS $891,566 9,281 86.90% $96.06
ROCK OF AGES $464,585 4,412 94.60% $105.30
SPIDER-MAN TURN OFF THE DARK $1,113,184 11,874 76.90% $93.75
THE BOOK OF MORMON $1,626,122 8,752 102.63% $185.80
THE LION KING $1,555,752 13,222 98.55% $117.66
THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA $803,236 10,566 82.29% $76.02
WAR HORSE $535,858 7,067 82.64% $75.83
WICKED $1,495,735 13,562 93.71% $110.29
Total: $17,072,241 183,074 82.57% $88.56
*Broadway Grosses provided courtesy of The Broadway League