Broadway Box Office: Sales Dip After Labor Day Boom, but ‘Rotten’ Rises
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Broadway box office slowed ahead of the Tony Awards ceremony this Sunday, but that’s only to be expected the week after the tourism-powered Memorial Day frame. And even amidst the general decline, a few shows, including Tony nominee “Something Rotten!,” managed to rise thanks to the awards-season attention.
Nominated for 10 Tonys including the top title for new musical, “Something Rotten!” ($1,100,399) posted the highest gain of the week — which only amounted to about $35,000 in last week’s downward trend. The nominated revival of “The King and I” ($1,095,371) also climbed a bit, while 12-time nominee “Fun Home” ($628,970) held steady, as did Larry David starrer “Fish in the Dark” ($1,216,518) in its second-to-last week with David in the lead role.
Otherwise, it was mostly dips at individual productions in a week that saw attendance drop 20,000 to 265,125, or 84% of overall Broadway capacity. Many of the newer musicals on the boards, such as nominee “An American in Paris” ($1,339,416) and “Finding Neverland” ($1,048,475), managed to keep the declines relatively minor.
Some older musicals that are among the Street’s bigger tourist-magnets, such as “Beautiful” ($909,618) and “Les Miserables” ($611,524), lost the most momentum last week. But not “The Lion King” ($2,026,910), which still managed to come in above the $2 million mark.
Meanwhile, new musical nominee “The Visit” ($149,023) continued to struggle, while revival “On the Town” ($512,816) fell off some 20% and two-play marathon “Wolf Hall” ($548,136) continued to see both sales and attendance decline. Play “Hand to God” ($406,784) held up better, relatively, although it still could benefit from the pick-me-up of a Tony win.
The one show to open last week, Jim Parsons vehicle “An Act of God” ($693,379), dipped a bit due to critics’ performances and a heavily-comped opening night, but still looked plenty healthy. The recently recouped “Skylight” ($782,580) also was among the plays to remain strong.
Overall Broadway sales slid $2.4 million to $26.9 million for 33 shows on the boards. This week, producers will be holding their breaths to see how the Tony Awards play out — and, in the coming summer months, how award wins will shift sales.
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