Broadway Box Office: ‘Hedwig and the Angry Inch’ Booms in Star’s Final Week
As New York’s theater industry turns its attention to the Tony Awards, Broadway box office posted overall gains last week, with particularly notable rises at “Hedwig and the Angry Inch” and Tony hopeful “Fun Home,” among other titles.
“Hedwig” ($702,944), up a whopping 43%, climbed in the final week for John Cameron Mitchell, the co-creator of the musical (and its original Off Broadway star) who played a limited engagement in the Broadway revival that ended Sunday. Mitchell exits the show with a Tony Award in his pocket, having just been named the recipient of a special Tony Award for his performance. Darren Criss (“Glee”) steps into the show’s lead role this week.
“Fun Home” ($436,173), meanwhile, stepped up 30% in the wake of the critical raves the show earned following its April 19 opening. (As a modestly scaled musical at Circle in the Square, one of Broadway’s smallest theaters, its earning potential is significantly lower than that of Broadway’s larger shows in bigger houses.) Also climbing significantly was revival “The King and I” ($981,217), rising 28% on similarly glowing press, while “It Should Been You” ($447,362) gained about that much despite a decidedly mixed bag of reviews.
Meanwhile, “An American in Paris” ($1,235,247) and “Finding Neverland” ($1,096,966), two potential contenders in the Tony Awards’ new musical race, held onto spots on the Broadway chart’s Top 10. Comedy “Something Rotten” ($716,593) upticked, despite accommodating critics’ performances and a comped opening night, as did “Doctor Zhivago” ($485,335), which also opened last week.
Another new musical to debut last week, “The Visit” ($180,105), slipped, but could gain some steam based on its potential nominations and on reviews that could position it as a must-see for theater aficionados.
Among the season’s new nonmusical productions, “Fish in the Dark” ($1,182,215) starring Larry David and “The Audience” ($1,164,521) with Helen Mirren maintained perches in the Top 10. Revival “Skylight” ($775,492) made a healthy return after a week off to allow for the previous commitments of its actors, Carey Mulligan and Bill Nighy.
On the new play front, “Hand to God” ($343,575) climbed a bit but still seems in need of the awards-season attention likely to come its way, while opera-world comedy “Living on Love” ($155,646), which opened last week, struggled.
Overall Broadway sales climbed about $1.8 million to $27.7 million for 35 shows on the boards, while attendance stepped up 13,000 to 285,883.
Looking ahead, the hoopla of the Tony nominations will turn a nice spotlight on the shows that figure into the big awards races, which producers can hope to exploit as best they can in advance of big night June 7.
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