Broadway Grosses: Waiting to Exhale
(© Ave Bonar)
The top five highest-grossing shows on Broadway held their positions from last week, while the shows in the number 6 through 10 spots played musical chairs. Kinky Boots continues to gain momentum, coming in number 6 this week just a hair (and $4,348) ahead of Matilda. Now that every show of the spring season is officially open, this might be what the top ten looks like for weeks to come.
1. The Lion King: $1, 864, 611
2. Wicked: $1, 735, 066
3. The Book of Mormon: $1, 675, 558
4. Lucky Guy: $1, 384, 178
5. Motown: The Musical: $1, 213, 611
6. Kinky Boots: $1, 112, 163
7. Matilda: $1, 107, 815
8. Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark: $1, 033, 279
9. The Phantom of the Opera: $985, 895
10. Cinderella: $943, 353
250,970 people took in a Broadway show last week. The average paid admission was $93.88. The highest average admission was for The Book of Mormon ($191.45) and the lowest was for The Testament of Mary ($37.93). Two shows played to less than half-full houses last week: Ann (40.9%) and Jekyll & Hyde ($47.65%). Don’t expect any closing notices just yet, though.
The Drama Desk nominations were announced this morning and the Tony noms will be revealed tomorrow. With that in mind, shows are in a holding pattern until they know whether they will receive some awards-season luster. Producers will often pull out all the stops to keep a nominated show afloat, at least through the actual awards ceremony. Whether a nomination will result in a ticket-sales bump for any of the shows this season remains to be seen.
