Broadway box office was down 15% last week, with even some of the biggest hit shows reporting slips for the week ending May 1. In all, the 36 shows grossed $29,072,410.
Likely reflecting a slimming down of spring break and Easter tourist business, attendance was off by 10% last week from the previous week, coming in at 241,500. That number suggests that only 75% of available seats were filled, a significantly lower figure than the 85%+ numbers reported earlier this spring.
Also impacting receipts was the large number of opening nights, with press comps and other freebies eating into the figures at The Skin of Our Teeth, A Strange Loop, POTUS, Mr. Saturday Night and Macbeth. The Tony Award eligibility cut-off date is May 4.
The average ticket price for the roster was down as well, to $120 from the previous week’s $128.
Some productions, of course, took steeper drops than others: Beetlejuice was down by more than $492,698 from the previous week, settling in at $875,739 for the week, with attendance at 57% of capacity. Chicago, with Pamela Anderson several weeks into the eight-week run of her Broadway debut, fell by $128,776 to $585,101, with attendance at 72%; and Harry Potter and the Cursed Child slipped $588,258 to $1,095,952 with attendance at about 71%.
They weren’t alone. Other shows posting noticeable drops in receipts included Aladdin, American Buffalo, Birthday Candles, Come From Away, Company, Dear Evan Hansen, Funny Girl, Hadestown, Hamilton, MJ, Moulin Rouge, Mrs. Doubtfire, Paradise Square, Plaza Suite, Six, Take Me Out, The Book of Mormon, The Lion King, The Little Prince, The Minutes, The Music Man, The Phantom of the Opera, The Skin of Our Teeth, Tina, and Wicked.
Mr. Saturday Night played six performance (compared to the previous week’s seven) and took a modest drop to $711,269. Attendance was at 84% of capacity. Funny Girl slipped $31,175 to $1,116,473, still filling 97% of seats despite some previously planned weekend absences of star Beanie Feldstein and the unexpected absence of co-star Ramin Karimloo due to a positive Covid test.
Macbeth, starring Daniel Craig and Ruth Negga, was off by $314,446 to $970,737, reflecting a heavily comped run of six press nights (out of seven performance overall), with attendance staying strong at 99%.
No show was completely SRO, though a handful came close, reporting attendance at 95% of capacity or more: The Music Man, Funny Girl, Hadestown, How I Learned To Drive, Macbeth, Plaza Suite, Moulin Rouge,
Other shows with opening nights last week included The Skin of Our Teeth, filling 47% of seats; A Strange Loop (76%); and POTUS (77%).
Girl From The North Country, the musical of Bob Dylan songs, returned from its winter-long hiatus for three performances, filling 56% of its seats. Hangmen drew about the same percentage, with Paradise Square, The Phantom of the Opera and Tina in a roughly similar vicinity. The Little Prince, the aerial spectacular that has announced a three-month-early closing date of May 8, played to three-quarter empty houses at the Broadway Theatre, grossing just $232,808.
Season to date, Broadway has grossed $750,520,744, with attendance of 5,976,363 at 82% of capacity.
The 36 productions reporting figures on Broadway last week were Aladdin; American Buffalo; Beetlejuice; Birthday Candles; The Book of Mormon; Chicago; Come From Away; Company; Dear Evan Hansen; for colored girls who have considered suicide/when the rainbow is enuf; Funny Girl; Girl From The North Country; Hadestown; Hamilton; Hangmen; Harry Potter and the Cursed Child; How I Learned To Drive; The Lion King; The Little Prince; MJ; The Minutes; Moulin Rouge!; Mr. Saturday Night; Mrs. Doubtfire; The Music Man; Paradise Square; The Phantom of the Opera; Plaza Suite; POTUS; Six; The Skin of Our Teeth; A Strange Loop; Take Me Out; Tina; and Wicked.
All figures courtesy of the Broadway League.