“A Bronx Tale” Soars Ahead on Broadway

Robert De Niro Co-Directed Musical Leads in Terms of Gross Potential

In the week ending February 19, 2017, A Bronx Tale the Musical had a surprisingly successful week. Since this musical began previews on November 3, 2016, it has not been much of a news item. Initial buzz was due mostly to the fact that it is co-directed by Robert De Niro, along with Jerry Zaks, and the creative team is notable beyond that as well; the book is written by Chazz Palminteri based on his one-man show of the same name, and the music is by Alan Menken (Newsies, Aladdin, Sister Act), with lyrics by Glenn Slater (School of Rock, Leap of Faith, The Little Mermaid).

Still, it began performances in the late fall season, at a time when the holidays were on the horizon but the focus was still on the long-running hit musicals. Nevertheless, the musical has fared quite well at the box office. Over the course of the run to date, the average percentage reached of gross potential over the weekly grosses is 93.46%. However, until this past week, the show had only surpassed one million dollars and also exceeded its gross potential on one occasion, the highly trafficked week including the New Years holiday, the week ending January 1, 2017.

"A Bronx Tail" Surpasses its Gross Potential

As of this past week, A Bronx Tale is back on top. It brought in a weekly gross of $1,068,670, which represents an impressive 111.18% of its gross potential. As far as this past week goes, A Bronx Tale brought in the highest weekly gross with respect to its own potential. The next highest weekly gross potential was earned by Hamilton, which earned 108.9% of its gross potential with a weekly gross of $2,866,806.

Three New Shows Enter the Broadway Box Office Running

This past week, three new shows began previews. First, on February 14, 2017, Joshua Harmon’s new play Significant Other began previews at the Booth Theatre. With an almost full week of seven performances this past week, it brought in a disappointing weekly gross of $226,779, which represents just 33.4% of its gross potential. With a top ticket price of $223, the average paid admission was $47.03, and the audience was still only filled up to 88.5% over the course of seven performances.

With no stars in the cast and almost nothing traditionally lucrative in the creative team or brand recognition, this play will be relying purely on reviews and word of mouth to have any hope of its box office picking up. Then, on February 16, 2017, the starry revival of Arthur Miller’s The Price began previews. In its first partial week of four performances, the play brought in a weekly gross of $280,192, which represents 73.1% of its gross potential. With a top ticket price of $250, the average paid admission was $95.17, and the audience was filled up to 99.5%.

Broadway Show Demonstrates Promising Success

This show has a chance of gaining traction at the box office due to the respect given to the playwright, as well as the enticing cast made up of Mark Ruffalo, Danny DeVito, Jessica Hecht, and Tony Shalhoub. The third show to begin previews this past week was the new musical Come From Away, which began performances on February 18, 2017.

With three performances this past week, the show brought in a weekly gross of $322,942, which represents 78.0% of its gross potential. With a top ticket price of $223, the average paid admission was $101.65, and the audience was filled up to 101.2% of capacity. These numbers demonstrate promise for this new musical about travelers brought together due to the tragedy of 9/11, when their planes are stranded in the same small Newfoundland town.