By Jennifer R Jones | Posted on November 16, 2016 12:07 PM
Excellent Week On Broadway, With The Whole Industry Showing An Increase Of Over $3 Million. Unfortunately, Transit And A Bronx Tale, Struggle.
Long-Running Musicals See Major Upturn This Week
In the week ending November 13, 2016, the entire Broadway industry experienced an increase in ticket sales of $3,501,252 over the course of 32 shows.
Major increases were seen by shows such as Wicked, which went up by $316,582 to reach a weekly gross of $1,752,417, Hamilton, which went up by $225,200 to reach a weekly gross of $2,452,746, Matilda, which went up by $194,624 to reach a weekly gross of $955,175, School of Rock – the Musical, which went up by $187,368 to reach a weekly gross of $1,061,975.
More Big Increases
The Color Purple, which went up by $166,873 to reach a weekly gross of $695,669, On Your Feet!, which went up by $161,883 to reach a weekly gross of $876,636, Fiddler on the Roof, which went up by $155,740 to reach a weekly gross of $760,639, Kinky Boots, which went up by $152,954 to reach a weekly gross of $888,131, Aladdin, which went up by $135,594 to reach a weekly gross of $1,425,618, and The Phantom of the Opera, which went up by $129,847 to reach a weekly gross of $906,205.
That is just a portion of the shows that saw increases in the six figures. Whereas the previous week saw an average gross per show of $818,676, this week’s average per-show gross was $902,506.
“A Bronx Tale” And “In Transit” Hitting Their Strides
Two shows that have recently begun previews are now playing more performances per week, but still not full performance weeks. A Bronx Tale, the new musical based on the one-man show by Chazz Palminteri, and co-directed by Robert De Niro and Jerry Zaks, brought in a weekly gross this past week of $678,926 over seven performances.
Still, while it only played three performances the previous week, that week had a percentage reached of gross potential of 91.58%, whereas this past week had a percentage reached of gross potential of 82.36%.
A Talented Collaborative Team
Therefore, the show may be creeping up to a full eight-performance week, and yet the grosses show signs of declining from the promising first partial week’s figures. As for In Transit, the new a cappella musical with book, music, and lyrics co-written by four individuals including Kristen Anderson-Lopez, the co-composer of Frozen, the show began previews this past week to an unpromising start.
Over the course of five performances, the show brought in a weekly gross of $180,893, which represents just 39.43% of gross potential. With some recognizable names such as Justin Guarini and Telly Cheung, but no major stars, this a cappella musical may have a tough time making a name for itself, even in light of some other a cappella success stories such as the Pitch Perfect films and the television show “The Sing Off,” both of which share a music supervisor with In Transit.
Only Three Shows Decrease
Still, overall this past week was an excellent one on Broadway, with only three shows showing a decrease in sales, and those were negligible decreases at that. For instance, the biggest decrease was seen by The Front Page, a new production of a comedy revival that went down by $28,797 to reach a very impressive weekly gross of $1,253,703.
