By Jennifer R Jones | Posted on January 19, 2017 9:02 AM
The Broadway Industry Is Settling Down For The Winter, With The Closing Of Shows Before The Onset Of Spring Including Jersey Boys, The Humans, And Holiday Inn
Industry Ebbs And Flows As Shows Close Before Onset of Spring
In the week ending January 15, 2017, Broadway is showing signs of settling down into the winter nadir of the season, prior to the onset of the spring season with the new shows preparing to arrive. This past week, Broadway had 25 shows running, which is four fewer than the week before, and six fewer than this same week last year.
Of the 25 shows, 12 saw an increase in sales from the week before, and 13 saw an increase. The collective gross was $25,872,048, which is a decrease of $1,077,852 from these same shows the week before. The biggest increase was seen by The Humans in its final week of performances.
Big Decrease For "The Phantom Of The Opera" On Broadway
The biggest decrease was seen by The Phantom of the Opera, the long-running Andrew Lloyd Webber musical that brought in a gross last week of $822,845, which is a decrease of $327,760 from the week before. As such, this musical brought in only 55.1% of its gross potential; while this is an alarmingly low gross, this show has a way of picking back up each year as a classic mainstay on Broadway.
Other long-running shows also saw significant decreases, which did not impact the overall gross so severely. After Phantom, the next biggest decrease was seen by The Lion King, which decreased by $244,964 to reach a weekly gross of $1,800,719, which still represents an impressive 101.6% of its gross potential.
Long-Running Shows Not Reaching Potential
Cirque du Soleil’s Paramour saw a decrease of $218,892 to reach a weekly gross of $999,969, or 64.7% of its gross potential, as it prepares to vacate the Lyric Theatre for the Ambassador Theatre Group’s renovations in preparation for Harry Potter and the Cursed Child. Meanwhile, Wicked saw a decrease of $176,462 to reach a weekly gross of $1,668,862, or 93.8% of its gross potential.
Broadway Box Office Performance In The Final Week For Three Shows
On January 15, 2017, three shows played their final performance. First of all, the long-running smash jukebox musical Jersey Boys wrapped up its run of over 11 years this past week. Surprisingly, the show saw a slight decrease in ticket sales from the week before.
This past week, Jersey Boys brought in a weekly gross of $1,325,582, which represents 115.15% of its gross potential, and which is a slight decrease of $34,035 from the week before.
"Jersey Boys" Ends On A High Note
Nevertheless, the last three weeks were all excellent, with the week ending January 1, 2017 bringing in a weekly gross of $1,778,189, or 123.01% of its gross potential, and the week ending January 8, 2017 bringing in a weekly gross of $1,359,617, or 118.11% of its gross potential.
Therefore, Jersey Boys did go out on a high note, and many more productions will continue to be seen on tours and in productions across the world. This past week, the Tony Award winning play The Humans also concluded its run with a weekly gross of $789,188, which is an increase of $142,244 from the week before, and which represents 80.83% of its gross potential.
"The Humans" Finishes Strong On Broadway
This is also an instance of going out on a high note, as this is almost the largest weekly gross of The Humans’ run, with the exception of the week ending January 1, 2017, which had nine performances. It is also almost the height of the show’s performance in terms of gross potential, with the exception of the summer weeks when the play was still at the smaller Helen Hayes Theatre.
Finally, this past week also saw the final performance of Holiday Inn, The New Irving Berlin Musical. That show ended the run with a weekly gross of $535,622, which represents 55.3% of its gross potential, and which is an increase of $30,691 from the week before. With a top ticket price of $162, the average paid admission was $76.63, and the audience was filled up to 87.6% of its capacity on average throughout the final week.
