By Jennifer R Jones | Posted on January 20, 2016 7:54 PM
Broadway Increased Just Slightly This Past Week, Still Slow After The Holiday Rush, With Only Hamilton Out-Performing Even The Long-Running Hits Such As The Lion King And Wicked
This Week’s Notable Movements on Broadway are:
Shows Ebb and Flow, But Industry Fairly Static
In the week ending January 17, 2016, Broadway is still in a fairly low key state following the holiday rush at the end of the year. This past week, among the 31 shows currently running, the industry as a whole brought in a collective gross of $26,239,269, which is a slight increase of $409,152 from the week before (with one fewer show running). Of these 31 shows, 10 saw a decrease in sales, and 21 saw an increase in sales. The biggest increase was seen by Beautiful: The Carole King Musical, which brought in $994,176, and increase of $107,807 from the week before. Just behind that was Finding Neverland, which brought in $822,460, or an increase of $101,961.
The Color Purple brought in $889,127, which is an increase of $101,940 from the week before. As for biggest decreases, The Lion King brought in $1,660,171, a decreae of $151,853, The Phantom of the Opera brought in $635,769, a decrease of $134,546, Jersey Boys brought in $668,825, a decrease of $92,941, and China Doll brought in $552,601, a decrease of $78,774. Whereas the previous week the average weekly gross per show was $833,230, this past week saw just a slight increase, with the average gross per show at $846,428. Furthermore, the average audience capacity across all shows running saw a slight increase, from 82.69% the week before, to 84.38% this past week. All in all, the industry has remained fairly static from the previous week’s figures.
Top Grossing Broadway Musicals a Mix of Old and New
The slow season is often the best indicator of a show’s endurance; if it still performs well when the industry is performing poorly on average, then it will probably be around for a while. This past week, the top grossing shows were a mix of long-running hits and newer shows with a promising future. The top grossing show this past week was Hamilton, with a weekly gross of $1,769,360, outperforming even the usual top hits The Lion King and Wicked. This show is a consistently tough ticket, bringing out the crowds even in the brisk cold of winter. Just behind Hamilton, however, was a long-running favorite, The Lion King, with a weekly gross of $1,660,171, and just behind that the other usual suspect, Wicked, with a weekly gross of $1,590,318.
The next two shows have been around for several years, if not quite as long as Wicked and The Lion King, and have long ago proven themselves to be in the top grossing shows week after week: The Book of Mormon brought in $1,496,509, and Aladdin brought in $1,360,505. The next three top grossing shows, however, were new this season: On Your Feet!, the Gloria and Emilio Estefan musical, brought in $1,146,372, Fiddler on the Roof, the new revival starring Danny Burstein as Tevye, brought in $1,112,364, and School of Rock, the Andrew Lloyd Webber musical based off the popular film, brought in $1,073,910. That’s it for shows that crossed the million dollar mark this past week, as January is traditionally a slow month. However, Broadway Week this upcoming week may change things, as we will see when next week’s grosses come in.
The Following are the Broadway Ticket Sales Numbers for the Week Ending January 17, 2016:
| Show Name | GrossGross | TotalAttn | %Capacity | AvgPdAdm |
| A GENTLEMAN’S GUIDE TO LOVE AND MURDER | $677,178 | 7,181 | 98.97% | $94.30 |
| A VIEW FROM THE BRIDGE | $525,768 | 6,943 | 85.00% | $75.73 |
| ALADDIN | $1,360,505 | 13,633 | 98.68% | $99.79 |
| ALLEGIANCE | $411,044 | 5,452 | 64.47% | $75.39 |
| AN AMERICAN IN PARIS | $899,077 | 9,410 | 70.06% | $95.54 |
| BEAUTIFUL | $994,176 | 7,856 | 95.71% | $126.55 |
| CHICAGO | $428,250 | 5,468 | 63.29% | $78.32 |
| CHINA DOLL | $552,601 | 4,539 | 70.77% | $121.75 |
| FIDDLER ON THE ROOF | $1,112,364 | 11,945 | 87.47% | $93.12 |
| FINDING NEVERLAND | $822,460 | 9,012 | 74.90% | $91.26 |
| FUN HOME | $603,057 | 5,798 | 97.94% | $104.01 |
| HAMILTON | $1,769,360 | 10,753 | 101.75% | $164.55 |
| JERSEY BOYS | $668,825 | 7,282 | 74.12% | $91.85 |
| KING CHARLES III | $692,062 | 7,086 | 90.66% | $97.67 |
| KINKY BOOTS | $829,888 | 8,286 | 72.74% | $100.16 |
| LES MISÉRABLES | $702,532 | 8,248 | 73.17% | $85.18 |
| MATILDA | $716,542 | 8,698 | 75.93% | $82.38 |
| MISERY | $728,263 | 6,854 | 72.85% | $106.25 |
| NOISES OFF | $382,252 | 5,856 | 98.92% | $65.28 |
| ON YOUR FEET! | $1,146,372 | 10,442 | 80.27% | $109.78 |
| OUR MOTHER’S BRIEF AFFAIR | $187,813 | 4,692 | 90.23% | $40.03 |
| SCHOOL OF ROCK | $1,073,910 | 9,976 | 87.32% | $107.65 |
| SOMETHING ROTTEN! | $772,428 | 9,740 | 80.95% | $79.30 |
| SPRING AWAKENING | $604,880 | 7,624 | 92.88% | $79.34 |
| THE BOOK OF MORMON | $1,496,509 | 8,734 | 102.42% | $171.34 |
| THE COLOR PURPLE | $889,127 | 7,989 | 95.02% | $111.29 |
| THE CURIOUS INCIDENT OF THE DOG IN THE NIGHT-TIME | $564,797 | 6,664 | 81.83% | $84.75 |
| THE KING AND I | $740,971 | 7,189 | 85.83% | $103.07 |
| THE LION KING | $1,660,171 | 13,310 | 98.10% | $124.73 |
| THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA | $635,769 | 7,775 | 60.55% | $81.77 |
| WICKED | $1,590,318 | 13,432 | 92.92% | $118.40 |
| Totals | $26,239,268 | 257,867 | 84.38% | $98.73 |
Broadway ticket sales raw data are provided courtesy of The Broadway League All other data, text, opinion, charts and commentary are copyright © 2016 nytix.com
