By Jennifer R Jones | Posted on February 12, 2015 2:36 PM
Broadway Show Ticket Sales Analysis W/E 02/08/2015 Where Fish In The Dark Begins Its Run With Brilliant Box Office Results. If/Then Struggles After Hiatus.
“Fish in the Dark” Strong Out Of The Gates
On February 2, 2015, Larry David’s Fish in the Dark began previews at the Cort Theatre. In its first week of seven performances, it fared brilliantly at the box office. As previously reported, this play broke advance box office records due to the notoriety of its writer and star, Larry David, who rose to fame principally through the TV show Curb Your Enthusiasm as well as through co-creating Seinfeld.
In the week ending February 8, 2015, the show brought in a weekly gross of $993,940, which is especially not bad given that was with only seven performances. It made 113.39% of its gross potential, with an average paid admission of $130.95 and a top ticket price of $423.00. Miraculously, it had the fifth highest gross this week on Broadway, following only the mega hit musicals The Lion King, The Book of Mormon, Wicked, and Aladdin. Once again, that was with one fewer performance that week than the other shows.
“If/Then” Struggling Following Week-Long Hiatus
Idina Menzel, the star of the presently running musical If/Then, took a weeklong hiatus from performing in that show in order to travel to Phoenix, Arizona to sing the National Anthem at Super Bowl XLIX on February 1, 2015. Without her, the producers felt it best to cancel performances for that entire week, rather than bring in an understudy.
Menzel’s fame is clearly soaring, due in large part to her recent success playing the lead part and singing the hit song “Let It Go” from the Disney animated film Frozen, as well as John Travolta’s heavily referenced flub of her name, calling her Adele Dazeem. It is for this reason she was asked to sing the National Anthem at the Super Bowl.
Menzel Is Proving To Have Star Power
However, If/Then isn’t doing quite as well. It’s clear that without Menzel at center stage, this musical would be faring even less well. Still, in the first week back after this week-long hiatus, the musical brought in $563,156, which was only 43.65% of its gross potential. With an average paid ticket price of $76.71, the show is clearly doing a lot of discounting. Still, it only managed to reach an average capacity of 70.0%.
The following are the Broadway ticket sales numbers for the week ending February 8, 2015:
| Show Name | GrossGross | Total Attn | %Capacity | AvgPdAdm |
| A DELICATE BALANCE | $456,872 | 4,427 | 69.00% | $103.20 |
| A GENTLEMAN’S GUIDE TO LOVE AND MURDER | $584,938 | 5,838 | 80.46% | $100.19 |
| ALADDIN | $1,203,871 | 13,090 | 94.97% | $91.97 |
| BEAUTIFUL | $966,461 | 7,330 | 89.30% | $131.85 |
| CABARET | $932,882 | 7,016 | 98.21% | $132.96 |
| CHICAGO | $447,331 | 5,903 | 68.32% | $75.78 |
| CONSTELLATIONS | $530,585 | 5,132 | 98.69% | $103.39 |
| DISGRACED | $333,741 | 4,633 | 63.09% | $72.04 |
| FISH IN THE DARK | $993,940 | 7,590 | 101.05% | $130.95 |
| HEDWIG AND THE ANGRY INCH | $473,945 | 4,507 | 74.59% | $105.16 |
| HONEYMOON IN VEGAS | $359,163 | 4,849 | 51.63% | $74.07 |
| IF/THEN | $563,156 | 7,341 | 69.99% | $76.71 |
| IT’S ONLY A PLAY | $474,936 | 5,633 | 65.38% | $84.31 |
| JERSEY BOYS | $616,604 | 6,870 | 69.93% | $89.75 |
| KINKY BOOTS | $819,594 | 8,385 | 73.60% | $97.75 |
| LES MISÉRABLES | $511,848 | 6,773 | 60.09% | $75.57 |
| MAMMA MIA! | $362,236 | 5,157 | 55.29% | $70.24 |
| MATILDA | $692,151 | 9,328 | 81.42% | $74.20 |
| ON THE TOWN | $379,914 | 5,420 | 36.15% | $70.09 |
| THE BOOK OF MORMON | $1,455,237 | 8,715 | 102.19% | $166.98 |
| THE CURIOUS INCIDENT OF THE DOG IN THE NIGHT-TIME | $738,815 | 7,130 | 87.55% | $103.62 |
| THE ELEPHANT MAN | $721,450 | 4,651 | 100.15% | $155.12 |
| THE LION KING | $1,463,314 | 13,180 | 96.91% | $111.03 |
| THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA | $583,683 | 7,818 | 60.89% | $74.66 |
| THE RIVER | $503,377 | 5,703 | 102.42% | $88.27 |
| WICKED | $1,262,017 | 12,266 | 84.76% | $102.89 |
| YOU CAN’T TAKE IT WITH YOU | $334,244 | 4,507 | 52.50% | $74.16 |
| Totals | $18,766,304 | 189,192 | 77.35% | $97.66 |
Broadway ticket sales raw data are provided courtesy of The Broadway League All other data, text, opinion, charts and commentary are copyright © 2015 nytix.com
