Broadway Show Ticket Sales Analysis w/e 05/22/2016

Broadway Leaps Ahead As Awards Season Progresses

In the week ending May 22, 2016, the Broadway industry experienced a healthy growth spurt. Of the 36 shows presently running, the collective gross was $28,842,989. This is an increase of $2,573,173 from the week before, with the same number of shows running. Furthermore, this represents an average gross per show of $801,194, which is an increase from last week’s show average of $729,717.

On average, the shows reached 66.82% of their gross potential, up from an average of 61.98% of gross potential the week before. The average paid admission across the board was $97.33, which is almost the same as last week’s average paid admission of $97.74. As for audience capacity, this week’s average was 85.84%, whereas last week’s average was 79.27%.

Big Increase in Audience Attendance For "Paramour"

Therefore, this past week represents an increased interest in shows, with more audience members in attendance, but about the same willingness to pay for tickets. The greatest increase was seen by the Cirque du Soleil show Paramour, which increased by $443,779 from the week before to reach a weekly gross of $907,800. That was only across five performances, as opposed to four performances the week before – however, the percentage reached of gross potential for Paramour increased from only 59.37% the previous week to 92.93% this past week.

Despite Tony Recognition, New Shows Struggle To Compete

Why the entire Broadway industry experienced collective growth this past week, the increases do not appear to be correlative to the fact that certain shows were recently nominated for a slew of Tony Awards. Other than Paramour, a new Cirque du Soleil show, which was not included in the Tony race, the biggest increase last week was seen by the long-running hit The Lion King, which increased by $405,480 to reach a weekly gross of $2,056,550.

The next biggest increase was seen by another long-running show, The Phantom of the Opera, which increased by $200,627 to reach a weekly gross of $1,033,513. Next in line was Wicked, which went up by $195,514 to reach a weekly gross of $1,673,967. Next, though its overall gross still remained at $735,485, Matilda increased by $143,611. Furthermore, last year’s show An American in Paris increased by $102,574 to reach a gross of $966,672. None of these shows were included in the recently announced list of Tony Award nominations.

"Shuffle Along" Decreases In Box Office

On the other hand, the shows that were nominated appeared to budge little at all, or even in the reverse direction. While Hamilton, considered to be this year’s shoe-in for Best Musical, has been earning hyperbolically excellent grosses throughout its run, this past week the show only went up by $78,640 to reach a still extraordinary gross of $1,764,808, or 132.2% of its gross potential. The next most nominated show, Shuffle Along, actually decreased by $7,837 to reach a weekly gross of $949,306.

The biggest decrease was seen by The Crucible, which was nominated for 4 Tony Awards including Best Revival of a Play, but still went down by $19,965 to reach its weekly gross of $601,778. It is more likely that actually winning the awards will persuade ticketbuyers, but it appears the nominations alone have not been having much of an effect.