By Jennifer R Jones | Posted on November 22, 2014 2:37 PM
In The Week Ending November 16, 2014, Many Shows Saw A Decrease In Sales From The Week Before. Surprisingly, Certain Straight Plays Beat The Odds.
A Low Week In The Broadway Fall Ebb And Flow
In the past few weeks, Broadway seems to be fluctuating between high weeks and low weeks. The week ending November 16, 2014 was one of the low weeks. Of the 35 shows presently running, only 7 of them saw an increase in ticket sales from the week before.
The highest increase was seen by The Elephant Man, only because this was its first full week of eight performances. Of the other six shows that saw an increase, that increase was very slight: always under $100,000.
"Love Letters" And "Side Show" See Increases
Love Letters increased from $393,746 last week to $483,280 this week, which was only an increase of $89,534, and even then the show only brought in 61.89% of its gross capacity.
Other increases were seen by Side Show (an increase of only $35,819, still only at 38.74% gross capacity), The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time (increased only by $11,242, and was already at over 90% gross potential), as well as On the Town, Once, and Cinderella, each of which only saw an increase of under $10,000. Otherwise, significant decreases were seen by shows including Wicked (decrease of $259,397) and The Lion King (decrease of $209,740).
High Grossing Plays
This fall season is shaping up to have a few solid box office contenders in terms of straight plays. The biggest non-tuner winner appears to be It’s Only a Play, which last week brought in $1,370,168 and has consistently been over the million dollar mark in every full performance week since it began its run.
However, that show is less likely to score big in the Tony Awards, as its box office success is due mostly to the show’s stars including Nathan Lane, Matthew Broderick, and Rupert Grint. The Elephant Man, starring Bradley Cooper, is shaping up to be another big box office winner, having earned $966,896 last week in its first full performance week.
Audiences Drawn To "The Curious Incident Of The Dog In The Night-Time"
The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time continued its winning streak last week with a gross of $907,142, as audiences are drawn to this spectacular drama transferred from London. Finally, Jez Butterworth’s The River is a top earner with its headliner Hugh Jackman, having earned $723,882 this past week, and having earned close to a million dollars last week.
Not only is Jackman generally understood to be box office gold, but Butterworth has quickly guilt a reputation as an unmissable playwright ever since his success with Jerusalem, and this box office success is all the more notable due to the tiny size of the Circle in the Square Theatre.
The following are the Broadway ticket sales numbers for the week ending November 16, 2014:
| Show | GrossGross | Total Attn | %Cap | AvgPdAdm |
| A DELICATE BALANCE | $852,393 | 6,416 | 100.00% | $132.85 |
| A GENTLEMAN’S GUIDE TO LOVE AND MURDER | $788,831 | 6,885 | 94.89% | $114.57 |
| ALADDIN | $1,328,493 | 13,237 | 96.03% | $100.36 |
| BEAUTIFUL | $1,318,454 | 8,222 | 100.17% | $160.36 |
| CABARET | $686,271 | 6,106 | 85.47% | $112.39 |
| CHICAGO | $413,434 | 5,372 | 62.18% | $76.96 |
| CINDERELLA | $631,822 | 8,518 | 60.81% | $74.17 |
| DISGRACED | $471,373 | 5,569 | 75.83% | $84.64 |
| HEDWIG AND THE ANGRY INCH | $607,949 | 6,308 | 89.49% | $96.38 |
| IF/THEN | $466,852 | 6,975 | 66.50% | $66.93 |
| IT’S ONLY A PLAY | $1,370,168 | 8,479 | 99.15% | $161.60 |
| JERSEY BOYS | $727,348 | 6,994 | 71.19% | $104.00 |
| KINKY BOOTS | $1,142,851 | 10,114 | 88.78% | $113.00 |
| LES MISÉRABLES | $603,883 | 7,315 | 64.90% | $82.55 |
| LOVE LETTERS | $483,280 | 5,603 | 74.95% | $86.25 |
| MAMMA MIA! | $483,950 | 6,181 | 66.26% | $78.30 |
| MATILDA | $744,214 | 8,578 | 74.88% | $86.76 |
| MOTOWN THE MUSICAL | $997,824 | 10,157 | 84.25% | $98.24 |
| ON THE TOWN | $843,648 | 10,345 | 69.00% | $81.55 |
| ONCE | $462,158 | 5,652 | 66.71% | $81.77 |
| PIPPIN | $397,603 | 5,210 | 65.78% | $76.32 |
| ROCK OF AGES | $323,042 | 3,718 | 79.72% | $86.89 |
| SIDE SHOW | $449,747 | 8,957 | 85.93% | $50.21 |
| THE BOOK OF MORMON | $1,594,690 | 8,751 | 102.61% | $182.23 |
| THE COUNTRY HOUSE | $187,209 | 3,641 | 70.02% | $51.42 |
| THE CURIOUS INCIDENT OF THE DOG IN THE NIGHT-TIME | $907,142 | 7,988 | 98.08% | $113.56 |
| THE ELEPHANT MAN | $966,896 | 6,278 | 101.39% | $154.01 |
| THE LAST SHIP | $536,449 | 6,648 | 61.60% | $80.69 |
| THE LION KING | $1,527,989 | 13,319 | 97.93% | $114.72 |
| THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA | $715,131 | 8,450 | 65.81% | $84.63 |
| THE REAL THING | $455,145 | 5,512 | 93.11% | $82.57 |
| THE RIVER | $723,882 | 5,695 | 102.28% | $127.11 |
| THIS IS OUR YOUTH | $322,033 | 4,772 | 56.22% | $67.48 |
| WICKED | $1,361,772 | 12,283 | 84.87% | $110.87 |
| YOU CAN’T TAKE IT WITH YOU | $544,105 | 5,708 | 66.50% | $95.32 |
| Totals: | $26,438,028 | 259,956 | 80.67% | $99.19 |
