The Week Ending December 20, 2015 Was A Stable One On Broadway Noises Off Began Previews To A Moderate Start, And Other Shows Fluctuated But The Average Remained About The Same


This Week’s Notable Movements on Broadway are:

“Noises Off” Plays First Partial Week at the American Airlines Theatre

On December 17, 2015, Noises Off played its first preview performance at the American Airlines Theatre in a Roundabout Theatre Company production. The show will officially open on January 14, 2015. This is the third time this play by Michael Frayn has appeared on Broadway; the premiere was in 1983, when it was nominated for the Tony Award for Best Play, and took home the Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Ensemble. The play was revived in 2001, starring Peter Gallagher, Patti LuPone, Edward Hibbert, and Faith Prince.

The present 2015 to 2016 revival is directed by Jeremy Herrin, and stars Megan Hilty, Rob McClure, Jeremy Shamos, Andrea Martin, and Tracee Chimo. In the first five performances at the box office, Noises Off brought in $206,490, which represents 50.6% of its gross potential. This is not bad in the busy season with a full slate of fall shows up and running, and before the reviews have hit the presses for word of mouth to spread. In these five performances, the top ticket price was $139, and the average paid admission was $67.72. The average audience capacity was 82.4%.

An Overall Stable Week Once Again on Broadway

Like last week, the week ending December 20, 2015 stayed fairly stable overall on Broadway. Of the 37 shows presently running, 17 saw an increase in sales, and 20 saw a decrease in sales. Still, the overall difference in collective box office gross was merely a decrease of $131,932. The average audience capacity this week was 75.32%, down 1.44% from last week. The total gross of all 37 shows was $29,484,802, which represents an average of $796,887 per show. Besides Noises Off, which doesn’t count because it increased from $0 last week, the biggest increase in ticket sales was seen by Wicked, which brought in $1,903,218, up $170,928 from the week before.

The second biggest increase was more notable as it is a newer show; The Color Purple brought in a weekly gross of $854,716, which represents 82.1% of its gross potential, and is an increase of $158,686 from the week before. With great buzz and Jennifer Hudson in the cast, The Color Purple is bringing in healthy grosses. Other big increases were seen by The Lion King, Matilda, The Phantom of the Opera, and Aladdin, all long-running musicals catering to tourists in this holiday season. On the other hand, the biggest decrease was seen by the newly begun Fiddler on the Roof, which has been performing very well, but this week took a dip of $210,406 to reach a weekly gross of $837,216.

Some Broadway Shows Saw Decreases in Weekly Grosses

The second biggest decrease was seen by An American in Paris, which went down by $209,702 to reach a weekly gross of $1,065,074. Beautiful took a dip of $197,428 to reach a weekly gross of $939,619, and Kinky Boots took a dip of $138,839 to reach a weekly gross of $844,200. As for the star-studded overwhelming plays of this season, it seems that both China Doll and Misery are getting a reality check: China Doll decreased by $100,406 to bring in $822,530, or 79.6% of its gross potential, and Misery decreased by $110,503 to bring in $642,120, or 51.5% of its gross potential.

The Following are the Broadway Ticket Sales Numbers for the Week Ending December 20, 2015:

Broadway Show Ticket Analysis Chart
Show NameGrossGrossTotalAttn%Capacity
AvgPdAdm
A GENTLEMAN’S GUIDE TO LOVE AND MURDER
$483,170.55
5,905
81.38%
$81.82
A VIEW FROM THE BRIDGE
$485,714.82
5,888
69.63%
$82.49
ALADDIN
$1,704,819.00
13,510
97.79%
$126.19
ALLEGIANCE
$342,170.50
4,560
53.93%
$75.04
AN AMERICAN IN PARIS
$1,065,073.52
8,855
65.92%
$120.28
BEAUTIFUL
$939,618.80
7,131
86.88%
$131.77
CHICAGO
$514,511.25
6,151
71.19%
$83.65
CHINA DOLL
$822,530.06
5,486
73.31%
$149.93
DAMES AT SEA
$111,058.71
2,622
56.22%
$42.36
FIDDLER ON THE ROOF
$837,216.22
11,821
86.56%
$70.82
FINDING NEVERLAND
$909,568.50
9,266
77.01%
$98.16
FUN HOME
$544,971.60
5,164
87.23%
$105.53
HAMILTON
$1,658,597.50
10,728
101.51%
$154.60
HAND TO GOD
$191,330.75
2,734
44.27%
$69.98
JERSEY BOYS
$644,517.00
6,184
62.95%
$104.22
KING CHARLES III
$522,604.20
5,347
68.41%
$97.74
KINKY BOOTS
$844,199.50
8,335
73.17%
$101.28
LES MISÉRABLES
$784,124.00
8,668
76.90%
$90.46
LORD OF THE DANCE: DANGEROUS GAMES
$374,461.90
6,240
41.14%
$60.01
MATILDA
$916,088.79
9,653
84.26%
$94.90
MISERY
$642,120.40
5,539
58.88%
$115.93
NOISES OFF
$206,490.20
3,049
82.41%
$67.72
ON YOUR FEET!
$1,225,820.00
11,089
85.25%
$110.54
SCHOOL OF ROCK
$1,023,107.91
9,686
84.79%
$105.63
SOMETHING ROTTEN!
$875,394.00
9,005
72.87%
$97.21
SPRING AWAKENING
$455,435.00
6,016
73.29%
$75.70
SYLVIA
$254,929.50
5,242
61.18%
$48.63
THE BOOK OF MORMON
$1,613,033.74
8,721
102.26%
$184.96
THE COLOR PURPLE
$854,716.10
8,172
97.19%
$104.59
THE CURIOUS INCIDENT OF THE DOG IN THE NIGHT-TIME
$507,253.50
5,879
72.19%
$86.28
THE GIN GAME
$283,930.74
3,668
57.17%
$77.41
THE ILLUSIONISTS – LIVE ON BROADWAY
$819,500.00
8,635
78.05%
$94.90
THE KING AND I
$741,407.00
6,399
76.40%
$115.86
THE LION KING
$2,152,296.00
13,172
97.08%
$163.40
THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA
$860,033.30
9,266
72.17%
$92.82
THÉRÈSE RAQUIN
$369,764.60
4,721
57.91%
$78.32
WICKED
$1,903,218.00
14,197
98.21%
$134.06
Totals
$29,484,797.16
276,704
75.32%
$99.87

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