By Jennifer R Jones | Posted on February 25, 2015 4:35 PM
In The Week Ending February 22, 2015, About Half The Shows Saw An Increase In Sales, While Others Declined. Two New Shows Show Great Promise At The Box Office.
New Top Earning Shows: “The Audience” And “Fish In The Dark”
In the week ending February 22, 2015, two shows that have recently begun previews performed excellently at the box office. The Audience, which stars Helen Mirren in the role of Queen Elizabeth II, for which she won an Academy Award for also portraying in the film The Queen, brought in an impressive $1,048,473 this past week.
Furthermore, it accomplished this feat in a week of only 7 performances. The previous week, it began previews but played only two performances; even then the figures seemed extremely promising. Still, this past week has proven that this show is a surefire hit with audiences, who are lining up to see this brilliant performance in the flesh.
Larry David Is An Exciting Name On Broadway
In addition, Larry David’s play Fish in the Dark, which David wrote and also performs in, brought in a weekly gross of $1,177,593. This is the first week in which the play had eight performances, and therefore it increased its weekly gross by $161,950.
In the first two weeks of seven performances each, the play also performed very well at the box office, but now it has reached new heights. In any event, this proves that Larry David is a very exciting name on Broadway, and that audience members are thrilled to see him and his work.
An Overall Mixed Week on Broadway
This past week, about half of the running shows demonstrated an increase in sales, whereas the other half showed a decrease in sales. Across the board, there was therefore mixed movement on Broadway this week. Whereas The Lion King saw an increase of $214,415, bringing in a weekly gross of $1,940,457, the other usual mega hit Wicked barely increased at all, going up only $59,939 for a weekly gross of $1,646,631.
On the other hand, another big earner, The Book of Mormon, saw a decrease of $99,705, bringing its weekly gross to $1,548,797. Other musicals that saw a decline in ticket sales were Honeymoon in Vegas, which is struggling to compete with a weekly gross of $799,136, representing 78.45% of its gross capacity.
"Cabaret" Not Likely To Do Well With Stiff Competition
In addition, Cabaret declined by $154,143, bringing in a gross of only $337,003. It is doubtful how long that musical revival will last in such a competitive environment, especially as the new spring season is just gearing up. Surprisingly, the three shows that concluded performances in this past week all saw a decrease in sales.
The Elephant Man, which ended performances on Saturday, February 21, 2015, went down by $90,713 for a final weekly gross of $1,022,479. That decline, however, is due to the fact that the week only included seven performances, so that Bradley Cooper could attend the Oscars. Furthermore, A Delicate Balance and You Can’t Take It With You, which both concluded their runs on Sunday, February 22, 2015, saw a decrease in sales in their final week.
The following are the Broadway ticket sales numbers for the week ending February 22, 2015:
| Show Name | GrossGross | TotalAttn | %Capacity | AvgPdAdm |
| A DELICATE BALANCE | $432,887 | 4,327 | 67.44% | $100.04 |
| A GENTLEMAN’S GUIDE TO LOVE AND MURDER | $635,905 | 6,442 | 88.78% | $98.71 |
| ALADDIN | $1,546,267 | 13,785 | 100.01% | $112.17 |
| BEAUTIFUL | $1,076,794 | 7,860 | 95.76% | $137.00 |
| CABARET | $799,136 | 6,616 | 92.61% | $120.79 |
| CHICAGO | $547,833 | 6,401 | 74.09% | $85.59 |
| CONSTELLATIONS | $600,043 | 5,159 | 99.21% | $116.31 |
| DISGRACED | $333,065 | 4,586 | 62.45% | $72.63 |
| FISH IN THE DARK | $1,177,593 | 8,720 | 101.58% | $135.05 |
| HEDWIG AND THE ANGRY INCH | $541,166 | 5,403 | 76.65% | $100.16 |
| HONEYMOON IN VEGAS | $337,003 | 4,476 | 47.66% | $75.29 |
| IF/THEN | $603,920 | 7,788 | 74.26% | $77.54 |
| IT’S ONLY A PLAY | $499,442 | 5,216 | 60.54% | $95.75 |
| JERSEY BOYS | $734,939 | 7,709 | 78.47% | $95.34 |
| KINKY BOOTS | $939,884 | 9,392 | 82.44% | $100.07 |
| LES MISÉRABLES | $710,992 | 8,819 | 78.24% | $80.62 |
| MAMMA MIA! | $578,257 | 7,157 | 76.73% | $80.80 |
| MATILDA | $1,037,118 | 11,482 | 100.23% | $90.33 |
| ON THE TOWN | $536,545 | 7,760 | 51.76% | $69.14 |
| ON THE TWENTIETH CENTURY | $293,584 | 4,233 | 97.71% | $69.36 |
| THE AUDIENCE | $1,048,473 | 7,411 | 99.04% | $141.48 |
| THE BOOK OF MORMON | $1,548,797 | 8,745 | 102.54% | $177.11 |
| THE CURIOUS INCIDENT OF THE DOG IN THE NIGHT-TIME | $791,055 | 7,648 | 93.91% | $103.43 |
| THE ELEPHANT MAN | $1,022,479 | 5,548 | 102.40% | $184.30 |
| THE LION KING | $1,940,457 | 13,569 | 99.77% | $143.01 |
| THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA | $829,721 | 10,114 | 78.77% | $82.04 |
| WICKED | $1,646,631 | 14,771 | 96.52% | $111.48 |
| YOU CAN’T TAKE IT WITH YOU | $403,767 | 5,574 | 64.93% | $72.44 |
| Total | $23,193,752 | 216,711 | 83.73% | $104.57 |
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
