By Jennifer R Jones | Posted on May 27, 2015 12:33 PM
In The Week Ending May 24, 2015, The Visit Is Barely Holding On, But Something Rotten! Broke Through The Million Dollar Mark, Attaining Hit Status.
“Something Rotten!” Breaks Through To Hit Status
In the week ending May 24, 2015, the new musical Something Rotten! earned 102.71% of its gross potential, breaking through the 100% mark for the first time. Also, the show broke through the million dollar mark for the first time, bringing in $1,064,165. This show is nominated for the Tony Award for Best Musical, which has certainly helped spur an increased interest in ticket sales in anticipation of the awards.
The show deals with a pair of brothers, Nigel and Nick Bottom, who live in Shakespeare’s time and are having trouble competing with him – until they invent the world’s first musical. Though Ben Brantley of The New York Times found the show to be overly sugary and falsely attempting an endless string of show stoppers, most other critics were delighted by the score and storyline.
Stiff Competition For Tony Awards
In every week since the show began previews at the end of March, it has increased its weekly gross from the week before. This past week, it took a jump of $113,747 from the week before, continuing the trend of continuous increasing.
There is not much further up this gross can go, but there is still a little wiggle room, as this past week it filled the audience capacity to an average of 96.9%. The pressure is high for the Tony Awards, and this show is proving to be a strong contender, along with An American in Paris and Fun Home.
“The Visit” Barely Holding On Despite Tony Nominations
Among the four shows nominated for the Tony Award for Best Musical, Kander and Ebb’s The Visit looks least likely to win. Not only were the reviews decidedly mixed, but the box office has been stalled and gasping for breath. This past week, The Visit brought in $201,623, which represents only 26.44% of its gross potential.
Among all the shows running on Broadway, this is the least percentage reached of gross potential. The second lowest percentage was achieved by Gigi, which brought in 33.98% of its gross potential. Still, The Visit is staying alive, if only to wait out the results of the Tony Awards. Chances are it will close shortly after that event.
Audiences Not Interested In "The Visit"
It seems that ticket buyers were barely swayed, if at all, by the Tony nomination for this show, as this week actually marks a decrease in ticket sales from the week before. The previous week, it brought in $211,430, so this week was a loss of $9,807. Since the show began previews at the end of March, it has been flip-flopping around a weekly gross of approximately $200,000, the lowest yet in a full performance week being $167,410, and the highest yet being $224,289.
Therefore, theatergoers are just not interested in seeing this Tony-nominated musical amongst all the other choices, even though they will likely not have many more weeks to catch it.
The following are the Broadway ticket sales numbers for the week ending May 24, 2015:
| Show Name | GrossGross | TotalAttn | %Capacity | AvgPdAdm |
| A GENTLEMAN’S GUIDE TO LOVE AND MURDER | $633,136 | 6,501 | 89.59% | $97.39 |
| AIRLINE HIGHWAY | $172,882 | 3,568 | 71.13% | $48.45 |
| ALADDIN | $1,516,242 | 13,786 | 100.01% | $109.98 |
| AN ACT OF GOD | $729,982 | 6,639 | 82.49% | $109.95 |
| AN AMERICAN IN PARIS | $1,349,932 | 13,481 | 100.36% | $100.14 |
| BEAUTIFUL | $1,145,564 | 8,210 | 100.02% | $139.53 |
| CHICAGO | $737,596 | 8,580 | 99.31% | $85.97 |
| FINDING NEVERLAND | $1,107,925 | 11,334 | 94.20% | $97.75 |
| FISH IN THE DARK | $1,215,229 | 8,719 | 101.57% | $139.38 |
| FUN HOME | $627,641 | 6,006 | 102.84% | $104.50 |
| GIGI | $457,095 | 7,120 | 64.31% | $64.20 |
| HAND TO GOD | $442,073 | 5,478 | 88.70% | $80.70 |
| HEDWIG AND THE ANGRY INCH | $478,538 | 5,321 | 75.49% | $89.93 |
| IT SHOULDA BEEN YOU | $378,180 | 5,911 | 73.01% | $63.98 |
| IT’S ONLY A PLAY | $659,426 | 6,650 | 77.18% | $99.16 |
| JERSEY BOYS | $723,418 | 7,598 | 77.34% | $95.21 |
| KINKY BOOTS | $1,012,506 | 10,057 | 88.28% | $100.68 |
| LES MISÉRABLES | $805,027 | 9,797 | 86.91% | $82.17 |
| MAMMA MIA! | $766,648 | 8,663 | 92.87% | $88.50 |
| MATILDA | $941,402 | 10,931 | 95.42% | $86.12 |
| ON THE TOWN | $638,515 | 11,431 | 76.25% | $55.86 |
| ON THE TWENTIETH CENTURY | $621,043 | 5,767 | 99.84% | $107.69 |
| SKYLIGHT | $799,055 | 6,414 | 99.97% | $124.58 |
| SOMETHING ROTTEN! | $1,064,165 | 12,919 | 96.87% | $82.37 |
| THE AUDIENCE | $1,158,926 | 7,555 | 100.96% | $153.40 |
| THE BOOK OF MORMON | $1,551,727 | 8,752 | 102.63% | $177.30 |
| THE CURIOUS INCIDENT OF THE DOG IN THE NIGHT-TIME | $781,356 | 7,743 | 95.08% | $100.91 |
| THE KING AND I | $1,069,486 | 8,376 | 100.00% | $127.68 |
| THE LION KING | $2,066,573 | 13,601 | 100.01% | $151.94 |
| THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA | $1,074,914 | 12,305 | 95.83% | $87.36 |
| THE VISIT | $201,623 | 4,795 | 66.52% | $42.05 |
| WICKED | $1,776,153 | 15,155 | 98.36% | $117.20 |
| WOLF HALL PARTS ONE & TWO | $600,295 | 6,403 | 57.87% | $93.75 |
| Totals | $29,304,272 | 285,566 | 89.43% | $100.18 |
