By Jennifer R Jones | Posted on June 02, 2015 2:31 PM
This Week Saw A Decrease Of Over 2 Million Dollars In Ticket Sales For The Entire Broadway Community. An American In Paris Is showing Consistently High Numbers.
An Overall Poor Week On Broadway
In the week ending May 31, 2015, the Broadway box office took a major toll, with 29 of the 33 currently running shows reporting a decrease in ticket sales from the week before. The biggest increase was seen by Something Rotten!, which brought in $1,100,399, an increase of $36,234 from the week before.
The only other show to increase in the five digits was The King and I, which increased by $25,885. Furthermore, Fun Home went up by $1,329, and Fish in the Dark went up by $1,289. As for the remaining 29 shows, every single one saw a decrease in ticket sales. Of all 33 shows, the overall decrease in ticket sales was $2,382,536 from the week before.
Big Decrease For "Beautiful"
The biggest decrease was seen by Beautiful, which went down by $235,946, bringing in a weekly gross of $909,618. One major reason why the industry took such a dip this week may be due to Tony voters cashing in on all their free tickets, as each of the approximately 700 voters receives a free pair of tickets to all shows (except Finding Neverland, as Harvey Weinstein revoked the offer upon the show receiving no nominations).
Therefore, the overall grosses may have seen a decrease with all of the comps being cashed in as the Tony Awards are nearing very close. Furthermore, the overall ticket-buying community may have purchased excitedly when the nominations came out, but now may be waiting for the results next week before choosing which shows to see next.
“An American In Paris” Continues To Bring In Big
One of the biggest contenders for the Tony Award for Best Musical is An American in Paris. In the week ending May 31, 2015, the show brought in $1,339,416. Though this is a slight decrease of $10,516 from the week before, it is still a consistently high number. The biggest weekly gross thus far was the previous week, when the show brought in $1,349,932, which represented 91.75% of its gross potential.
This past week, the show reached 91.04% of its gross potential, which is almost as good. Furthermore, it filled 99.1% of its audience capacity. It is clear that ticket buyers are going crazy for this revamped Gershwin dance musical, based off the film of the same name.
"Fun Home" In The Running For Best Musical
With such great buzz, this show may very well win the award for Best Musical. However, Fun Home, which still has not come close to the million dollar mark, granted in a much smaller theatre, is also an interesting pick due to its groundbreaking nature. Fun Home is the first mainstream musical to deal with the concept of lesbianism as its major plot point.
Time will tell whether Tony voters choose to commend the novel concept of Fun Home or whether they are swayed by the good old-fashioned excellence of An American in Paris.
The following are the Broadway ticket sales numbers for the week ending May 31, 2015:
| Show Name | GrossGross | TotalAttn | %Capacity | AvgPdAdm |
| A GENTLEMAN’S GUIDE TO LOVE AND MURDER | $485,524 | 5,745 | 79.18% | $84.51 |
| AIRLINE HIGHWAY | $160,888 | 3,483 | 69.44% | $46.19 |
| ALADDIN | $1,469,138 | 13,788 | 100.03% | $106.55 |
| AN ACT OF GOD | $693,379 | 7,383 | 91.74% | $93.92 |
| AN AMERICAN IN PARIS | $1,339,416 | 13,305 | 99.05% | $100.67 |
| BEAUTIFUL | $909,618 | 6,997 | 85.25% | $130.00 |
| CHICAGO | $638,980 | 7,563 | 87.53% | $84.49 |
| FINDING NEVERLAND | $1,048,475 | 11,140 | 92.59% | $94.12 |
| FISH IN THE DARK | $1,216,518 | 8,718 | 101.56% | $139.54 |
| FUN HOME | $628,970 | 6,001 | 102.76% | $104.81 |
| GIGI | $426,246 | 6,013 | 54.31% | $70.89 |
| HAND TO GOD | $406,784 | 5,011 | 81.14% | $81.18 |
| HEDWIG AND THE ANGRY INCH | $390,177 | 4,306 | 61.09% | $90.61 |
| IT SHOULDA BEEN YOU | $272,693 | 4,393 | 54.26% | $62.07 |
| IT’S ONLY A PLAY | $535,098 | 5,742 | 66.64% | $93.19 |
| JERSEY BOYS | $643,630 | 6,847 | 69.70% | $94.00 |
| KINKY BOOTS | $855,703 | 8,812 | 77.35% | $97.11 |
| LES MISÉRABLES | $611,524 | 7,853 | 69.67% | $77.87 |
| MAMMA MIA! | $697,686 | 7,831 | 83.95% | $89.09 |
| MATILDA | $876,521 | 10,661 | 93.06% | $82.22 |
| ON THE TOWN | $512,816 | 10,025 | 66.87% | $51.15 |
| ON THE TWENTIETH CENTURY | $583,755 | 5,663 | 98.04% | $103.08 |
| SKYLIGHT | $782,580 | 6,337 | 98.77% | $123.49 |
| SOMETHING ROTTEN! | $1,100,399 | 12,184 | 91.36% | $90.32 |
| THE AUDIENCE | $1,096,582 | 7,466 | 99.77% | $146.88 |
| THE BOOK OF MORMON | $1,417,312 | 8,737 | 102.45% | $162.22 |
| THE CURIOUS INCIDENT OF THE DOG IN THE NIGHT-TIME | $702,476 | 7,191 | 88.30% | $97.69 |
| THE KING AND I | $1,095,371 | 8,376 | 100.00% | $130.77 |
| THE LION KING | $2,026,910 | 13,578 | 99.84% | $149.28 |
| THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA | $928,487 | 11,146 | 86.81% | $83.30 |
| THE VISIT | $149,023 | 3,564 | 49.45% | $41.81 |
| WICKED | $1,670,922 | 13,830 | 95.67% | $120.82 |
| WOLF HALL PARTS ONE & TWO | $548,136 | 5,436 | 49.13% | $100.83 |
| Totals | $26,921,735 | 265,125 | 83.23% | $97.72 |
