Broadway Show Ticket Sales Analysis w/e 6/14/2015

“Fish In The Dark” Took Major Hit With Jason Alexander Replacing Larry David

In the week ending June 14, 2015, Larry David’s blandly reviewed but heretofore top-selling comedy Fish in the Dark brought in $842,633 at the box office. This is a decrease of $403,563 from the week before. In almost every single week of the show’s run so far, it has brought in over one million dollars per week, and reached over 110% of its gross potential.

However this past week, it only reached 80.97% of its gross potential. The reason is too clear to be denied: Jason Alexander took over the lead role from Larry David this week. Larry David, whose last performance was on June 7, 2015, has proven himself to be a huge draw at the box office.

David Was The Star Power "Fish In The Dark" Needed

Even though the show was reviewed by most critics as less than magnificent, David lured fans in immense numbers for every single week in which he appeared onstage. Jason Alexander played Larry David’s surrogate George Costanza on the TV show “Seinfeld” for many years, and he is also a very successful actor on both stage and screen.

However, it is probably the fact that Alexander is such a usual face on Broadway that made fans less interested in seeing him in this role. On the other hand, David was making his Broadway debut, and fans were dying to see him in person, even if the overall play was less than gut wrenchingly hilarious.

Tony Awards Had Only Small Impact On Sales This Week

This week was the first full week of Broadway performances since the Tony Awards, which took place on June 7, 2015. The biggest award, that for Best Musical, was given to Fun Home. Still, in the week ending June 14, 2015, Fun Home brought in $716,631, which is an increase of only $63,701 from the week before.

It is true that Fun Home is in the very small Circle in the Square Theatre, which has a low ceiling on the number of audience members it can accommodate. Still, this week Fun Home brought in 94.26% of its gross potential, where other shows bring in over 100% due to premium ticket sales. Therefore, there is still room for growth in audience interest in this Tony Award winning Best Musical.

"Something Rotten!" Sees Biggest Increase After Tony Awards

As for An American in Paris, which some thought to be Fun Home’s biggest competition for that award, it showed a similar minor increase in ticket sales. This past week, it brought in $1,399,818, which is an increase of $31,084 from the week before. It barely beat out Fun Home in terms of percentage reached of gross potential, achieving 95.14% of its potential.

As for Something Rotten!, the third and only other possible contender for the Best Musical award (no one thought The Visit would win), it brought in $1,178,048 this past week, which is an increase of $144,556 from the week before. Therefore, though it only reached 92.77% of its gross potential, it still saw a greater increase than either of the other two Best Musical nominees, proving that the winners of Tony Awards saw only a minor impact in comparison to those nominees that lost, at least in this first week right after the ceremony.