Broadway Show Ticket Sales Analysis w/e 8/23/2015

A Mild Slump This Week On Broadway

In the week ending August 23, 2015, Broadway continued to bring in lower grosses than the week before. These dips were modest and nothing to be alarmed about; rather, they just indicate that the summer season is winding to a close.

Fewer tourists are around, more people are spending their leisure time outdoors rather than indoors to catch the last weeks of summer, and most importantly, most of the currently running shows have been on for a while, and all the new fall shows will soon begin performances. Of the 24 shows that had performances last week, only 4 saw an increase in sales. The highest increase was seen by Finding Neverland with a humble increase of $23,112.

Decreases For "The Lion King" And "Wicked"

Even smaller 4-digit increases were seen by Something Rotten!, Hedwig and the Angry Inch, and Amazing Grace. On the other hand, even the biggest decreases were not huge. The biggest dip was seen by The Lion King, with a decrease of $178,877 bringing the weekly gross to $1,986,190.

Next, Wicked went down by $161,063 to bring in a weekly gross of $1,751,974. Interestingly, those are also the two highest-grossing shows of last week, in that order as well. Therefore, the shows with the biggest luxury to lose comparative box office dollars saw the biggest loss, serving to equalize the grosses slightly. All in all, the industry saw a collective decrease of $993,291 from the week before.

“Hedwig And The Angry Inch” Shows Small Increase As Run Winds Down

Last week, Hedwig and the Angry Inch was one of only four shows to show an increase in ticket sales from the week before. Though this increase was slight – an increase of $9,618 from $400,061 last week to $409,679 this most recent week – this still demonstrates that fans are becoming increasingly eager to catch the show before it winds down next month.

It was just announced that Hedwig and the Angry Inch will take its final bow on Sunday, September 13, 2015. The role of Hedwig is currently played by Taye Diggs. The revival was initiated with Neil Patrick Harris in the title role, and after Andrew Rannells and Michael C. Hall had a go of it, the title role was then played by the show’s creator, John Cameron Mitchell.

Historic Moment On Broadway

This was an historical moment on Broadway, with Mitchell stepping into the shoes he had envisioned decades prior, when the show ran only Off-Broadway. This production has caused a lot of fanfare and celebration, as America and the world have evolved to such a degree that this irreverent musical about a transvestite in East Berlin could be welcomed onto the wider Broadway stage.

This past week, the average paid admission was $77.31, with a top ticket price of $248.00. The average capacity across the eight performances was 75.2%, and the box office gross represented 57.75% of the show’s gross potential.

The following are the Broadway ticket sales numbers for the week ending August 23, 2015:

Broadway ticket sales raw data are provided

courtesy of The Broadway League All other data, text, opinion, charts

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