By Jennifer R Jones | Posted on July 03, 2015 10:16 PM
On June 28, 2015, The Audience Played Its Final Performance On Broadway. Helen Mirren Won A Tony Award For Her Portrayal.
An Irrefutable Success Story
On February 14, 2015, The Audience began previews on Broadway. It officially opened on March 8, 2015 at the Gerald Schoenfeld Theatre. The play was written by Peter Morgan and starred Helen Mirren, reuniting the Oscar-winning team from the film The Queen which dealt with the same subject matter.
The director was Stephen Daldry, who also directed Skylight this same season. Audience members flocked to this play, which had excellent sales throughout its run. On April 13, 2015, it was announced that the show had recouped its initial investment of $3.4 million.
"The Audience" Performs Exceptionally Well
That is particularly outstanding for a straight play to perform so well, earning back its capitalization in only eight weeks. The show earned two Tony Awards, that for Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role in a Play for Helen Mirren, as well as that for Best Performance by an Actor in a Featured Role in a Play for Richard McCabe.
It was also nominated for Best Costume Design of a Play for Bob Crowley. The play transferred to New York following an excellent West End run in 2013, as well as international screenings of the National Theatre Live version in cinemas. On May 5, 2015, yet another production began in the West End starring Kristin Scott Thomas in the lead role.
Record Sales For Final Week Ending June 28th
On June 28, 2015, the Broadway production of The Audience concluded its run. That week, the show brought in $1,425,523, which was an increase of $219,205 from the week before.
This outstanding increase was mostly due to the fact that the show played an extra performance, totaling eight, whereas it had only played seven performances each week throughout the rest of the run. It is therefore even more remarkable that the show recouped so quickly, as most shows play eight performances per week as the standard.
Extra Performance And Increased Audience Attendance
Nevertheless, in addition to this extra performance in the final week, the show made even more money per performance. Whereas the show brought in 114.11% of its gross potential in its penultimate week, the final week brought in the outstanding gross that amounted to 118.49% of its gross potential. Therefore, the show managed to squeeze out even more dollars per available seat in the theatre for each of the eight performances.
In the final week, the average audience capacity was 101.8%. With a top ticket price of $323.00, the average paid admission was $163.67, up from $158.48 the week before. Overall, it is clear that this show made an extraordinary profit for its investors and producers, operating in profits for the majority of its run, in addition to all the moneymaking opportunities from the London productions.
Helen Mirren Might As Well Be The Queen of England
Helen Mirren was lauded for every instance in which she portrayed Queen Elizabeth II. In addition to winning the Tony Award for her performance in The Audience on Broadway, she won the Olivier Award for the same role in the West End, and she also brought home the Academy Award for portraying Queen Elizabeth II in Peter Morgan’s screenplay for The Queen. This is only the third time that Helen Mirren has appeared on Broadway.
Her previous outings were in 2001 to 2002 as Alice in Dance of Death, as well as in 1995 when she portrayed Natalia Petrovna in A Month in the Country. However, her London and screen credits have made her a household name, and the Broadway production of The Audience has secured her position as royalty in the minds of audiences, both American and British alike.
