The impact of the Tony Awards broadcast, held on June 12, was rather muted in terms of immediate sales across the Broadway universe. Overall box office across The Street fell from $28,477,730 to $28,229,256 last week. Even though shows numbering 34 instead of the previous week’s 35, it was an underwhelming reaction.
A number of shows took significant drops, including An American in Paris ($103,723), Paramour ($122,571), Matilda ($80,194) and The Color Purple ($111,815). The latter was likely due to star Cynthia Erivo, who plays the leading role of Celie (and won a Tony Award for it), taking vacation for the week (she was back for Sunday’s matinee only), and Danielle Brooks, who plays Sofia, also being out of the show on vacation Friday through Sunday—showing that both actresses have a certain pull with the audience. Producers will want to make sure the two actresses sign up again come contract time.
The Tony-winning revival Long Day’s Journey Into Night (for star Jessica Lange’s performance at Mary Tyrone) took in a healthy $82,603 more than the previous week at the American Airlines Theatre, bringing its total box office up to $491,524 and playing to all-but capacity crowds. Another straight-play winner at the Tonys, The Humans, raked in an extra $79,158 last week. That, too, took it to the almost-capacity range.
You didn't have to win to feel the Tony effect. Fiddler on the Roof benefited from some screen time at the Tonys, and its box office vaulted a respectable $117,877 over the previous week. That was by far the best box-office improvement of the week. The show still has a ways to go though, as that constituted only 56 percent of the possible gross, and filled only 75 percent of the seats at the Broadway Theatre.
Also apparently reaping the reward of nationwide screen time was The School of Rock, which won no prizes, but impressed viewers, taking in $88,619 more that the week prior.
Theatregoers raced to see Eclipsed and The Father before they closed. The former play saw a rise of $93,961 in grosses and the latter, which featured a Tony-winning performance by Frank Langella, collected $66,259 more than the previous seven-day period.
The hit musical Waitress, which has a habit of breaking records over at the Atkinson, did so again last week. It had its best grossing week ever, beating its own record at the theatre, grossing $1,084,775—a jump of $26,314—for the eight-performance week. This should prove a common refrain throughout the summer.
Just the Numbers: View Complete Broadway Grosses for the week ending June 19.
