Broadway added two shows to the rosters last week, bringing the total number of attractions to 36. Nonetheless, total box office dropped from $31,485,172 to $29,929,438, with the majority of shows experiencing a decrease of income of five or six figures at the till.
The herky-jerky schedule continues at Shuffle Along, the new musical at the Music Box. The producers were forced to cancel four performances the week before last due to Audra McDonald’s illness. This past week, the show played a total of two performances, as the show was on hiatus March 28-31, and the performance on Friday, April 1 was a benefit for the Actor’s Fund. Still, even when it does manage to play, Shuffle does well. It grossed $235,617 for it two performances, performing to 100 percent capacity at an average ticket price of $122.33.
The new musical American Psycho continued to draw interest at the Schoenfeld. The Duncan Sheik tuner was one of the few productions to see a rise at the box office last week, climbing $141,078 to $506,264 and playing to houses that were 97 percent full. The new musical Waitress, too, is a theatregoer magnet in previews. Capacity crowds were the rule over at the Brooks Atkinson, where the gross was 94 percent of the possible. Average ticket price for the Jessie Mueller starrer was $114.05.
The single preview of the new Jessica Lange revival of O’Neill’s Long Day’s Journey Into Night played to 95-percent-full houses at the American Airlines, bringing in 80 percent of the gross. How this star-studded revival will fare with audiences will be shown better when it plays its first full week of previews next week.
Also new to The Street was the new musical Tuck Everlasting, based on the novel of the same name. It started out handsomely, filled 91 percent of its seats over four previews at the Broadhurst, and drawing in 51 percent of the gross. Fully Committed, the solo comedy starring Jesse Tyler Ferguson, got off to a slower start. Over four previews at the Lyceum, it sold 77 percent of its tickets and collected 47 percent of the potential box office.
Long-runner The Lion King banked the most coin last week, raking in $2,289,548. Wicked did nearly as well with $2,215,826. School of Rock continued to do well at the Winter Garden, nearly selling out. The very-well-reviewed revival of The Crucible did the same, coming very close to capacity.
