Broadway began to feel its summery self this past week, as fortunes were overall rosy for most of the shows, with the majority of them enjoying climbs at the till, and the overall box office across 36 shows surging to $28,842,986—two and a half million better that the previous week. Attendance was up nearly 30,000.
With the close of the season coming soon, it can now be concluded that Broadway did better monetarily in 2015-16 than in 2014-15. Season-to-date monies stand at $1,373,253,725, roughly eight million more that last season’s total at this time. Attendance, too, was up over last season by more than 200,000, bring the number of ticket buyers to 13,317,980.
Certainly, both those numbers were boosted considerdably by the season-long presence of Hamilton, without which 2015-16 would have been a very different story altogether. Bringing those figures up, also, were the number of playing weeks—1,648, which is 22 more than last season at this time.
A sure sign that the tourists are back in town: long-runner The Phantom of the Opera is popular again. The take at the till was up a handsome $200,628, bringing the total collection over the $1 million mark, with 94 percent of the seats filled.
The producers of the musical Finding Neverland, which two weeks ago announced the show would be closing, got something closer to the bump in attendance they had a right to expect. Box office collections were up $95,717, landing at $570,764, which was 39 percent of the possible gross—a distinct improvement over the previous week.
As Heather Headley continues to settle in as one of the new stars of The Color Purple, the box office is starting to see a little more action. Monies were up $56,615 to $661,167, and houses were at 91 percent capacity.
The Cirque du Soleil attraction Paramour continued to hold appeal as something different for Broadway audiences as it works its way toward its opening later this week. Totals collections brought in over five previews at the Lyric were $907,800, which represented 93 percent of the possible take. Performances played to 97 percent capacity.
Waitress, the new musical, finds a way to improve with each new week at the Atkinson. This week’s increase at the box office was slim—$1,442—but it was an increase nonetheless, and it brought the grosses to 96 percent of the possible gross. And the show continues to play to capacity. Two other shows that won a bunch of Tony nominations, Long Day’s Journey Into Night and The Humans, jumped up a bit to, both getting very close to capacity.
