Sylvia, the A.R. Gurney play about the special connection between a man and his dog, began performances at the Cort, putting in two previews. The production played to 71% capacity crowds and collected $124,200, which constituted 52% of the potential box office.
Also out of the starting gate was the new production of the Emile Zola tale of adultery and its cost, Therese Raquin, starring film actress Keira Knightley, at Studio 54. The show filled 65% of its seats and brought in 43% of its gross over five previews.
Of the four other attractions still in previews, the new mounting of Sam Shepard’s Fool for Love did the best in terms of attendance, packing 92.43% of its seats (even if collecting only 35% of its potential take). The new revival of the musical Dames of Sea did almost as well, with 91.02% capacity houses, and the revivals of Harold Pinter’s Old Times and the two-hander The Gin Game, the latter with James Earl Jones and Cicely Tyson, were just a bit below at 90.51% and 89.53%, respectively. Of those four, Gin Game brought in the most money, garnering $351,748 at the box office.
The new Deaf West revival of the musical Spring Awakening, which opened at the Brooks Atkinson to good reviews, was still wading through press previews, so box office was only 40% of the possible. Still, box office was up over the previous week by $26,273.
Overall box office wasn’t super robust; only three shows sold out — Hamilton, The Book of Mormon and The Lion King. Still, the addition of the new shows boosted collective box office numbers by nearly $1 million to $21,226,520, and attendance was up 6,000 to 210,902. The season to date numbers stand at $480,047,159, more than $4 million less than last year at this time.
