B'way biz has ups, downs

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B'way biz has ups, downs#0

Posted: 11/24/03 at 8:53pm

From variety:
B'way biz has ups, downs

Total receipts came to a record-setting $15,1 mil

By ROBERT HOFLER


Did anyone really expect "Bobbi Boland," "Laughing Room Only," "Oldest Living Confederate Widow Tells All" and "Six Dance Lessons in Six Weeks" to make it past Thanksgiving, much less New Year's Day? They were orphans on paper, and their rapid demise says much about some producers' dream life but remarkably little about the theater's health.
Broadway's other 32 shows offer a better clue. Total receipts came to a record-setting $15,104,456. That encouraging sign aside, the total tally was off a steep $962,567, or 5.99%, from the previous week. Paid attendance came to 233,405.

Eight on the rise

Only eight shows saw increased grosses from the previous week. Coming out of their heavily comped preem weeks, "Anna in the Tropics" ($244,846) and "Taboo" ($360,260) shot up $66,365 and $39,388, respectively. The "Anna" tally was about $7,000 more than what "Take Me Out" did for its first full session of regular perfs. Speaking of "TMO," ($171,127), it took one of last week's nastier hits, crumbling $44,033.

The other gainers were "Beauty and the Beast" ($475,421), up $9,785; "Henry IV" ($271,587), up $33,288 despite its comped opening night; "Sexaholix" ($219,103), up $2,037; the shuttered "Six Dance Lessons" ($83,897), up $5,169; and, in previews, "I Am My Own Wife" ($102,395), up $9,152), and "Never Gonna Dance" ($419,627), up $37,087.

Hanging in there were "Avenue Q" ($324,175), slipping $11,814; "Golda's Balcony" ($262,847), dipping $9,408; "The Retreat From Moscow" ($288,094), retreating $1,041; and "Wicked" ($886,753), sliding $39,536 despite Kristin Chenoweth's six missed perfs.

Somewhat more nail-biting, John Stamos was out two, creating a slide of $40,327 at "Nine" ($377,00, which made for the show's lowest grossing week to date.

Otherwise engaged

Wynonna Judd's wedding over the weekend caused her sister, Ashley, to miss the Sunday matinee of "Cat on a Hot Tin Roof" ($387,479). Also, those lucrative Saturday perfs got moved to Monday and Sunday night, creating a $118,151 plummet. Back to normal this week.

Biggest dip beset "Aida" ($532,913), with Michelle T. Williams taking over for Toni Braxton. Receipts fell $270,753, but the show managed to stay on the chart, grabbing the No. 10 slot.

Under the Top 10, there were several five-figure drops: "Little Shop of Horrors" ($367,72 put in its lowest-grossing session to date. Also looking wobbly were "Cabaret" ($292,297), "Rent" ($276,317), "Urinetown" ($209,295) and "Wonderful Town" ($218,992), whose tally included six previews and opening night.

Off Broadway chill

While Broadway contemplates which shows will make it through January/February, it is already looking like winter Off Broadway. "Omnium Gatherum" closes Nov. 30 at the Variety Arts, "Rounding Third" closes Dec. 7 at the John Houseman and "Beckett/Albee" closes Jan. 4 at the Century. New tenants have not been announced for those theaters or for the Union Square, which has been empty. Other recently opened Off Broadway shows are reported to be limping along.

But not "Lypsinka." Despite the report of a Jan. 4 closing, the show remains an open-ended run.