Broadway Grosses: Week Ending 2/5/2006

[Rob]

Posted: 2/6/06 at 5:04pm

Click below to access all the grosses from all the shows for the week ending 2/5/2006 in BroadwayWorld.com's grosses section.

https://www.broadwayworld.com/grosses.cfm

[Billboard Girl]

Posted: 2/6/06 at 5:07pm

Yikes at the Chita numbers - barely 40%!

[Michael Bennett]

Posted: 2/6/06 at 5:08pm

Icky - LOTS of big declines - with many shows playing in the 50s - not good. Huge decline for PIAZZA. February remains Broadway's worst enemy.

[MargoChanning]

Posted: 2/6/06 at 5:11pm

Damn, what a blood bath. Typical of February, but still......

At 50%, Barefoot is clearly in a LOT of trouble.

Chita's down to 40%.

Woman in White dropped $100K ($392K), despite heavy discounts ($52 average ticket price).

Chicago, Doubt, Piazza and The Producers were all under 60%.

Odd Couple was the only sell out.

Ouch.

[chernjam]

Posted: 2/6/06 at 5:14pm

Typical for February - when it snows.

This has been such a nice, calm winter, those numbers are horrendous all around.

Shame on the producers of WIW for blaming the coming closing on "illnesses" rather than being honest and saying the show just wasn't embraced here. The only thing I will concede to the producers is that with the cast members sick, obviously they weren't on the PR circuit like they should have been, but still...

[adamgreer]

Posted: 2/6/06 at 5:15pm

So what will be the next show to leave us? Chita?

ETA: I agree with chernjam. WiW's closing has nothing to do with Freidman or Ball's illness. The show was in very capable hands with Lisa Brescia, (presumably) Judy Kuhn, and the two Fosco understudies. They are closing because the show never caught on here. It's not as if things were in disarray when Freidman or Ball was out. Updated On: 2/6/06 at 05:15 PM

[Michael Bennett]

Posted: 2/6/06 at 5:15pm

True WIW hasn't been that embraced, but they HAVE had a lot of returns at the B.O. when Friedman and Ball have been out. So it's definitely played a factor.

[MargoChanning]

Posted: 2/6/06 at 5:21pm

chernjam, I agree. It was more than a little classless for the producers to lay 100% of the blame on the actors for the show's failure. For whatever reasons -- and they've been discussed to death here -- the show simply just never caught on with audiences here. While the cancellations didn't help, the show had other problems as well.

[South Fl Marc]

Posted: 2/6/06 at 5:22pm

How sad that the only thing selling out is a mediocre production with a really terrible performance in it. But then, it sold out before it even started previews and before the reviews came out.

[FriedmanFan]

Posted: 2/6/06 at 5:26pm

I knew The Woman in White was not going to have great numbers this week. There were two kids night on Broadway performances where kids get in free and there were two days when the house was papered for the Lincoln Center Archival taping. Still so sad to see these numbers so low! And I am more than heart broken that The Woman In White is closing.

[chernjam]

Posted: 2/6/06 at 5:45pm

I know that not everyone agrees with me on WIW - Margo and I have disagreed a lot on this - I loved the show and will try to make it in this week to see it again.

But, aside from it not setting the world on fire, WIW does seem to have been handled badly from the beginning. There was little to no publicity prior to the opening, other than Friedman's brave story. If there was ever show that had people pulling for it (whether they liked it or not) Woman in White definitely did.

Jim

[Vespertine1228]

Posted: 2/6/06 at 5:50pm

Looks like Chita is in serious danger. I'm definitely going to see the Wednesday matinee now for sure. You never know when it could close.

I heard about another promotion for the show on Playbill today. Something about mini-performances from the ensemble at Splash, an awesome nightclub. They're giving tickets away afterward. There's just nothing they can do to sell this thing.

Which is why we've all got to go see it to say that we saw Chita. Unless you already saw Nine or were luckier and saw an older performance.

[FoscasBohemianDream]

Posted: 2/6/06 at 5:52pm

Woman in White is not only a boring show, in my opinion, but it was indeed poorly handled. I believe they just relied in the fact that it was the new Andrew Lloyd Webber show and that it was Maria Friedman's Broadway debut which worked during previews and a couple of weeks, but they never figured out how to rise from the bad reviews and the fact that Friedman had to be out for many performances. I think they were very pretentious. I feel Friedman deserved a show worthy of her talents although like I've said before, she's the only reason I didn't leave during intermission.

[mlsheehan]

Posted: 2/6/06 at 6:23pm

I've seen Chita three times - Dancer's Life, Spiderwoman and Can Can (a touring production). I love Chita, but Dancer's Life should close. It's a poor representation of the star's talents. Truly a wasted chance to get something right.

I hope she gets something worthy of her talent soon.

[evic]

Posted: 2/6/06 at 7:55pm

Good Gawd...the dancers in Chita's show are performing at Splash????!!!!!- I was at the presentation of the shows last week at the New Amsterdam for group sales- but no Chita- I'm sure she is pooped...if they wanted to sell the show- that would have been the day to do it- - All the homos who wanted to, have probably seen Chita already- and the ones who go to Splash have probably never heard of her- too young..so sweet Chita- -go out on tour with your head held high-hire a new director, cut the crappy new songs. or come back to Broadway with a show worthy of you.... It must be hard to perform for 400 people a nite.

[jimmirae]

Posted: 2/6/06 at 8:00pm

I have no idea who has been cooking up the crazy gimmicks for Chita's show but it seems to have backfired. The thing that tees me off is it reflects on her and she is a class act who deserves the best. Playing in the 40's AND offering these "Dance Lessons" thing won't last long. It's sad - and there was plenty of time between the west coast and here in previews to fix this book by TMc which just doesn't seem to have any rythm for a Dancer's Show. Expect either the biggest gimmick of all time next or a closing date - very sad to say. Chita shouldn't have to go out there facing all those empty seats - someone didn't do their job right and it isn't Chita. Very sad indeed. They should film this for DVD and release that after it tours to help.

[ihearttheatre]

Posted: 2/6/06 at 8:38pm

Wicked? Not sold out? That's new.

Chita probably will close relatively soon, but we all knew it wasn't going to run for very long. It just doesn't surprise me tremendously. I wish I had a chance to see it, though.

[ljay889]

Posted: 2/6/06 at 10:16pm

I think I am starting to realize it isn't Chita's fault the show isn't the best. She is still amazing!

But why must some blame it on Chita?

For some reason, I feel if Gwen had her solo show - she would've had no negativity like this. The critcs could tell you, and those who saw Gwen live could tell you, Gwen could NO wrong. And she did no wrong in any of her shows. I just feel it's a little different for Chita. I don't like to see Chita and show struggle, and I don't like to see people put Chita down because her show isn't the best.
Updated On: 2/6/06 at 10:16 PM

[Michael Bennett]

Posted: 2/6/06 at 10:40pm

If Gwen Verdon appeared in CHITA RIVERA: THE DANCER'S LIFE, she would suffer the same negativity. So would Meryl Streep and Sarah Bernhardt, for that matter. If the show is poorly conceived, written and directed, there is only so much a performer can do.

But that aside, of course some blame must be put on Chita, because I'm sure she is the impetus behind the project. She, of course, had a hand in picking the director and the writer, etc.

Perhaps she's just happy the show, mediocre as it may be, is still better than most of the shows she's appeared in during her career: CASPER THE MUSICAL, BRING BACK BIRDIE, BAJOUR, MERLIN, 1492...

Let's face it - Rivera has almost ALWAYS been a brilliant performer in spite of her material.


Updated On: 2/6/06 at 10:40 PM

[QMAN03]

Posted: 2/6/06 at 10:53pm

Can Sweeny stay open at 73.7 percent?

P.S. I'm just scared I wn't be able to see it when I come in June because it will close before then.

[MargoChanning]

Posted: 2/6/06 at 10:57pm

Sweeney is doing fine. It's got a very low weekly break even, so even at $472K it's still turning a profit. Barring a major downturn, it should run at least through summer.

Updated On: 2/6/06 at 10:57 PM

[QMAN03]

Posted: 2/6/06 at 11:03pm

YES!!!!! Thank you Margo. How about Doubt. From these numbers, it doesn't look like it will stay open a long time.

P.S. I'm pretty scared about Piazza too. I know it's scheduled to close in July, but could it close sooner than that based on these numbers?

[wickedrentq]

Posted: 2/6/06 at 11:16pm

Michael, well I guess Chita can somewhat offset that by being in the best(my opinion), or at least one of the best shows to ever grace the Broadway stage, in West Side Story

[MargoChanning]

Posted: 2/6/06 at 11:16pm

Doubt has already recouped and has done well until a few weeks ago. I'm sure the producers will give the new cast a chance to catch on. I imagine the Times and the rest will re-review it soon and if it gets another rave, that will help a lot.

Piazza being a not-for-profit production of Lincoln Center in its own theatre has a different financial situation than other shows (for one thing, given LCT is the show producer and theatre owner, Piazza doesn't have to worry about paying rent). As long as it doesn't have too many more sub-60% weeks and rebounds to some extent, it should make it through July.

[RentBoy86]

Posted: 2/7/06 at 12:19am

I think most shows will stay up through the "rough" months and wait for March for all the springbreakers.