Xmas Week Broadway Grosses -- Feast or Famine

[MargoChanning]

Posted: 12/27/04 at 8:50pm

Christmas week was a good indicator of exactly what kind of shows out of town tourists do and do not want to see when they are in NYC on vacation.

-- They DO want to see the tried-and-true long-running musicals: Fiddler, Movin Out, Phantom all posted double-digit gains in attendance -- and Hairspray, Rent, The Producers, Bombay Dreams and 42nd Street all had very good numbers for the week. As expected, Lion King, Billy Crystal, Avenue Q, Wicked, and Mamma Mia were all sold out.

-- Tourists DO NOT want to see non-musical plays or take a chance on any of the new musicals -- what a BLOOD BATH!! Just horrible numbers especially for Xmas week:

Night Mother was at 20.3% attendance for the week (they barely cracked $90K gross -- terrible);

Brooklyn plummeted almost 20%, down to an abysmal 39.6% attendance for the week (the average ticket price was $66.80 because they didn't offer any discounts last week -- big mistake; obviously there aren't very many people out there willing to pay full price to see this show, so they'd better start handing out discounts immediately or they'll further embarass themselves with next week's numbers);

Dracula was at 39% for the week -- they also made the mistake of pulling discounts (stupid, stupid, stupid.....); Little Women did OK at 73% (but was still down percentage-wise from the week before); the La Cage revival also had a big drop.

The highly acclaimed Democracy was down 18% (though it's still doing OK overall) and the brilliant Gem of the Ocean only pulled in 54.9% attendance (even with discounts -- ouch). The Rivals at Lincoln Center also dropped almost 16% (tourists REALLY don't want to see Restoration Comedy, especially if there are no movie stars in it).

The only play that did well last week was the well-regarded (and very well-known) Twelve Angry Men which cracked 92%.

It's not at all promising, but let's hope that all of these shows do MUCH MUCH better next week (or we're going to quickly see even more closing notices posted in January).
Broadway Grosess: December 20 - 26

Updated On: 12/27/04 at 08:50 PM

[Plum]

Posted: 12/27/04 at 8:54pm

Don't worry, Gem of the Ocean! I'll save you! Though I didn't do a very good job of single-handedly saving 'night, Mother, did I?

Anyway, I might wait until the dead season of January to see Democracy so I can get better seats with student rush. And I'm glad people are seeing Twelve Angry Men- it was one of my favorite productions of the year. Updated On: 12/27/04 at 08:54 PM

[Unknown User]

Posted: 12/27/04 at 8:56pm

The countdown to Brooklyns closing has now begun...oh screw that. Lets just have the party now.

[My Fair Lady]

Posted: 12/27/04 at 8:59pm

I wanted Little Women to do better

[Unknown User]

Posted: 12/27/04 at 9:03pm

wow...Brooklyn only at 39%...Eden is too powerful to be in that show. She should back out now while she still has the chance in Wicked!!

[Plum]

Posted: 12/27/04 at 9:03pm

Oh, nothing's classier than dancing on a corpse, Theaterguy2. Way to show your good taste and sophistication.

[kim1061]

Posted: 12/27/04 at 9:07pm

i saw bklyn last week most seats were filled. maybe up in the back they werent

[Plum]

Posted: 12/27/04 at 9:09pm

And 'night, Mother seemed to be more than 20% full when I went. It doesn't matter- the figures are for the whole week, and no show in its right mind would under-report its numbers. Updated On: 12/27/04 at 09:09 PM

[IsadoraLee]

Posted: 12/27/04 at 10:02pm

Well... many of these shows had only 7 performances last week(compared to a usual 8 performance week)... so it's not a straight comparison (although, granted, a 100% week next to a 100% week is good no matter how many ways you slice it :) It will be interesting to see what happens next week, when Christmas shopping is over and shows that did 7 (instead of 8 ) performances last week will make up for the loss with 9 performances between Christmas and New Year's.

[QueenMuppet]

Posted: 12/27/04 at 10:48pm

Wow, interesting figures. I was thrilled to see Fiddler doing better than usual. It's such a good show and I found their bad numbers depressing in the past.

Shocked to see how badly Brooklyn did this week. I'm not a fan of the show at all but this is a huge loss for them.
As Margo said, it's hard to believe that Brooklyn and Dracula thought they were in the position to stop discounts. Oh well...

QM

[Tiny-Toon]

Posted: 12/27/04 at 11:11pm

"huge loss for bklyn"

Not true at all. I'm just back from the show. Brooklyn's weekly cost is extremely low for a broadway musical.
And margo, I agree, they should have offered discounted tkts.

[timote316]

Posted: 12/28/04 at 12:07am

I wonder if Phantom's gains had anything at all to do with the movie opening

[millie_dillmount]

Posted: 12/28/04 at 12:10am

kim, when did you go? If it was a Saturday or any matinee, it could have been filled because they are common times.

About Brooklyn, it seemed like a huge loss. 39% isn't good for any show.

Wonderful Town is back in the high 50s again.

[PJ]

Posted: 12/28/04 at 12:14am

As far as Little Women goes, don't gret My Fair Lady. New musicals are rarely sell-outs when they're still in previews.

I'm suprised to see Wonderful Town plunging so. I guess all those wanting to see Brooke have seen it and are done.

And last but not least, Brooklyn. Yikes! I hate to see any show close, but I think this one is on it's 8th life.

[Unknown User]

Posted: 12/28/04 at 2:32am

Plum: The only reason im happy about the closing, is becuase it will free up the plymouth theatre for a GOOD show. So really, its a party for the future.

[MasterLcZ]

Posted: 12/28/04 at 8:39am

The LA CAGE figures are sobering.

When a tourist-friendly, fluffy musical DOESN'T capture the attention of the ticket buyers it is a very bad sign.

[Benzy92]

Posted: 12/28/04 at 9:09am

As much as I like Brooklyn, its grosses are getting worse and worse, and for the past 2 weeks, they have been below their weekly nut of 300,000. This means the theatre owners can "kick" the show out, when a new one wants to come in. Let's hope it does better over this week!

[Tiny-Toon]

Posted: 12/28/04 at 9:55am

From the bklyn forum..

""""Just spoke to my inside contact at Brooklyn. The show is still making money every week...although last week was a close one money wise. Brooklyn has NO plans on closing""""

[Benzy92]

Posted: 12/28/04 at 10:10am

I wonder who the inside source is.. not to sound bitter, but Variety has published the weekly nut at 300,000 and that sounds very logical. Almost NO show can break even at 220,000 let alone a musical.

[AnothaPartofMe]

Posted: 12/28/04 at 11:57am

Ah, the glory of 'night Mother-- the show where scalpers have to GIVE away their tickets to this show...

[Kris2]

Posted: 12/28/04 at 3:09pm

I plan on seeing 'night, Mother before it closes. Golda's Balcony too. I want to be able to get into the shows though! I tried for Phantom's matinee today and they only had single tickets in the orchestra for $150. Can't afford anything even close to that, so I went home. However, Phantom has been almost sold out for a month and I've heard for the next month as well. The movie seems to be generating some good sales for it, as well as the holidays. Wow though. People really don't want to see plays.

[Plum]

Posted: 12/28/04 at 5:14pm

People barely seem to acknowledge the existence of plays, which really saddens me. Yes, Broadway is most famous as the center and starting spot of American musical theater, but that's not the only thing it offers. I find it unbelievable that even people who post here- people with an active interest in theater- take the word "show" to mean "musical." The plays have actually been the better half of Broadway theater this season.