B'way holiday blahs
Tiny B.O. bump still improves on 2000
Before anyone breaks out the champagne, 11 shows lost ground last week, with some precipitous drops recorded. Most serious is the $83,755 plummet for "45 Seconds From Broadway," which grossed only $165,450 for a full eight perfs. "The Full Monty" went from its break-even level of $485,893 the previous week to $421,223 last session, its weakest B.O. since Sept. 17-23. There also were sizable decreases for "42nd Street" (down $55,731), "The Tale of the Allergist's Wife" (down $43,475) and "Thou Shalt Not" (down $43,867), which shutters Jan. 6.
The bad news
Impending closings also worked no wonders for "By Jeeves," "Hedda Gabler" and "Kiss Me, Kate," all of which sustained low five-figure declines. "Kate" had the excuse of a seven-perf sked. But "Jeeves," "Gabler" and "Shalt" crumbled with respective final tallies of $142,031, $165,399 and $175,784.
Calling it quits Dec. 30, "The Music Man" bucked the trend, climbing $18,582 to finish with $453,476.
The good news
There were bigger splurges elsewhere. "Rent" leaped the most, up $72,904 for a final $411,938. It was followed by significant increases for "Aida" (up $56,143), "Beauty and the Beast" (up $48,586), "The Phantom of the Opera" (up $47,830) and "Urinetown" (up $48,631), which grossed $360,733, its best B.O. session to date.
Doing 94% capacity, "Noises Off" held up nicely, gaining $20,906 to close with $447,498 on its gross potential of $522,566.
As usual, the sellouts were "The Lion King," "The Producers" and "The Women," with "Mamma Mia" just a fraction off 100%.
