Broadway achieved the remarkable feat of improving ever so slightly on its record Easter Week box office. Thirty-four shows brought in $18,856,000, up $86,661 over the previous session. Paid attendance came to 277,578, up a minuscule 0.45%.
Although 21 shows took a dip, Broadway's total tally rose thanks to a small handful of gainers.
It was kids' week on Broadway: "Chitty Chitty Bang Bang" ($864,436) went from one to seven previews and had $727,667 more to show for it. The British tuner played to 90.5% capacity, and it's clear that underage discounts were not in effect. The average price ticket came to a fully adult $75.68.
More previews also pumped up "A Streetcar Named Desire" ($248,287), which went from two to seven and added $142,815 to its receipts.
'Shook' rocks
In its post-preem session, "All Shook Up" ($684,595) gained $105,274 to perform at 94.2% capacity. Average price ticket there rose to $53.23 from its previous $45.60.
Spring break also blessed "Little Women" ($523,850), up $59,089. Just $12,000 under its gross potential, "Spamalot" ($898,621) rose $32,106 with few press freebies in the B.O. mix. And despite lots of crix tix, "Steel Magnolias" ($258,646) managed to find $53,444 more. The Robert Harling play opened Monday.
Premium tix boosted "Wicked" ($1,261,177), up $49,464. Other shows in the plus column experienced less- magical upticks: "700 Sundays" ($769,860), "Dame Edna" ($190,256), "Freshly Squeezed" ($162,046) and "On Golden Pond" ($197,446), up $18,435 in its final full week of previews. It opens Thursday.
After the Easter holiday, "Fiddler on the Roof" ($755,281) and "La Cage aux Folles" ($434,883) returned to reality with big six-figure plunges. Sunday's premiere and crix comps took a similar chunk out of "Julius Caesar" ($512,781), down $100,538.
'Phantom' dips
Elsewhere under the Top Ten, the damage wasn't so significant. Five-figure dips affected "The Phantom of the Opera" ($731,533), "Movin' Out" ($661,993), "Chicago" ($580,740), "Rent" ($457,772), "Good Vibrations" ($337,215), "Twelve Angry Men" ($259,400) and "Doubt" ($319,927), down a relatively mild $18,740 in light of Thursday's preem comps.
Not good news is the $52,898 decrease for "The Glass Menagerie" ($285,247).
Off $78,386, the B.O. for "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?" ($315,831) will continue to fluctuate due to its rotating performance sked. It did seven last week after the previous session's full eight, and so on for its run. The revival played to 80.4% cap compared with 52.3% for "The Glass Menagerie." Then again, average price ticket came to $64.58 for the Tennessee Williams and $51.23 for the Edward Albee.
Four-figure dips were seen at "Avenue Q" ($511,631), "Brooklyn" ($284,759) and "Democracy" ($154,213), which posted a closing for April 17. The Michael Frayn drama will have played 190 perfs on Broadway.
Contact Robert Hofler at
bob.hofler@variety.com