B.O. up; attendance off
Broadway grosses
While that's an improvement on the 214,832 for August 2003, it falls short of the kind of numbers attained in 2004 (223,339) and 2002 (244,977).
Last week's overall receipts were down $619,267, or 3.94%, from the previous session. Only seven shows managed to improve at the box office.
Despite lethal reviews, "Lennon" ($354,735) got the biggest bounce. Coming off its heavily comped preem week, biz there jumped $36,638. But capacity remained mired at only 53.6%.
Up $3,769, "Monty Python's Spamalot" ($1,024,875) set a house record at the Shubert Theater.
"Doubt" ($493,306) had seen four weeks of decreases, but pulled a U-turn last week with a $12,449 bump.
Other increases under the top 10 were limited to four-figure upticks for "Chicago" ($478,396); "The Constant Wife" ($293,729); "Jackie Mason: Freshly Squeezed" ($95,656); and "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?" ($179,759), up $8,083 and closing Sept. 4.
Much smaller hits were sustained by "Avenue Q" ($472,552); "The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee" ($472,235); "Rent" ($470,231); "The Pillowman" ($320,418); and "Glengarry Glen Ross" ($435,147), down only $1,587; it closed Aug. 28.
The 20 musicals grossed $13,265,232 for 87.9% of the Broadway total, with attendance of 186,485 at 82.7% of capacity.
The six plays grossed $1,818,015 for 12.1% of the Broadway total, with attendance of 29,851 at 73.5% of capacity.
Average paid admission was $71.13 for musicals, $60.90 for plays and $69.72 for all shows.
