B.O. off; tuner still hot
Even off 10%, July 4 sesh hits record sum
With the Republican National Convention in session, B.O. shrunk to a dismal $10.9 million in late August 2004. Last week, 25 shows brought in $14,227,599, but fell $855,648, or 5.67%, from the previous session. Last week's paid attendance of 204,753 paled in comparison with the 224,847 Broadway saw in August 2002.
Individual grosses were down across the board, with the big exception of "Dirty Rotten Scoundrels" ($730,224), up $135,366 thanks to the return of the vacationing John Lithgow. The show's gross, however, was off about $100,000 from late July.
Closing notices helped to grow receipts at "Glengarry Glen Ross" ($508,001), up $72,854 for its best and final week, and "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?" ($233,190), up $53,431. The Edward Albee play closed Sept. 4.
Also in the plus column, "Doubt" ($501,705) and "Chicago" ($408,616) managed tiny bumps, as did "Wicked" ($1,317,421), which set another house record at the Gershwin.
Although "The Lion King" ($1,199,795) and "Spamalot" ($1,022,266) took minor hits at the B.O., they formed a million-dollar triumvirate with "Wicked" that accounted for nearly 25% of all receipts last week.
Under the top 10, there seems to be a trend in the making. Two songbook tuners, "All Shook Up" ($342,657) and "Lennon" ($303,959), saw their receipts shrink 15.3% and 14.3%, respectively. Those were the two biggest percentage drops on Broadway last week. Both shows played to less than 50% capacity.
The 20 musicals grossed $12,580,302 for 88.4% of the Broadway total, with attendance of 178,587 at 79.2% of capacity.
The five plays grossed $1,647,297 for 11.6% of the Broadway total, with attendance of 26,166 at 76.8% of capacity.
Average paid admission was $70.44 for musicals, $62.96 for plays and $69.49 for all shows.
