Biz dips; 'Purple' 41.1m
B'way Grosses
Still, five productions held on to their membership in the millionaires' club, among them "The Color Purple" ($1,107,373), which didn't break a house record this week as it did each of the prior three weeks. "Jersey Boys," another show that has made a habit of breaking its own house records, set yet another -- $1,072,995.
"Purple" also is touting that its total attendance so far (more than 430,000) is the highest of any of last season's offerings, but it helps that the show is a hit in one of the Rialto's biggest theaters, and that it's been running since the fall.
"Boys," perennial No. 1 "Wicked" ($1,438,551) and long runners "The Producers" ($624,462) and "Chicago" ($478,892) were the only productions not to see a slide in numbers this week.
Biggest drop was at "Sweeney Todd" ($321,909), off more than $120,000 after a strong sesh that saw the return of star Patti LuPone from a brief vacation. Also experiencing sizable dips were "Faith Healer" ($368,918), down more than $95,000, and "The Wedding Singer" ($551,335), still struggling to hold onto auds.
Some years over the Fourth, grosses have dipped by more than $1.5 million, as they did in 2002 and 2003. Since then, though, the frame has kept its summer holiday stumble to less than $1 million. This year, overall sales rang in at $16,161,857 for 25 shows on the boards, down about $750,000 from the previous week.
The 20 musicals grossed $14,488,875 for 89.6% of the Broadway total, with attendance of 188,446 at 84% capacity.
The five plays grossed $1,672,982 for 10.4% of the Broadway total, with attendance of 25,403 at 83.7% capacity.
Average paid admission was $76.89 for musicals, $65.86 for plays and $75.58 for all shows.
