Broadway B.O. gobbles up bucks
Broadway grosses Grinch steals a lift at B.O.
With holiday pilgrims flocking to Rialto offerings over Thanksgiving weekend, one musical with a green lead -- "Wicked" ($1,715,156) -- shattered the weekly B.O. record for any Broadway show, ever.
And another tuner with a green title character, "Dr. Seuss' How the Grinch Stole Christmas!" ($1,578,149), snuck into second place, buoyed in part by its 12-perf-per-week sked.
There was plenty of holiday green to go around, with eight, shows in the millionaires' club, including "Mary Poppins" ($1,313,840), up by more than $575,000 to its first million-plus frame.
Disney tuner "Tarzan" also logged its best sales ever, thanks to the holiday's plentiful family auds.
Most productions saw box office rises of some sort, and many were sizable bumps. But not everyone felt the love.
"Grey Gardens" dipped, indicating the tuner may be a bit too idiosyncratic and adult for the tourist crowd. Same goes for Nathan Lane starrer "Butley," off more than $75,000.
Among previewing shows, "The Vertical Hour" drew near-capacity crowds, while "Company" remained about on par with the prior sesh, playing to houses about 70% full.
The season's two newest tuners, though, are still working on finding their auds. "High Fidelity" brought in $308,395 in its first sesh of previews, and "Spring Awakening" ($200,224) played to a bit more than 40% of capacity in its first full week.
Thanksgiving theatergoers didn't go for ventriloquism, either. "Jay Johnson: The Two and Only" played its final week, grossing just $84,415.
The 26 musicals grossed $21,599,009 for 92.2% of the Broadway total, with attendance of 200,961 at 86.3% capacity.
The seven plays grossed $1,823,181 for 7.8% of the Broadway total, with attendance of 29,144 at 63.6% capacity.
Average paid admission was $89.55 for musicals, $62.56 for plays and $87.03 for all shows.
