Broadway grosses still dropping
Will Tony nominations offer a boost?
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"Legally Blonde" ($755,967) may have garnered mixed reviews, but sales were still up by nearly $150,000 after its opening week, even taking into account comps for second-night press perfs. Tally was enough to land the tuner, which played to auds at 97% of capacity, in the top 10 just behind another recently opened musical, "Curtains" ($767,349).
In the wake of strong press, particularly for the acting, "Frost/Nixon" ($417,471) racked up its best total so far, although its crowds of about 64% capacity could benefit from the boost that might come with lead thesp Frank Langella's likely Tony nom.
Also among the productions climbing this week were "The Phantom of the Opera" ($752,027), "The Year of Magical Thinking" ($424,452) and the struggling "Company" ($222,411), as was "The Coast of Utopia" ($564,505) in its second-to-last week on the boards.
Total grosses for the Rialto, however, were down about $850,000 to around $19.5 million.
"Spamalot" ($675,543) and "Les Miserables" ($526,223) both saw declines in the low six figures, and "110 in the Shade" ($203,868) also fell by around $100,000 due to three performances cancelled because of a death in star Audra McDonald's family.
"A Moon for the Misbegotten" ($532,707) and "Hairspray" ($526,903) both fell by more than $75,000, and "Tarzan" dipped down to $481,165.
"The Color Purple" ($885,941), whose new star Fantasia caused a giant B.O. bump when she first started perfs, slid by around $60,000. "The Pirate Queen" ($628,680) continued a slow decline, this week falling by more than $25,000.
Now that "Deuce" ($397,044) is open as of Sunday, only two previewing productions have yet to bow before the Tony eligibility cutoff May 9: "110 in the Shade" and "Radio Golf" ($136,284). Low-grossing "Golf" can join other underperformers -- among them "Coram Boy" ($214,051), "Talk Radio" ($210,776) and "Journey's End" ($111,804) -- in hoping for a little sales-lifting Tony love next week.
