Broadway bounces back

Ticket sales continue to climb

By GORDON COX

'Mary Poppins'

Few Broadway shows saw sales rise drastically last week, but most of them were up, with total cume for 24 productions on the boards climbing about $375,000 to $14.3 million.

"Mary Poppins" ($884,744) got the largest bump of the week, stepping up more than $85,000, while "Spring Awakening" (up almost $70,000 to $667,131) and "The Drowsy Chaperone" (rising more than $60,000 to $507,312) also logged noteworthy upticks in sales.

Among the seven shows to slide last week, most saw negligible shortfalls, with the exceptions being "The Color Purple," which fell more than $75,000 to $733,073, and "The Phantom of the Opera," down more than $55,000 to $570,540. "Grease" ($719,404) slowed by about $30,000.

The Roundabout's revival of "Pygmalion" ($287,129) went from four perfs the prior frame to a full week of eight shows last week and had $145,000 more to show for it, while among other previewing plays, "The Ritz" ($281,112) rose a bit and "Mauritius" ($186,793) was down slightly over a weekend of press perfs.

The real shakeup to autumn sales on Broadway will come next week, when "Young Frankenstein" begins previews Oct. 11 -- and legiters will scramble to find out sales tallies for the Mel Brooks tuner, producers of which have decided not to report grosses.