Broadway box office gaining steam

Most shows rise slightly

By GORDON COX

'Shrek the Musical' recovered from last week's box office drop to score the biggest bump of the session.

Broadway upticked slightly last week in a frame still plagued by winter doldrums and subject to the added sales drain of Kids Night, the two-day initiative that offered free ducats for youths at Rialto offerings.

Still, most productions saw week-over-week box office climb, though none to a remarkable degree.

Two new productions joined the Main Stem lineup, with "Guys and Dolls" ($373,631) posting middling numbers for its first five previews but drawing promising crowds as attendance hit 96%.

On the other hand, largely unknown new tuner "The Story of My Life," lacking the benefit of a familiar title, brought in just $73,812 for its first full week of eight perfs.

"Shrek the Musical" ($636,329), the talk of the town last week due to its box office slide, recovered somewhat (and logged a bump of $133,000, the largest of the sesh) -- although the show still has not climbed up to the higher numbers most legiters anticipated from a big-budget, brand-name musical offering.

Also notable: Lincoln Center Theater hit "South Pacific" ($798,900), while still going strong, had an unusually soft week compared with recent frames during which the tuner had proved largely unaffected by sales fluctuations.

Meanwhile, last year's Tony-winning play, "August: Osage County" ($252,765), has not yet seen biz pick up, with the show playing to houses that averaged about 50% full.

In general, though, the majority of productions on the boards saw their tallies increase. Rialto cume rose about $450,000 to around $12.4 million for 23 shows on the boards.

That total is lower than the ones logged during the same frame the past few years, when there were more productions playing. Still, the upward movement fits the trends logged in prior seasons, when upticks were also recorded at about this time.