Broadway box office bounces back

Grosses in green after Halloween, other events

By GORDON COX

Broadway bounced back last week, with sales on the upswing following a frame in which B.O. was hobbled by distractions that included Halloween, the New York Marathon and the World Series.

With all those events out of the way, total Rialto sales stepped up by nearly $2.3 million for 31 shows on the boards. Overall attendance came in at 81%, down a bit from the 82% logged last year at this time (not counting unreported attendance at now-shuttered "Young Frankenstein").

In a week when nearly every individual production on the boards got a bump, "Shrek the Musical" ($725,207) and "Finian's Rainbow" ($556,349) got the steepest relative boosts.

The often up-and-down "Shrek," after a sesh in which B.O. was more down than usual, rebounded by nearly $280,000 (or 63%) in a showing that is likely fueled at least in part by the show's approaching January closing date. "Finian's," which saw a 50% spike, is meanwhile riding its recent pot-o'-gold reviews to higher numbers.

Among new tuners, both "Memphis" ($613,717) and previewing "Ragtime" ($463,982) picked up steam, improving on not only the prior sesh but the on-the-rise week before that.

The only production to see receipts fall off was "God of Carnage" ($886,206), in a dip explained by the fact that the show, which alternates between eight-perf and seven-perf weeks, played one of its seven-perf seshes last week.

The overall sales pickup came during a week that immediately followed the clock switchover from daylight savings -- which has long been perceived by many legiters to wreak inexplicable havoc on the Broadway box office. A week like the most recent one, however, could go some way to refuting the theory.