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After the record-breaking, New Year’s numbers of the week before last — along with the fact that a number of shows ended their runs on Jan. 4 — it was perhaps only expected that Broadway’s box-office figures would slide this past week.
The number of shows on the boards dropped from 38 to just 32, and the overall box-office collection slid correspondingly from $43,065,466 to $26,330,471, a tumble of almost $17 million. Attendance increased from 357,718 to 259,698.
Helping to push those numbers down was the fact that many productions had put in nine-show weeks during the week ending Jan. 4, and were now back to the eight-show norms. Because of this, many attractions saw sizable shrinking of ducats in the till. The biggest drops belonged to hearty long-runners like The Phantom of the Opera, The Book of Mormon, Matilda, Chicago and Kinky Boots, though newbies like Finding Neverland, Fiddler on the Roof and School or Rock also suffered from the syndrome. Wicked alone was responsible for a loss of $1,387,774 from the week previous.
Even mighty Hamilton saw some shrinkage, dropping in its gross to the tune of $246,993. That did not prevent the show, however, from selling out as usual, and taking in a whopping 128 percent of its potential box office. The Book of Mormon sold out, too, though those two musicals were the only Broadway shows to do so. (Aladdin and The Lion King came close with just over 99 percent.) Most shows enjoyed houses that were somewhere between 70 percent and 90 percent full. The revival of the two-hander The Gin Game ended its limited run in respectable fashion, playing to houses that were 94 percent full and bringing in $150,577 more than it had the week previous, for a total of $500,357, or 64 percent of the potential. That made it one of the few shows last week not to fall in its monetary intake. The other two were King Charles III and Our Mother’s Brief Affair, which saw modest gains. The latter is in previews, playing houses filled to 70 percent and taking in 31 percent of its possible box office.
