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Blackbird, David Harrower’s hard-hitting two-hander, began previews this past week with two shows at the Belasco. The wrenching drama may prove a hard sell to Broadway audiences, but it also stars two bonafide film stars in Jeff Daniels and Michelle Williams, who will probably aid its fortunes. It performed well out of the gate, filling 91 percent of the seats and taking in 66 percent of its potential box office. Average ticket price was $84.14.
The Humans, another drama in previews, did decent if somewhat lesser business, playing to 83 percent capacity and collecting 47 percent of its possible box-office take at the Helen Hayes. Those numbers were fairly consistent with those of the previous week for the new play.
Overall monies across Broadway’s 29 shows (one fewer than the week previous) were $21,024,820, a drop of about two-and-a-half million. Consequently, no shows boasted huge surges at the box office. The biggest jump belonged to Hamilton, which rose to the tune of $38,433. The Lion King was up $19,905 and The Phantom of the Opera climbed $18,825, while Misery headed north by $13,554 and Allegiance ascended $16,540.
Otherwise, most productions showed a decline at the till, some in the six-figures, including Finding Neverland, which played one fewer performance than the previous week, (down $167,495), Kinky Boots (down $136,077), Fiddler on the Roof (down $103,445), Jersey Boys (down $106,053), Les Misérables (down $109,793), and Matilda (down $138,195).
Fiddler is by far the newest of those attractions. It’s capacity dropped from 86 percent to 79 percent last week.
Shows that played to capacities ranging between 90 percent and 100 percent included Wicked, The Lion King, The Color Purple and Aladdin, along with the aforementioned Blackbird. The Book of Mormon and Hamilton, per usual, sold out their weeks.
Hamilton owned the high numbers again this week, showing continued imperviousness to winter weather. It collected $1,771,086, took in 133 percent of its potential box office and had an average ticket price of $164.81.
Regarding the season numbers to date, Broadway has collected $978,914,894 so far this season. That is just below the mark of last season at this time, $982,660,540.
