The $8 million-plus to bring The Band’s Visit to Broadway looks like money well spent, based on its first full week of previews.
The David Yazbek and Itamar Moses musical set in a sleepy Israeli town grossed $769,000 — 84 percent of its potential. Attendance was 100 percent of capacity. The average ticket, at $105, was just 12 percent below the average of Dear Evan Hansen in its first week a year earlier, according to Broadway League data.
Like Evan Hansen, which won the best musical Tony Award, Band’s Visit was superbly reviewed off-Broadway and took home most of the prizes for which it was eligible, including the Lucille Lortel and Obie Awards. And like Evan Hansen, Band’s Visit has a high-powered producing team, including the Shubert Organization, James Nederlander, Marc Platt, Roy Furman and John Gore. The lead producer is Orin Wolf.
It was capitalized at a relatively modest $8.25 million to $8.75 million, according to an April 2017 Securities and Exchange commission filing. (The document doesn’t include running costs.) The musical is scheduled to open on Nov. 9.
The British farce The Play That Goes Wrong grossed $398,000. While just 59 percent of its potential, it was its best week in more than four months. Continuing its run of amusing advertising (“one Tony nomination, including best set” — which it won), it’s been promoting itself as Broadway’s longest-running play. Just seven months old, it is the lone non-musical holdover from the previous season.
Springsteen On Broadway’s gross dropped 17 percent to $1.9 million due to ticket giveaways connected with the opening Thursday night. Its average ticket price dropped to a still mighty $410.
Editor: Alice Scovell
