RECORD WEEK CAPS RECORD YEAR — WITH HIGHEST PRICES FOR LONG-RUNNING HITS (TABLE)

January 2, 2019 by Philip Boroff

Hamilton composer Lin-Manuel Miranda & director Thomas Kail/Tammy Shell

Broadway celebrated 2019 with a slew of milestones: highest-grossing week and year in history and best-attended week and year since at least 1984, according to the Broadway League.

Long-running shows such as Wicked ($3.4 million), The Lion King ($3.7 million) and Hamilton ($4 million) recorded their best sales last week and charged their highest average prices, with tourists continuing to flock to Broadway’s biggest brands.

Hamilton, whose composer-lyricist, Lin-Manuel Miranda, returns to the show next week for a short engagement in San Juan, Puerto Rico, became the first Broadway show to clear $4 million over eight performances.Continue Reading

THE PLAY BOOM & DERREN BROWN’S ‘SECRET’ AMBITION: WEEKLY WRAP

October 12, 2018 by Philip Boroff

Derren Brown‘s challenge: make a vacant Broadway theater appear out of thin air.

In a conversation with Adam Green at the New Yorker Festival on Oct. 7, the British illusionist said he’s “hopefully doing Broadway next spring, fingers crossed.” Greg Day, his United Kingdom-based spokesman, told Broadway Journal that Brown seeks to bring in Secret later this season. Ben Brantley called the show “enthrallingly baffling” when it played off-Broadway at the Atlantic Theater in 2017.

‘FROZEN,’ ‘MEAN GIRLS’ POST WORST WEEK SINCE OPENING

September 10, 2018 by Philip Boroff

Sales of Frozen and Mean Girls took a hit last week as schools reopened and Broadway contended with oppressive heat and competition from the latter rounds of the U.S. Open tennis championships in Queens.

Disney’s Frozen fell 16 percent to $1.6 million, the lowest since the adaptation of the 2013 animated movie opened in March. Mean Girls, produced by Lorne Michaels and the late Stuart Thompson and based on the Tina Fey movie, dropped 21 percent to $1.2 million, its weakest seven days since opening in April.Continue Reading

‘BAND’S VISIT’ SPEEDS TOWARD RECOUPMENT

June 9, 2018 by Philip Boroff

EXCLUSIVE: On Broadway, selling out isn’t a prerequisite for cleaning up.

The Band’s Visit, which is considered a lock for best new musical at the Tony Awards tomorrow, has repaid well over half of its $8.75 million capitalization, according to two people familiar with the production. They report that it’s on track to make its investors whole by Labor Day.

Matt Polk, a production spokesman, declined to comment.

MUSICALS’ AVERAGE TICKET JUMPS TO $126; PLAYS REBOUND

May 30, 2018 by Philip Boroff

The Broadway season that ended on Sunday was strong but not stellar.

Overall attendance: up 4 percent to 13.8 million, according to the Broadway League. Grosses rose 17 percent, to $1.7 billion. The average price of a ticket for a musical gained 11 percent to $125.70 — thanks to strong demand for Hamilton, Dear Evan Hansen, The Lion King, Hello, Dolly! with Bette Midler and, increasingly, Mean Girls, which looks like a hit.

DISNEY CUTS ‘FROZEN’ PRICES

April 30, 2018 by Philip Boroff

EXCLUSIVE: Maybe Frozen isn’t critic-proof after all.

Following mixed reviews and turmoil in the secondary market, Disney has cut some ticket prices for the musical — one of the most highly anticipated of the season.

The best orchestra seats for Tuesday and Thursday of this week were originally $227.50, according to a February group sales memo from Disney. As of Monday afternoon, Ticketmaster was offering three tickets 11th-row center at the St. James for Tuesday for $100 less — $127.50 each — plus fees. Other center orchestra for both nights near the stage are $169.50. Balcony seats that were $99.50 are now $79.50.

BROADWAY HAS RECORD SALES FOR 8-PERFORMANCE WEEK

April 9, 2018 by Philip Boroff

There’s New Year’s week, when the city is packed with tourists and many shows have nine performances, and then there’s every other week. Last week was a record for the latter.

Bruce Springsteen, Denzel Washington, Harry Potter, Frozen and spring break for public schools lifted Broadway to its highest-grossing week that didn’t coincide with the New Year’s holiday. It was the fifth-highest-grossing week in history.

KID-FRIENDLY SHOWS REACH A THIRD OF BROADWAY SALES

March 19, 2018 by Philip Boroff

Jamie Parker as Harry Potter/ Photo by Manuel Harlan

EXCLUSIVE: This season, every night is kids’ night on Broadway.

While theatergoers still pay up for Lin-Manuel Miranda’s historical hip-hop, Broadway’s fastest-growing onstage demographic are princesses, princes, witches and wizards. With the Harry Potter plays and Mean Girls early in previews and Frozen opening on Thursday, family-friendly sales are likely to stay elevated.

Broadway Journal hasn’t crunched the numbers for every season, so we can’t say that family show sales are at record levels — but industry veterans we spoke to said it seems that way.

CRITIC PROOF? DISNEY RAISES ‘FROZEN’ PRICES FOR 2019

March 14, 2018 by Philip Boroff

EXCLUSIVE: The Frozen fractals appear to be falling into place for Disney.

Reviews aren’t out until the March 22 opening of Disney Theatrical Productions’ adaptation of the 2013 blockbuster animated film, but it has already raised prices for performances next year.

PRIME ‘MORMON’ SEATS SELL FOR $150 AMID WINTER LULL

February 5, 2018 by Philip Boroff

U.S. stocks aren’t the only market under pressure.

Yesterday’s Super Bowl and the mid-Winter funk contributed to Broadway lowest grosses in four months. Sales last week dipped 10 percent to $24.9 million, according to the Broadway League.

The upside to lower grosses: more affordable theater.

The average ticket to the Tony Award-winning musical comedy The Book of Mormon was $133, the lowest in almost seven years. (Prices may have been skewed because there were seven performances, instead of the customary eight.) Seventh-row center are available for tomorrow for $149.50. (Tickets still go for as much as $477.50 on weekends.)Continue Reading