The Stage

Broadway breaks box office record

Published Tuesday 18 January 2005 at 09:50 by Judd Hollander

Thanks to an extra performance by ten Broadway shows, the seven days ending January 2, 2005 marked the highest grossing week in Broadway history, according to figures published in Variety.

During the week between December 27 and January 2, the 31 shows on the Great White Way took in a total of $22,069,502. That topped the previous record, set during December 23 to December 29, 2003, by $718,869.

Nine of the 31 shows announced takings of more than $1 million dollars, while 11 were either sold out or played to over 95% of capacity. Furthermore, 23 of the shows had their highest-grossing weeks to date.

Additionally, eight shows broke house records for the venue they were in, although four of them did it by adding a ninth performance to their schedule, instead of the usual eight.

Even the less popular shows fared well due to the increased number of theatregoers at this time of year. Dracula the Musical, which received universally bad reviews and closed on January 2, took in $462,006 and played to 89.9% of capacity, a rise of $262,004 from the week before. Bombay Dreams, which closed on the same day, grossed $912,089 (91.7% of capacity) on a nine-performance schedule, a rise of $406,438 from its seven-show run the week before.