The share of seats stuffed on Broadway was up final week, however general field workplace grosses fell, as among the trade’s softest exhibits closed and the survivors decreased costs.
In line with figures launched Wednesday by the Broadway League, 75 p.c of all seats on Broadway have been occupied throughout the week that ended Jan. 23. That’s up from 66 p.c the week ending Jan. 16, and 62 p.c the week ending Jan. 9, because the coronavirus pandemic continues to take a toll on the trade and the fast unfold of the Omicron variant makes this winter particularly difficult.
Common attendance remains to be far beneath what it was in January 2020, earlier than the coronavirus pandemic, when between 93 p.c and 95 p.c of seats have been occupied.
The general quantity of people that noticed a Broadway present final week (152,135) was down from the earlier week (162,566), as exhibits proceed to shut — there have been 21 exhibits open final week, down from 25 the earlier week. Two extra exhibits closed on Sunday (“Lady From the North Nation,” which says it plans to return within the spring, and “Slave Play,” which is transferring to Los Angeles), leaving simply 19 exhibits now working within the 41 Broadway homes.
The rising capability share is nice information for an trade rattled by empty seats. However it’s coming at a price, with fewer exhibits working and the common ticket value falling.
Final week, the common ticket value on Broadway was $108, down from $114 the week ending Jan. 16 and $116 the week ending Jan. 9. (In 2020, common January ticket costs have been as excessive as $123.)
The falling common ticket value displays each a decreasing of premium costs (that’s the worth for the perfect seats on the preferred nights), and a heavy use of reductions.
At “Hamilton,” for instance, the highest value in January 2020 was $847; now it’s $299. (The priciest premium seat in the mean time seems to be at “The Music Man,” which is asking $699 for some middle orchestra seats on a Saturday night time in February; “Six” is promoting some tickets for $499.)
However there are additionally a number of reductions out there. Town’s tourism company, NYC & Firm, is now holding its annual Broadway Week (which, regardless of its title, will final 27 days this yr), a preferred program that provides two-for-one tickets to all however a handful of exhibits.
And, though the Broadway League is not disclosing grosses for particular person exhibits, there are indications that extra are turning to discounting as a technique to get by this winter, when the peculiar seasonal dip has been exacerbated by the pandemic. The TKTS ticket sales space in Instances Sq., which sells tickets at 20 p.c to 50 p.c off, now periodically options “The Lion King,” which was virtually by no means offered on the sales space earlier than the pandemic, in addition to different large exhibits together with “Moulin Rouge!,” “Harry Potter and the Cursed Little one,” “Hadestown” and “MJ,” the brand new Michael Jackson musical.
