Broadway set a weekly record for box office income during the last week of 1996, Variety reported.

The one-week take of $13.9 million -- Broadway's highest ever -- was up nearly 8 percent from the previous record of $12.9 million set a year ago. Variety credits David Copperfield: Dreams & Nightmares, which also set a one-week record for a single show -- though on a highly unusual 16 performance schedule, twice the standard number of performances.

The fact that nearly all the Broadway theatres were booked and many were selling out also helped.

Even Les Miserables, which is marching resolutely toward its tenth anniversary March 12, had was able to set a "house record" at the Imperial Theatre by taking in $720,504, according to Variety.

For a detailed rundown on how all the shows did, see Broadway Grosses for the week ending Dec. 29 in Theatre News. Variety reported that Broadway as a whole has sold $294 million worth of tickets since the 1996-97 season began June 1 -- up 10 percent from the previous season.

Variety reported that house records were broken in the season's other two red-hot theatre towns, Washington and Toronto, with Ragtime and Jane Eyre selling out in the Canadian city; and Whistle Down the Wind and Jerry Lewis' Damn Yankees tour doing record business in the U.S. capital.