During its final week on Broadway, the beleaguered Tupac Shakur musical Holler If Ya Hear Me commanded its best houses to date. The Palace saw 76% of its seats filled, even if only 29% of its box-office potential was fulfilled. That constituted a more than 50% jump in attendance and a near doubling of grosses.
As for another show on its way out, Rocky, audiences must be waiting for the final week to take it in. Crowds stood at only 69%. Still, monies were up about $40,000 from last week and attendance was up about 600.
Broadway in general — 29 shows in all — enjoyed a prosperous week. Total grosses were up more than $2 million to $27,867,272, and attendance stepped up by nearly 20,000 ticketbuyers.
Nearly every show on Broadway saw their box-office and attendance numbers climb a bit. Even The Cripple of Inishmaan, whose showing on Broadway has long been underwhelming, brought in $150,000 more than last week, bringing its weekly attendance to close to capacity.
Hedwig and the Angry Inch continued to perform miracles at the box office, selling 130% of its possible take, with an average ticket price of $150.91. Wicked came in second in the over-performing department, raking in 117% of its box-office potential. (The Book of Mormon wasn't far behind — but it never is.) Beautiful: The Carole King Musical broke another house record last week — their twelfth record in 36 weeks of performances. The gross was $1.3 million, up a half a mil. The show played to capacity crowds, as usual, and the average ticket price was $157.
It was joined in the capacity club by A Gentleman's Guide to Love and Murder, Hedwig, Mormon and Matilda The Musical. The latter show, following a period during the 2013-14 season when its attendance was waning slightly, has for whatever reasons this summer returned to championship form, regularly selling out from week to week.