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There was a big jump in overall box office this week. Monies in the various tills added up to $27,066,122, a leap of nearly $4 million over last week. And this happened with Broadway armed with only 31 shows, as opposed to last week's 32.
With the lion's share of the Jewish High Holy Days in the past, every show — save, strangely, the smash It's Only a Play (probably owing to comps handed during press performances) — show an uptick in attendance and box-office earnings.
Regarding the McNally play, which opened to mixed-to-positive reviews, business was sell-out as usual, and box-office take was 105% of what it could be, even with the press nights. Average ticket price was $135.09.
The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time, which opened to rave reviews, played to nearly full houses, the tallies stopping at 97%. Box office was 80% of the potential. That was enough to make it the second most popular play on Broadway, after the McNally. The addition of Carol Burnett to the cast of Love Letters seems to have done the sluggish Gurney revival some good. Box office went up near 50% and house were half full — the best the show has done since opening. Beautiful, the Carole King jukebox musical, just can't lose lately. A regular sell-out these days, for the week ending Oct. 12 it grossed $1,411,132, beating its own record from the week ending Aug. 10 of $1,325,505. The musical recently recouped its costs.
If/Then experience a solid hop at the box office, taking in $285,216 more than the previous week, and playing to houses 81% full. So did Cinderella, collecting $273,497 more than last week, and running to seats 71% filled.
Of the shows in previews, On the Town faced auditoriums that were 86% stuffed; the play Disgraced boasted of selling 80% of its chairs; the Sting musical The Last Ship ran before 80% capacity crowds; and the Stoppard revival The Real Thing commanded 93% capacity audiences. Of those four, the star-laden The Real Thing is doing the best at the box office, reaching 72% of its potential gross.
