Broadway box office drooped in the final, sun-baked weeks before the Fall arrivals of new shows, with the roster of productions down to 20 last week and total box office slipping 19% from the previous week to $22,232,527.
Attendance was down about 15% to 181,785, roughly commensurate with the lesser number of productions (down from 23 the week prior). Also contributing to the drop: The Music Man was on a scheduled hiatus and played no performances during the week ending Aug. 21. (POTUS and Tina – The Tina Turner Musical had closed on Aug. 14).
Still, the sturdiest of the shows remained at peak performance, with Hamilton, Into The Woods, MJ, The Lion King and Dear Evan Hansen filling all their seats (the latter production played only six performances, with the two Saturday shows canceled due to a malfunctioning air conditioner at the Music Box Theatre).
Coming close to sell-out, with 90% or more seats filled, were Aladdin, Hadestown, Moulin Rouge!, Six and Harry Potter and the Cursed Child.
Top earners for the week were Hamilton ($2,198,662) Into The Woods ($2,082,652), The Lion King ($1,980,606) and, in the $1M-plus group, Aladdin, Harry Potter, MJ, Moulin Rouge!, Six and Wicked.
At the lower end, Funny Girl sold at 74% of capacity, grossing $588,032 (a number sure to increase with the arrival on Sept. 6 of new star Lea Michele) and The Kite Runner, filling about 72% of its seats for a box office take of $276,804.
Season to date, Broadway has grossed $380,341,275, with total attendance of 2,944,343 at about 86% of capacity.
The 20 productions reporting figures on Broadway last week were Aladdin, Beetlejuice, The Book of Mormon, Chicago, Come From Away, Dear Evan Hansen, Funny Girl, Hadestown, Hamilton, Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, Into The Woods, The Kite Runner, The Lion King, MJ, Moulin Rouge!, Mr. Saturday Night, The Phantom of the Opera, Six, A Strange Loop and Wicked.
All figures courtesy of the Broadway League.