Cats stayed strong in its second week at the Neil Simon Theatre. Over six previews, it played to 96 percent capacity, and drew 81 percent of its gross. That amounted to $853,633.
That was $250,080 more than the previous week, which contained just four previews. These early numbers appear to indicate that Broadway audiences are ready for a new production of the family-friendly musical. Or, at least, that the touristy crowds of summer are attracted to the fare.
Otherwise, it was a handful of musicals that did well in what was a fairly weak week. Overall Broadway box office dipped from $27,125,138 to $26,582,154. But Matilda, School of Rock, Shuffle Along and Waitress all saw a bump. All played to capacity or very near it.
Wicked, too, had a nice surge at the box office, leaping $116,490 over the previous week and bringing the take to 106.58 percent of gross. That was the strongest such performance of the week. Just behind Wicked were Hamilton (105.33 percent of the gross) and Waitress (105.12 percent of the gross). As far as average ticket price, nobody can touch the $190.32 of Hamilton, though, even with the show’s recent departure of original cast members. This left The Book of Mormon far back in the dust with $154.09.
Overall box-office will probably dip even more next week when The Humans goes on hiatus for a week, as it prepares to move to the Schoenfeld Theater on August 9. It ended its reign at the Helen Hayes impressively, filling all but a handful of seats. The gross stood at 95 percent. The box-office take was $554,398, just a tad better than the week previous.
Next week, however, the Tony-winning play will have its work cut out for it, as the Schoenfeld has a seating capacity of nearly twice the Helen Hayes, which is the smallest theatre on Broadway with only 576 seats. It’s new home will prove when the drama is a solid hit or a soft one.
Fun Home, once a dependable Broadway hit, week in and week out, is showing some weakness as it heads into its final weeks, toward a closing date on September 10. During the past week, the musical played to 82 percent capacity and took in only 46 percent of its gross. It was a performance similar to the week before last week.
