The Broadway box office was up, up, and away for a few weeks. But all of a sudden there’s been a big cooling off. Total receipts last week were just over $32 million. Compare that to two weeks ago when the total was $41 million.
All the hype around “Hello, Dolly!” may have finally soured with the public. The total box office was off by $141,510 from the previous week. Soon theatergoers are going to realize Bette Midler won’t be there at matinees, and may not be sticking around that long. MEanwhile, you can stream all the musical numbers from the show at www.playbill.com or over at the NPR website.
Sally Field’s “Glass Menagerie” put up a closing notice for May 21st. Sally is terrific, so are Joe Mantello and Finn Wittrock. But their box office has been terrible. They’re doing about 65% of capacity. Why? Not so much promotion. Producer Scott Rudin’s put everything into “Dolly.” And that means, “Goodbye, Sally!” Try and catch this before it closes.
“Amelie” closes next. “Anastasia” has no Tony nominations and nothing to recommend it except the connection to the animated movie. Same for “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.” Those ladder two will soldier on until the movie-associations peter out, probably next winter if not sooner.
