April has not been a great month for Broadway, which announces the Tony nominees tomorrow morning.
After increases since the end of February, the box office has been in decline steadily all month. The week that just ended had a total of $35 million, down from $42.5 million the week ending April 8th. That’s not good because new shows are opening and there are more good choices– and positively reviewed shows– than ever.
The one show that all the critics hated was Jimmy Buffet’s “Escape to Margaritaville.” Is it to or from? No one’s going. Parked in the cavernous Marriott Marquis, the Parrothead party only partly fills the space. Last week, producers only took in $626,378.50. Their total possible take was $1,752,864.00. Without Tony attention, they will soon have to batten down the ship.
The biggest drop last week was most curious: “Hamilton.” Even though this powerhouse flirts with $3 million weeks, they were off last week by $258,398.00. “Wicked” took a big drop last week, and even “Frozen,” which is new and supposedly hot, was off.
The big defense for a drop in ticket sales is usually, well, Tony voters came, or the show had one less performance last week. There’s always a good rationale. But none of those things apply here. So, who knows? But tomorrow morning will change a lot of fortunes. Wait for Tony noms at 8:30am right here.
