The Broadway box office is roaring if you look at it one way: Bruce Springsteen adds $2 million to the weekly gross every week. This is despite the Boss cutting back on performances, alternating four one week and five the next. This began when he returned from vacation on March 4th.
Most Broadway shows have 8 performances. Long, difficult shows like “The Iceman Cometh” and “Angels in America” have 6 or 7. With Springsteen, essentially a one man show, the number was at 5 for the first few months. Now it’s just 4 every other week. This makes getting tickets even harder. It also begs the question: is it a Broadway show or a show on Broadway? Either way, we love him. And Bruce will soldier on for some more months.
Meantime, the announcement of Bette Midler returning to “Hello, Dolly” for an August cash grab is killing sales for Bernadette Peters’ current run. This is too bad– Peters is much better than Midler as Dolly Levi. (Bette was better as Bette.) The show dropped last week to $844K, way below its million mark. Go see it now, while you can get a normal priced ticket. Well worth it before that last ghastly $800/ticket extravaganza.
Closing: “Margaritaville” is first. “Saint Joan” is next. “Spongebob” won’t last long. The Donna Summer musical should be having a Last Dance soon. Denzel and “The Iceman” goeth on July 1st. “Angels in America” takes wing on July 15th. But new shows are always coming. That’s the way of the world.
