Broadway B.O. Dips As ‘Phantom’ Flies At $1.1M; ‘Come From Away’ $1.3M

The Broadway box office did the August droop, slipping just over $1 million from the previous week. The opening of Michael Moore’s almost-solo show The Terms of My Surrender, at the Shubert Organization’s Belasco Theatre, stopped traffic and divided critics (thumbs down from the Times; thumbs up from the Daily News), filling 87 per cent of theater’s 1,008 seat across eight performances (including 4 previews). In a gesture of solidarity, Bill Murray visited Groundhog Day, at Jujamcyn Theatres’ August Wilson – twice – and though there’s no telling what long-term effect might derive from a visit by the star of the film the musical is based on, the show got a $96.5K lift to $704K, reaching 54 per cent of its gross potential.

The departure of Kinky Boots guest stint-er Brendon Urie saw a precipitous drop at Jujamcyn’s Hirschfeld, with sales tumbling $878K and cutting the take by half, to $806K. Meanwhile, The Phantom of the Opera, which turns 30 in January, continues to wow the vacay trade, to the tune of $1.1 million at the Shuberts’ Majestic, filling 94 per cent of the seats. Come From Away appears to have settled in for a long run at the Shuberts’ Schoenfeld; it was up $21.5K to $1.3 million, 5 per cent above potential and SRO, with an average ticket asking $155.18.

The 5 top-grossing shows were:

• Hamilton ($3.04 million at the Nederlander Organization’s Richard Rodgers; $282.65 average ticket)

• The Lion King ($2.23 million at the Nederlanders’ Minskoff; $163.70)

• Hello, Dolly! ($2.22 million at the Shubert; $189.85)

• Wicked ($2 million at the Nederlanders’ Gershwin; $126.32)

• Aladdin ($1.7 million at Disney’s New Amsterdam; $125.56)

For Week 12 of the 2017-2018 season, total box office revenue across 30 shows was $30.3 million, according to the trade group Broadway League. That was a $1.1 million, or 3.5 percent, drop from Week 11. Average ticket price fell as well, to $116.38 from $117.97.