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The proportion of seats crammed on Broadway was up final week, however total field workplace grosses fell, as a number of the trade’s softest exhibits closed and the survivors decreased costs.
Based on figures launched Wednesday by the Broadway League, 75 % of all seats on Broadway had been occupied through the week that ended Jan. 23. That’s up from 66 % the week ending Jan. 16, and 62 % the week ending Jan. 9, because the coronavirus pandemic continues to take a toll on the trade and the fast unfold of the Omicron variant makes this winter particularly difficult.
Common attendance continues to be far under what it was in January 2020, earlier than the coronavirus pandemic, when between 93 % and 95 % of seats had been occupied.
The general quantity of people that noticed a Broadway present final week (152,135) was down from the earlier week (162,566), as exhibits proceed to shut — there have been 21 exhibits open final week, down from 25 the earlier week. Two extra exhibits closed on Sunday (“Lady From the North Nation,” which says it plans to return within the spring, and “Slave Play,” which is transferring to Los Angeles), leaving simply 19 exhibits now working within the 41 Broadway homes.
The rising capability proportion is nice information for an trade rattled by empty seats. Nevertheless it’s coming at a value, with fewer exhibits working and the typical ticket value falling.
Final week, the typical ticket value on Broadway was $108, down from $114 the week ending Jan. 16 and $116 the week ending Jan. 9. (In 2020, common January ticket costs had been as excessive as $123.)
The falling common ticket value displays each a reducing of premium costs (that’s the worth for the most effective seats on the preferred nights), and a heavy use of reductions.
At “Hamilton,” for instance, the highest value in January 2020 was $847; now it’s $299. (The priciest premium seat for the time being seems to be at “The Music Man,” which is asking $699 for some heart orchestra seats on a Saturday evening in February; “Six” is promoting some tickets for $499.)
However there are additionally a number of reductions accessible. The town’s tourism company, NYC & Firm, is now holding its annual Broadway Week (which, regardless of its title, will final 27 days this 12 months), a well-liked program that gives two-for-one tickets to all however a handful of exhibits.
And, though the Broadway League is not disclosing grosses for particular person exhibits, there are indications that extra are turning to discounting as a method to get by way of this winter, when the atypical seasonal dip has been exacerbated by the pandemic. The TKTS ticket sales space in Instances Sq., which sells tickets at 20 % to 50 % off, now periodically options “The Lion King,” which was nearly by no means offered on the sales space earlier than the pandemic, in addition to different massive exhibits together with “Moulin Rouge!,” “Harry Potter and the Cursed Baby,” “Hadestown” and “MJ,” the brand new Michael Jackson musical.
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Supply- nytimes