Queen Elizabeth enjoyed her best week yet, and Henry VIII and his cronies couldn’t ax for anything more, showing a boost of nearly $266K even as Broadway took a sharp dive after spring break. France, on the other hand, was a split decision, with An American In Paris at the Nederlander Organization’s Palace Theatre gaining $323K on the wave of great notices, while the Vanessa Hudgens vehicle Gigi, at the Nederlanders’ Neil Simon, sputtered to a stall of $530K, down an impressive $105K from the previous week.
Heading into the final stretch of Tony eligibility (the shut-off is this Thursday’s opening of The Visit), Week 47 of the season was off $3.6 million, according to figures released today by the trade group Broadway League. Four shows opened, covering the range of reception from cheers and huzzahs (The King And I, Fun Home) to meh (Finding Neverland, It Shoulda Been You). The hit revival of Skylight remained on hiatus, returning this week.
The Audience, with Helen Mirren as Queen Elizabeth, continued its upward rise at the Shubert-owned Schoenfeld, up $22K to $1.17 million — 110% of its gross potential and the best week yet of its limited run. Wolf Hall, at the Winter Garden, jumped to $861K at the Shuberts’ Winter Garden, showing there’s some appetite for an epic two-part journey despite the competition from PBS’ Sunday night series based on the same books.
The risqué Hand To God improved by $36K to $319K at the Shubert-owned Booth. Finding Neverland was off only slightly, still taking in over $1 million at the Nederlanders’ Lunt-Fontanne while dropping $80K from the family-friendly week before. The show’s numbers showed promise, given a seven-performance week and a more-than-usual number of tickets comped for press and opening night. At Jujamcyn’s St. James Theatre, the big new mock-Shakespearean musical Something Rotten! continued to build on strong word-of-mouth, gaining $$83.7K to $703K, 76% of potential and 92% of capacity in the 1,341-seat venue.
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