It seems like just yesterday we were talking about Hugh Jackman’s hoppin’ through the opening number of the Tony Awards, and now . . . the 1st quarter of the 2014-15 season is over.

The first quarter of the season used to be a quiet one.  Theaters were dark by the handful.  Opening nights were a rarity.  And weekly meetings became monthly meetings as people scampered to the Hamptons to rest before the beginning of the new season.

Not anymore, my producer perspectin’  friends.  Nowadays, the next Broadway season starts even before the official ratings of the Tony Awards come out!

And that’s having a massive effect on the numbers.  Let’s take a look at how the first quarter of the new Broadway season shaped up:

GROSSES

• Gross tally so far this season is:  $351,620,893.
• Last season at the end of Q1 we had grossed $303,156,021.
• That’s a double digit 16% increase for the Broadway season so far.

ATTENDANCE

• 3,331,216 people have seen Broadway shows so far this season.
• 2,832,678 people had seen Broadway shows at this point last year.
• That’s a 17.6% increase from our last Broadway season (and one of the first times I’ve seen a bigger percentage increase in attendance than gross).

• There were 391 playing weeks after the first quarter this year.
• There were 321 playing weeks after the first quarter last year.
• That’s a massive increase of 21.8%!

What a difference a summer makes, huh?

Pretty obvious to see that the spectacular growth in gross and attendance is a result of us having more than 1/5 more playing weeks this season than last season so far.  We’ve had a few high profile closings in the past few weeks (Newsies, Rocky) but the majority of shows are holding steady through the fall.  So while I do expect to see a slight pull back in Q2, I think we’re going to still post good numbers though the end of Q2.

That means Broadway could be on track for its best and busiest year in its 100 year history.

What do you think?

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