As we enter the final week of November, we leave behind the Second Quarter of the Broadway season.  We’re at half-time and it’s time to check in on how this year is faring so far.

According to the results provided by The Broadway League, here are the totals from Q2:

GROSS

Season to Date:  $505,746,394
Last Season to Date:  $500,376,907

% Difference:  1.1%

ATTENDANCE

Season to Date:  5,911,685
Last Season to Date:  5,806,155

% Difference:  1.8%

The positive trend in both categories continues this year, but the increases have slipped from Q1, as I predicted.

There’s another figure that continues to be up.  Way up, in fact.  In Q2 there were 744 playing weeks versus 686 weeks the year prior. That’s an 8.5% increase.

That’s a heck of a lot more shows!

And that’s somewhat of a buzz kill to the increases in gross and attendance posted above. If we have 8.5% more shows, and only an increase of 1.1% in gross and 1.8% in attendance, that means the additional cash and those additional bodies are spread pretty thin over the very full Fall schedule.

With this much more product, shouldn’t there be that much more gross and that many more people?

Unfortunately, that’s not how it worked this Q2.

Expect the playing week increase to go down dramatically this next Quarter.  I count at least 15 shows posting their closing notice in the next few weeks, and that number could be as high as 20.

Unfortunately, the gross and attendance increase will go down as well.