Where did those 39 weeks go?

In case you haven’t been watching a calendar, we are now 3/4 of the way through the 2016-17 season.  Only 13 little ol’ weeks to go!  Of course, about 13 new musicals are going to open in the next 13 DAYS, so it’s a busy, busy quarter.

But before we make the final mad dash for the finish line, it’s time to check in and take the season’s $ and attendance temperature.

You ready to take a look?

Before we do, let’s take a second to think back to where we were when we last checked in with the season’s stats.  Back in November, at the 26-week mark, we were pretty flat over the previous year, down .5% in gross and up .2% in attendance.   Statistically irrelevant.

So how are we doing now?

Here she goes . . .

GROSSES

At the end of three-quarters, Broadway has grossed a total of $1,029,852,538.

Last season at the end of Q3 we had grossed $1,028,580,194.

That’s up .1% from last year.

ATTENDANCE

9,522,036 people have seen Broadway shows so far this season.

9,799,882 people had seen Broadway shows at the same time last year.

That’s down 2.8% from last season.

PLAYING WEEKS

There were 1,128 playing weeks so far this season.

There were 1,197 playing weeks last season.

That’s a decrease of 5.8% over last year.

Sigh.  Don’t love these numbers.

While the grosses have stayed the same, that’s mostly due to the Hamilton effect.  That one show is contributing massive dollars to Broadway’s bottom line.  But what is good for one, isn’t good for all.  A bunch of shows closed in the past few months, which is why the playing weeks are down, and the most disappointing stat of all is the drop in attendance.

Same money, less people.  Not what anyone wants to see.

The good news is that there are 147 shows about to open, so grosses should tick up, and attendance should as well.

But will we end up outpacing last year?  I don’t think so.  Expect flat results on the gross and a bit under on attendance 13 weeks from now, just like this week’s report.  I just don’t think we can make up this gap.

We’ll soon find out . . .

See you in 13 weeks!

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