Broadway Grosses for Dec. 6-12, 2010 and Revenue per seat for The Phantom of the Opera

Broadway Grosses Dec. 6-12, 2010 sorted by Revenue per seat

The Broadway grosses are in for last week and are listed below, once again with the revenue per seat column being the source of the sorting of the list.

Show Name Gross TotalAttn %Cap Avg Paid Admission Revenue Per Seat THE MERCHANT OF VENICE $1,074,410 8,273 102.59% $129.87 $133.24 JERSEY BOYS $1,249,427 9,638 98.11% $129.64 $127.18 THE LION KING $1,575,589 13,122 97.81% $120.07 $117.44 ELF $1,302,310 10,816 94.94% $120.41 $114.32 DRIVING MISS DAISY $732,896 6,003 93.33% $122.09 $113.95 WICKED $1,645,313 14,211 98.20% $115.78 $113.69 DONNY & MARIE: A BROADWAY CHRISTMAS $881,925 7,207 88.11% $122.37 $107.81 SPIDER-MAN TURN OFF THE DARK $911,682 9,595 99.43% $95.02 $94.47 BILLY ELLIOT: THE MUSICAL $1,066,328 10,787 94.89% $98.85 $93.80 PROMISES, PROMISES $1,239,949 12,383 88.60% $100.13 $88.72 THE ADDAMS FAMILY $1,014,185 9,453 77.79% $107.29 $83.46 MEMPHIS $972,959 9,904 84.22% $98.24 $82.73 A LITTLE NIGHT MUSIC $519,928 5,721 76.81% $90.88 $69.81 THE PEE-WEE HERMAN SHOW $583,281 5,961 70.63% $97.85 $69.11 FELA! $567,267 7,270 88.23% $78.03 $68.84 MARY POPPINS $982,645 11,684 81.27% $84.10 $68.35 MAMMA MIA! $817,276 9,490 79.19% $86.12 $68.20 LA CAGE AUX FOLLES $562,152 6,215 73.50% $90.45 $66.48 THE SCOTTSBORO BOYS $454,251 6,996 97.17% $64.93 $63.09 MILLION DOLLAR QUARTET $611,869 6,729 69.29% $90.93 $63.00 ROCK OF AGES $502,042 5,433 68.12% $92.41 $62.94 THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA $755,601 9,128 70.65% $82.78 $58.48 RAIN: A TRIBUTE TO THE BEATLES ON BROADWAY $648,528 7,939 68.53% $81.69 $55.98 WEST SIDE STORY $757,353 9,582 70.58% $79.04 $55.79 CHICAGO $446,401 5,533 64.04% $80.68 $51.67 IN THE HEIGHTS $515,094 7,743 72.01% $66.52 $47.91 LOMBARDI $290,552 4,438 70.22% $65.47 $45.97 NEXT TO NORMAL $283,836 4,682 75.81% $60.62 $45.96 BLOODY BLOODY ANDREW JACKSON $367,783 5,543 67.27% $66.35 $44.63 WOMEN ON THE VERGE OF A NERVOUS BREAKDOWN $320,315 4,604 59.33% $69.57 $41.28 TIME STANDS STILL $339,551 4,248 49.21% $79.93 $39.34 BRIEF ENCOUNTER $300,383 4,835 60.32% $62.13 $37.47 AMERICAN IDIOT $482,459 7,087 51.84% $68.08 $35.29 A FREE MAN OF COLOR $278,172 4,859 58.23% $57.25 $33.34 THE PITMEN PAINTERS $172,345 3,839 73.83% $44.89 $33.14 COLIN QUINN: LONG STORY SHORT $153,081 2,294 48.85% $66.73 $32.60 LA BETE $253,079 3,770 46.80% $67.13 $31.41

You are probably wondering how could THE MERCHANT OF VENICE have a higher Revenue Per Seat than Average Paid Admission. As you may recall from last week's post about Broadway statistics, RPS is different from APA in that it is the amount of money made per seat available that week vs. the average amount collected per admission that week. It appears that the production of Merchant did two things last week to create such a high RPS. First, they sold more tickets than their capacity(standing room is not included in the seated capacity listings), since we are basing our calculations on capacity we derive I higher RPS than APA.  Second, they sold a large number of tickets above the top ticket price of $140. 

Overall Broadway shows are doing a good job of maximizing RPS as 10 shows had less than a 10% difference between their RPS and APA, granted they all had over 90% capacity.  It would be nice to be able to make a correlation to a shows success and the difference between RPS and APA however, it isn't that simple.  Some shows may have a lower differential due to high capacity but their pricing has been discounted to the point where they are not making much profit, if any at all.  Others may have a large differential and still be very profitable because they are selling enough tickets to gross above their costs.

A good example to explore the relationship between RPS and APA would be the Broadway show         THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA which had a 29% difference between their APA and RPS last week and grossed $755,601. The show has been playing for almost 23 years and has grossed almost $800,000,000. When they started their APA and RPS were the same as they were sold out immediately after opening for weeks on end. (There were no premium seat prices back then)  In 1988 they had an APA of just under $42, a decade later in January of 1998, their APA was about $54 and their RPS was $49 (ticket prices had risen).  A decade later, January 2008, their APA was $62 and their RPS $49. Last week their APA was $$82 and their RPS was $58 (ticket prices have risen once again). All the while they have maintained a steady RPS. Their APA for the entire run has been just over $56. They clearly know what number they need to hit to be profitable and they have figured out how to sell the house accordingly.  It is not good enough to be a well-known, long running show to be successful and profitable, it requires smart ticket pricing and sales strategies to maximize revenue and maintain profitability.