
A scene from Wicked, a perennial favorite on Broadway.
The Broadway League, which represents producers and theater owners, said the top 40 theaters grossed $1.037 billion in box office receipts in 2010, compared with $1.004 billion in 2009, also an economically depressed year.
What’s more, attendance was also up; 12.11 million people attended shows last year compared with 11.88 million in 2009, the league said. But higher prices helped, too.
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The best seat at the most popular shows sold for as much as $300. As always big production Broadway stalwarts fared the best, and a number of smaller shows struggled.
Nine shows closed at the end of the year, including Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson, Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown, and The Pee-Wee Herman Show, according to Crain’s New York Business.
The holiday season, always Broadway’s best, was a standout this year. During the last two weeks of the year, Broadway shows grossed $60 million, up from $52.4 million in 2009, the theater group said.
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Wicked set a record for the highest grossing show in a single week in Broadway history, collecting $2.22 million for eight performances, the league said.
“The Lion King,” grossed $1.9 million and “The Addams Family,” continued to defy critical reaction, grossing $1.4 million in one week.
Even the troubled new “Spider-Man” musical grossed $1.88 million during the week.
The show, one of the most expensive ever to produce, is reported to need to gross $1 million a week to eventually have a chance of breaking even.
But cast injuries and opening delays have kept the show in the news, and piqued the curiosity of theatergoers.