Broadway Rewind 1/15/2010

Hi all! It’s been a while since the last Rewind, but I’m back from the holidays and back in action!

Here’s a summary of this week’s biggest Broadway news, in case you missed it!

Welcome to Broadway. It’s been a while since my last Broadway Rewind. So far in the new year Broadway has welcomed the following shows: Present Laughter (began previews Jan. 2) and Time Stands Still (began previews Jan. 5). This month Broadway has also said goodbye to a number of shows, including Irving Berlin's White Christmas, Shrek, Superior Donuts, Ragtime, The 39 Steps, and In the next room (or the vibrator play). We will say goodbye to Finian’s Rainbow and Wishful Drinking on Sunday.

Attendance. Wicked was the only show that filled 100% of its seats for the week ending 1/10, though A Little Night Music (99.6%) and Jersey Boys (99.7%) were not far behind. Unfortunately, all but a few shows saw a significant decrease in attendance from the previous week, the most dramatic being Chicago (-21.5%), Hair (-22.6%), Mary Poppins (-25.3%), and Memphis (-22.3%).

Spider-Man Update. As expected, the producers of Spider-Man, Turn Off the Dark confirmed on Tuesday that the production will not begin previews on February 25 as originally announced. The production is still moving forward, and producers expect to confirm an opening date for later in 2010 sometime in the near future. The New York Post suggested that the show would likely begin previews in September, though that schedule has not been confirmed. Ticketmaster is reaching out to ticket holders affected by the setback, offering an immediate refund or exchanges for tickets for a later date once the new schedule is announced.

Anniversaries and Milestones. There have been a significant number of milestones reached in the last couple of weeks, so let's try a timeline:
- 12/25/2009: Mamma Mia! becomes the 12th longest-running show in Broadway history, surpassing the landmark musical Grease (3,388 performances). The show also had its highest-grossing week EVER, bringing in $1,315,354 for the week ending 1/3/2010.
- 1/3/2010: Jersey Boys set a new house record at the August Wilson Theatre for the week ending 1/3/2010, grossing $1,440,456. This is the 30th time that the show has surpassed it’ own record since it opened in November 2005.
- 1/3/2010: The longest running show in history, Phantom of the Opera, also broke a house record this week at The Majestic Theater, having the best weekly gross in the production’s nearly 22-year history. For the week ending 1/3/2010, Phantom brought in $1,374,874.96.
- 1/3/2010: Next to Normal sets a new box office record at the Booth Theatre for the week ending 1/3, grossing $550,409 over nine performances.
- 1/3/2010: West Side Story breaks box office record at the Palace Theatre for the second week in a row. For the week ending 12/27/2009, the show grossed $1,366,279.74. For the week ending 1/3/2010 it raked in $1, 484,854.50.
- 1/3/2010: Billy Elliott sets new box office record at the Imperial Theatre, grossing $1,663,895.00.
- 1/3/2010: The Lion King sets new box office record at the Minskoff Theatre, grossing $1,714,566. This is the third time in only six weeks that the show has broken its own box office record.
- 1/12/2010: Chicago becomes the sixth longest-running production in Broadway history with its 5,462nd performance. The Disney musical Beauty and the Beast previously held that position. As of Jan. 12, the ten longest-running Broadway productions are: 1. Phantom of the Opera, 2. Cats, 3. Les Miserables, 4. A Chorus Line, 5. Oh! Calcutta, 6. Chicago, 7. Beauty and the Beast, 8. Rent, 9. The Lion King, 10. Miss Saigon.

2010 Preview. Click HERE to check out Playbill.com’s overview of what’s coming up on Broadway in 2010!

I know there has been a lot I’ve missed over the last 3 weeks, but I wanted to get in a rough summary. Now that I'm back in town I'll make sure I cover everything in the upcoming weeks!

Until next week!