We at Music Times are getting tired of writing about things being down during 2014-album sales were down, it seems like digital single sales will be down, and we just reported that piano sales are way down-but good news: One thing was up toward the end of the year and it wasn't vinyl sales. Broadway productions in New York City brought in huge numbers. More than 30,000 more viewers showed up for shows than they did during Christmastime 2013. Of the 36 shows currently in production on the Great White Way, 19 broke $1 million in total sales according to Billboard.
Those 36 show added up to nearly $41 million in total for the week, more than two million more than Broadway brought in during 2013. Billboard cited two major factors that encouraged folks to get out to shows: A) Christmas fell on a Thursday so many had Friday off from work, which also encouraged them to head into New York from out of town for a long weekend and B) the weather was much warmer this year compared to last year's "polar vortex," which inspired more to take to the streets of the city.
Four theaters had their one-week records for earning broken during the week: A Gentleman's Guide to Love and Murder set the mark at the Walter Kerr Theatre by bringing in $1,062,740. The Illusionists: Witness The Impossible broke the record at the Marquis Theatre with earnings of more than $1.8 million over ten shows. Finally, Nathan Lane's It's Only A Play brought in "only" $1,432,273 and set the bar for Gerald Schoenfeld Theatre.
Nonetheless, one production set the high mark for earnings easily and it wasn't anything new: The Lion King, bringing in nearly $2.9 million, setting the record at the Minskoff Theatre despite having tickets cheaper than six other productions.
