Super Storm Sandy Causes Broadway's Box Office To Take A Dive

Box office takings on Broadway have taken a hit since Hurricane Sandy blasted the East Coast of the USA last week. In total, ticket sales for Broadway productions totalled around $13.6 million for the week ending Sunday November 4, 2012). That might sound like an impressive amount but it was down by around $5.7 million (30%) from the previous week, LA Times reports.

Many shows were forced to cancel performances when Sandy hit on Monday November 29, 2012.Although most schedules were resumed by the Thursday of that week, the tri-state area was still affected by power shortages, meaning that transport into and out of Manhattan was still being affected. Amongst the blockbuster shows to take the biggest financial hit were The Phantom Of the Opera, which suffered a sales drop of 39%, Jersey Boys, which lost 32% of its revenue and Wicked, which dropped by 30%.

Some productions decided to offer discounted tickets in the wake of the destruction caused by super-storm Sandy. Nice Work If You Can Get It were offering $37 tickets but still suffered a 55% drop in sales. It wasn’t all bad news though; The Book of Mormon only suffered a slight decline in sales. Elsewhere in New York, Carnegie Hall was forced to close its doors until today (November 7, 2012), due to being in close proximity to the dangling crane that had been damaged by the storm and caused the surrounding area to be considered unsafe.