The St. James Audience Capacity

[bandit964]

Why does Bring It On the Musical get to claim on the weekly grosses that their total number of seats are 10,672, making it look like the theatre only has 1,334 seats? The theatre is one of the largest on Broadway though and actually has around 1700 seats. This makes their percentage look so much greater. American Idiot did the same thing.

I am assuming this comes from them maybe not selling tickets to the second balcony. Correct me if that's wrong. Do any other theatres/shows do this?

[dramamama611]

If they don't offer those seats for sale, they don't include them in the overall picture. They are selling a percentage of the AVAILABLE seats, not the possible seats.

It's been known to happen from time to time.

[bobs3]

The St. James has that horrid second balcony and often times shows that are not SRO will close off the second balcony so that they can report a higher percentage of capacity than they would normally report if the second balcony was open (same thing with The Palace).

[bandit964]

it just seems a little tricky

[Quiche2]

Yes, the balcony is closed. In this, just click a random # on the dropdown box then it shows you a theater map. The balcony is there, but in the "Select Your Seats" section below it is not available for sale.
http://boxoffice.broadway.com/boxoffice/pohinv2.aspx?oi=43618165&ox=B9D9627E-7670-4B1A-8A3E-FF6E30B4A56D

[dramamama611]

Tricky? It's not like they are fooling anyone that pays attention to that sort of thing. The average theater goer doesn't even realize OR CARE that this info is readily available.

[broadwaydevil]

The last show that consistently kept the St. James balcony open was the Producers. Most shows can't fill such a big house. It isn't tricky or unusual. As Dramamama said, the average person doesn't read or care about the weekly gross report or pay attention to whether or not the balcony is closed.

[AC126748]

And the seating capacity at every theatre is malleable. Every theatre has a base maximum seating capacity, which can be lowered for various reasons. Sometimes seats aren't sold because they're undesirable (second balcony, partial view, box), sometimes seats are removed to make specific accommodations for a production (like an orchestra pit or a longer stage). Every production is different.

[frogs_fan85]

AMERICAN IDIOT definitely had the balcony open during the entire run. The show's grosses show a maximum capacity of 13,672 for all 8 performance weeks.

ETA- That isn't to say that may not have closed the floor and shifted balcony ticket holders down to the mezzanine, but in terms of gross reporting, the balcony was a ticketed option, unlike it is for BRING IT ON.

[broadwaydevil]

Frogs - you might be right I didn't check the historical grosses for American Idiot but I went twice and both times an usher announced the balcony on my way up to the mezzanine.

Either way, the point I was trying to make was that this isn't unusual at all, especially in the St. James.