Box Office for 'Spring' and Other Shows Blooms Post-Tonys

According to Variety, the 61st Annual Tony Awards have boosted the box offices of numerous Broadway shows - including Best Musical Tony Award-winner Spring Awakening.

Spring Awakening - which had its first origins Off-Off-Broadway, premiered at the Atlantic Theater Company last year, and had been considered a dark, uncommercial venture prior to its hit Broadway transfer - is a particular beneficiary of the Tony Award sales spike.  According to the article, "For the week ending June 10, sales for "Spring" rose nearly $60,000 to a healthy $644,716, and the show played to auds at 92% of capacity.  Even before the Duncan Sheik/Steven Sater musical won eight Tony Awards, producers of the show estimated that "the rock tuner would sell in the realm of $1.25 million in tickets between the 8 p.m. Sunday start of the kudocast and the end of the day Monday."

In the lead-up to the Tony Awards, in the week ending June 10th, Broadway shows took in $20.4 million (up $1.7 from the prior session). Attendance was at about 80% of total capacity, having risen by 15,000 people to 273,988.  Other shows besides Spring Awakening to have seen a considerable box office surge include Mary Poppins, Grey Gardens, The Drowsy Chaperone, Hairspray, Frost/Nixon, A Moon for the Misbegotten and Best Revival of a Play Tony Winner Journey's End.

The 2007 American Theatre Wing's Tony Awards, presented by the League of American Theatres and Producers and the American Theatre Wing, aired live from Radio City Music Hall on CBS from 8 through 11 PM on Sunday, June 10th.

Spring Awakening and The Coast of Utopia were the big winners of this year's Tony Awards, winning Best Musical and Best Play respectively.  Spring Awakening won eight Tonys, and The Coast of Utopia won seven.

The presenters included: Melina Kanakaredes, Jane Krakowski, Angela Lansbury, Robert Sean Leonard, John Mahoney, Audra McDonald, Cynthia Nixon, Bernadette Peters, David Hyde Pierce, Christopher Plummer, Liev Schreiber, Kevin Spacey, John Turturro, Usher, Sam Waterston, Vanessa Williams, Rainn Wilson, Harry Connick, Jr., Claire Danes, Jeff Daniels, Brian Dennehy, Carla Gugino, Neil Patrick Harris, Anne Heche, Marg Helgenberger, Judd Hirsch, Felicity Huffman, Eddie Izzard, and The Jersey Boys – John Lloyd Young, Christian Hoff, Daniel Reichard and J. Robert Spencer.

The Tonys are presented by the League of American Theatres and Producers and the American Theatre Wing. At the League, Gerald Schoenfeld is Chairman and Charlotte St. Martin is Executive Director. At the Wing, Sondra Gilman is Chairman, Doug Leeds is President and Howard Sherman is Executive Director. For Tony Award Productions, Elizabeth I. McCann is Managing Producer and Joey Parnes is Coordinating Producer.  Ricky Kirshner and Glenn Weiss/White Cherry Entertainment are Executive Producers of the 2007 Tony Awards.  Mr. Weiss will also serve as Director of the 2007 Tony Awards.

Visit www.tonyawards.com for more information.