Broadway Has Reason To Celebrate: Past 20 Week's Grosses and Paid Attendance Indicate Strong New Season

According to the League of American Theatres and Producers, Broadway ticket sales and attendance have been on a tremendous upswing over the past 20 weeks, marked by a particularly sizzling summer.

For virtually every week of the past 20 weeks, Broadway grosses and attendance have been higher than the corresponding week for last season. Grosses for this period were $345.6 million vs. $312.1 million -- a 10.7 % increase; paid attendance was 5.1 million vs. 4.7 million – a 6.6 %. increase.

The number of playing weeks on Broadway, the best overall measure of New York activity, for this 20 week period, was 661 playing weeks, compared to 597 last season during this period.

5 shows played over 100 % capacity during the week ending August 7, 2005, compared to the same week last season, in which only 2 shows played over 100 % capacity. 8 shows played over 95% capacity in this week, vs. 6 shows playing over 95%.

"Broadway seems well on track to set records for both attendance and gross sales in the 2005-06 season," commented Jed Bernstein, President of The League of American Theatres and Producers, Inc. "Although the line-up for the fall season is just beginning to be announced, this tremendous start is giving us great confidence that this is going to be a remarkable Broadway season!"

The League of American Theatres and Producers, Inc. reported a gross of $769 million in New York for the 2004-5 season. The number of tickets sold for Broadway during the 2004-5 season reached 11.5 million.