Broadway Rings in the New Year with Best Week Ever

The League of American Theatres and Producers, Inc. has reported that the week ending 12/31/2006 brought in the highest gross of any week in recorded Broadway history at $29.1 million, and the highest attendance at 314,310.  Paid attendance is up 11 percent from the same week last season. This is also the first time attendance numbers have reached over three hundred thousand during the winter months.  

For the week ending January 31st, 2006, the weekly gross was $29.1 million, the weekly audience capacity 94.4%, and weekly attendance 314, 310.  By January 1st, the weekly gross was $25.2 million, the weekly audience capacity was 93.9%, and the weekly attendance 283, 923.

Since Christmas and New Year's Eve fell during the same week this year, vacationers were out in full force to experience the best of what New York has to offer. Out of 30 shows playing, theatre seats were over 90% filled in 22 houses with 10 of those shows reporting a capacity of 100% or better (including standing room). Last week's capacity is behind only the week of 12/30/01 which recorded a 95.5% capacity.

Charlotte St. Martin, Executive Director of The League of American Theatres and Producers, Inc., comments  "We are delighted to announce this record breaking week on Broadway.  It is important, however, to highlight that although grosses and attendance numbers continue to rise steadily, so have the costs of mounting and running shows, enabling only a few productions shows to recognize profits.  We continue to focus our efforts on controlling those costs we can control, to create a healthy producing environment and to allow even more productions to thrive."

The League of American Theatres and Producers, Inc., founded in 1930 and operating under the trademark "Live Broadway," is the national trade association for the Broadway industry.  The League's 600-plus members include theater owners and operators, producers, presenters, and general managers in cities across North America, as well as suppliers of goods and services to the theater industry.

Broadway industry programs initiated by the League include Kids' Night on Broadway, Broadway On Broadway, an annual outdoor concert in Times Square, The Broadway Line, a national toll-free Broadway information hotline (888-BROADWAY),  LiveBroadway.com, and IloveNYTheater.com, a multi-lingual Broadway website, and IBDB.com (Internet Broadway Database).

Each year, League members bring Broadway to nearly 30 million people in New York and on tour across the U.S. and Canada, contributing $4.8 billion to the New York economy and billions more to the national economy.  In addition, Broadway supports New York City's economy by directly supporting an estimated 45,000 full-time equivalent jobs.

Visit www.livebroadway.com for more information.