The League of American Theatres and Producers have released the statistics of the 2004-2005 Broadway theatre season; fortunately, grosses were generally on the rise. The year was the second highest-grossing in Broadway history, and the second highest-grossing year ever for plays.
For the 52-week period between May 31, 2004 and May 29, 2005, paid attendance to Broadway was 11.53 million. Box office grosses totalled $768.6 million, the 4th highest year in paid attendance in addition to second in grosses. For this season, attendance and grosses were virtually flat from last year (although last year's theatre year was 53 weeks, which happens once in seven years). The first 52 weeks of the 2003-04 season grossed $755.3 million, with 11.36 million in paid attendance.As for the average weekly grosses, they jumped from $14.5 million to $14.8 million, a 1.6% percent increase. The 2004-05 season totaled 1494 playing weeks, up from 1451 in 2003-04 (even with a 53 week year in 2004), a 3% percent increase.The last 13 weeks comprising the spring portion of the season grossed $222.1 million, the highest in history, with 3.34 million in paid attendance. Last season brought in a $201.9 million gross, and 3.13 million paid attendance for the same period, marking a 10% increase in grosses and a 6.8% increase for attendance.
Thirty-nine Tony-eligible plays and musicals opened during the 2004-05 season, a number unsurpassed since the 1982-1983 season. Plays, which included 14 new ones and 9 revivals, brought in a near-record $120 million.As for tourism last year, domestic visitors to Broadway theatres reached record highs of 5.8 million (49.7% of the total audience), for the 2003-054 season. International tourism is also up 1.2 million in attendance (11% of the Broadway audience). This is now back to the pre-9/11 levels. Tourism statistics for 2004-2005 are not yet available.The Light in the Piazza, Monty Python's Spamalot, Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee, Brooklyn The Musical, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, Dracula The Musical, Little Women: The Musical, The Frogs, All Shook Up, and Good Vibrations were the season's new musicals while Sweet Charity, La Cage Aux Folles, Forever Tango and Pacific Overtures comprised the revivals.
As for plays, A Streetcar Named Desire, The Glass Menagerie, Reckless, Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, Julius Caesar, After The Fall, Glengarry Glen Ross, On Golden Pond, 'night Mother and The Rivals, Steel Magnolias and Twelve Angry Men comprised the season's revivals. The new plays included Democracy, Sight Unseen, The Good Body, Gem of The Ocean, Brooklyn Boy, Doubt, and The Pillowman. One-person shows were also well-represented with shows starring Billy Crystal, Whoopi Goldberg, Jackie Mason, Mario Cantone and Dame Edna.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 500-plus members include theater owners and operators, producers, presenters, and general managers in over 140 North American cities, 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), Broadway Ticket Center, LiveBroadway.com, and IloveNYTheater.com, a new multi-lingual Broadway website.
Each year, League members bring Broadway to nearly 25 million people in New York and on tour across the U.S. and Canada, contributing $4.3 billion to the New York economy and billions more to the national economy.
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