Broadway Killing

The latest Broadway grosses are truly staggering, even to me.

Out of the 26 shows currently running, 16 of them were filled to over 90% capacity last week. 7 of those were at 100%.

And we're talking well-worn titles like Phantom and Mamma Mia. And Beauty and the Beast--which outright sucks--closes out its 15-year reign of lameness packing in 1500 customers a night. Many no doubt seeing it for that last nth time before they'll just have to settle for the movie.

But new musicals, too. Spring Awakening has joined the 90% club--and even Curtains!

Out of the remaining 10 shows, another 6 were well above 75%.

The only show under 50% was...Deuce. Not much has been written, surprisingly about how what was once touted as the event of the season--Angela Lansbury's return to the stage--is now officially its one big dud. (The play must be that bad, eh.)

I have no idea what's going on, since apparently the week just before was a downer. One stat from that report, though, that I suspect hasn't changed:

Average paid admission was $79.83 for musicals, $57.77 for plays and $78.01 for all shows.

Huh. That's kind of an odd "average," ain't it? I guess that's what economists would call the Deuce Effect.