Modest bounce for Broadway shows after Tony nods
Broadway shows that earned most Tony Award nominations only get modest box office bounce
This theater image released by The O+M Company Jefferson Mays, center, during a performance of "A Gentleman's Guide to Love and Murder," at the Walter Kerr Theatre in New York. (AP Photo/The O+M Company, Joan Marcus)
NEW YORK (AP) -- Nothing's better than a few Tony Award nominations for a sagging box office, but this year's gains were modest.
The new Broadway musicals "A Gentleman's Guide to Love and Murder" and "After Midnight" both saw only little bumps after Tuesday's nominations left them on the top of the Tony races, according to data released Monday by The Broadway League.
"A Gentleman's Guide to Love and Murder," a romp with its leading man killed eight times, got 10 nominations and took in $580,279 last week, a mild increase over the previous week's $470,784.
"After Midnight," a candy sampler of stunning dance and singing acts, got seven nominations, but only had its weekly take increase about $35,000 to $523,053. It was the same story over at "Beautiful," which saw a slight bump of $20,973, despite seven nominations.
Some shows actually saw decreases, including "Bullet Over Broadway," which earned six Tony nominations and saw its weekly take dip about $6,000 to $956,227. "If/Then," starring Idina Menzel, lost $76,570 to rake in $927,814, "Rocky" fell the same amount to $707,891 and the play "Of Mice and Men" with James Franco fell $33,837 to $864,014.
The play "The Realistic Jones" and the musical "Aladdin" both lost modest amounts, but "The Cripple of Inishmaan" with Daniel Radcliffe, suffered a more troubling $86,035 loss over the eight-show week.
One show is unstoppable: "Hedwig and the Angry Inch," a rock concert starring Neil Patrick Harris as a transgender German, got eight nominations and superb reviews. It broke the Belasco Theatre's record weekly income with $993,497, but only needed seven shows to do it.
Most established shows — including the mighty "The Book of Mormon," ''The Lion King" and "Wicked" — lost money. Still, this week's total take on Broadway was $29.2 million, much better than the same week last season which saw receipts hit $24.6 million.
Two shows — the musical "The Bridges of Madison County" and the play "The Velocity of Autumn" — have already decided to close in the wake of scoring too few nominations and lackluster action at the box offices.
