As the theater industry began to settle in this week following the holidays, a few shows kicked off Tuesday morning by sending out celebratory press releases to brag out how much they had grossed over the typically lucrative final week of the year.
“Six,” for instance, announced that it set a new record for weekly gross income at the Lena Horn Theatre at $1,659,000. As it happens, “Six” set the prior weekly gross record (at just $10,000 less) last year during the same week.
“Harry Potter and the Cursed Child” grossed $2,718,487, constituting the highest weekly gross ever for a Broadway play (as opposed to a musical). Even “Chicago,” now in its 27th year on Broadway, grossed $1,452,008, its largest weekly gross to date.
All this being said, the early winter is considered the roughest time of the year for Broadway grosses, with cold and rough weather discouraging attendance, so don’t expect to see any similar announcements for a while.
It should be noted that many Broadway shows played nine performances, rather than the standard eight, last week.
Darren Criss and Evan Rachel Wood to enter ‘Little Shop’
Darren Criss and Evan Rachel Wood will take as Seymour and Audrey, respectively, in the ongoing Off-Broadway revival of “Little Shop of Horrors” on Jan. 30, with Corbin Bleu and Constance Wu playing their final performances in the roles on Jan. 28.
Criss, who is best known for “Glee,” previously took over starring roles in the musicals “How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying” and “Hedwig and the Angry Inch.”
Wood appeared in the 2007 Beatles movie musical “Across the Universe.”
LaChanze eyes ‘Color Purple’ royalties
Over the holidays, the movie musical adaptation of “The Color Purple” did surprisingly strong business in theaters.
However, in a most unexpected move, LaChanze, who played Celie in the original 2005 Broadway production of the musical (as opposed to its much more acclaimed 2015 revival) and won a Tony Award for her performance, wrote on social media that she had been “left out of the press as the original Celie” and that she wanted her “royalty fee” for lyrics that she had added to the song “I’m Here.”
In an interview with Time, LaChanze said that during rehearsals, the show’s writers had asked her to describe what the character was feeling, which in turn influenced the lyrics.
‘Threepenny,’ ‘Front Page’ enter public domain
In upcoming years, an increasingly large number of historically significant plays and musicals will enter the public domain. Last year, the original 1927 version of “Show Boat” entered the public domain. Target Margin Theater plans to present a new production of “Show Boat” next year at NYU Skirball.
Much attention has recently been paid to the fact that “Steamboat Willie,” the cartoon short featuring an early incarnation of Mickey Mouse, entered the public domain on Jan. 1, 2024.
As reported by Playbill.com, theatrical works dating back to 1928 that have also entered the public domain this year (all of which have received major revivals in recent years) include Brecht and Weill’s “The Threepenny Opera” (at least the original German language version), the newsroom comedy “The Front Page,” and the expressionist drama “Machinal.”
