Broadway Grosses: The Great White Way Welcomes a Fishy Larry David & a Regal Helen Mirren with Full Houses

Larry David’s Fish in the Dark opened on Broadway on March 5; the production quickly swum up the boards during previews, establishing itself as a consistent placeholder in the top shows by capacity. The Audience, starring Helen Mirren, also celebrated its opening night this past week on March 8, concluding its preview period with two consecutive weeks of exceeding capacity. On the Twentieth Century, the next show to roll out the red carpet (on March 15), chugged along at a modest capacity—we expect numbers to climb with Peter Gallagher’s (hopefully safe and speedy) recovery and growing word-of-mouth about Andy Karl curling Kristin Chenoweth. Meanwhile, the perennial hit The Book of Mormon took the top spot by both gross and capacity.

Here’s a look at who was on top—and who was not—for the week ending March 8:

FRONTRUNNERS (By Gross)
1. The Book of Mormon ($1,450,723)
2. The Lion King ($1,450,034)
3. Wicked ($1,352,213)
4. Aladdin ($1,148,004)
5. Beautiful: The Carole King Musical ($1,049,875)

UNDERDOGS (By Gross)
5. On the Town ($474,989)
4. Mamma Mia! ($417,314)
3. On the Twentieth Century ($364,904)*
2. The Heidi Chronicles ($316,904)*
1. Honeymoon in Vegas ($310,450)

FRONTRUNNERS (By Capacity)
1. The Book of Mormon (102.60%)
2. Fish in the Dark (101.39%)***
3. The Audience (100.65%)**
4. Constellations (99.78%)****
5. Aladdin (99.31%)

UNDERDOGS (By Capacity)
5. Jersey Boys (64.62%)
4. Mamma Mia! (61.45%)
3. It's Only a Play (58.84%)
2. Honeymoon in Vegas (48.83%)
1. On the Town (48.47%)

*Number based on eight preview performances
**Number based on six preview performances and one regular performance
***Number based on three preview performances and five regular performances
****Number based on nine regular performances

Source: The Broadway League