Broadway Grosses: Winter Chill Takes Bite Out of Box Office

Winter has finally reared its ugly head on New York City, and frigid January temperatures took the usual toll on the Broadway box office. Gross and capacity fell for almost every show, although perennial winners Wicked, Jersey Boys, Mary Poppins, The Lion King and Spamalot managed to pull in strong numbers. Long-running hits such as Rent, The Producers and Hairspray were most hurt by the slow winter crowds, and The Color Purple took an especially big fall in both gross in capacity, filling the Broadway Theatre only to 51.03%. Tom Stoppard's Coast of Utopia continued to fill the Vivian Beaumont Theatre in a compressed schedule of four performances the cast is rehearsing the third part of the trilogy while continuing to perform the first two parts.

Here is a look at who was on top and who was not for the week ending January 21:

FRONTRUNNERS By Gross
1. Wicked $1,365,614
2. Jersey Boys $1,172,292
3. Mary Poppins 1,043,951
4. The Lion King $864,047
5. Spamalot $790,600

UNDERDOGS By Gross
5. Rent $297,156
4. The Apple Tree $290,275*
3. The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee $240,970
2. The Little Dog Laughed $193,850
1. Translations $182,632**

FRONTRUNNERS By Capacity
1. Jersey Boys 100.77%
2. Wicked 99.54%
3. The Coast of Utopia 98.07%***
4. Spamalot 90.86%
5. Translations 87.48%**

UNDERDOGS By Capacity
5. Hairspray 60.41%
4. The Producers 55.99%
3. Rent 54.56%
2. The Color Purple 51.03%
1. The Little Dog Laughed 47.24%

*Number based on 7 regular performances.
**Number based on 8 preview performances.
***Number based on 4 regular performances.
Data provided by the League of American Theatres and Producers.