Broadway Grosses: January Freeze Hits Box Offices

The typical January box office deep freeze hit New York in a big way this past week, as grosses dropped for almost every Broadway show. Only perennial champs Jersey Boys and Wicked topped $1 million and even those two musicals had a few empty seats for the first time in memory while a dozen shows played to less than 60% of capacity. On the bright side, David Mamet's comedy November, starring Nathan Lane, and the Roundabout Theatre Company's production of The 39 Steps saw jumps of about $60,000 in grosses on the strength of positive reviews, and Roundabout's revival of Sunday in the Park With George got off to a good start, playing to 92.75% of capacity in its first five previews at Studio 54.

Here is a look at who was on top and who was not for the week ending January 27:

FRONTRUNNERS By Gross
1. Wicked $1,343,579
2. Jersey Boys $1,120,796
3. The Lion King $944,846
4. The Little Mermaid $912,613
5. Mary Poppins $771,666

UNDERDOGS By Gross
5. The 39 Steps $263,649
4. Sunday in the Park with George $251,038*
3. Is He Dead? $201,245
2. Xanadu $162,947
1. Come Back, Little Sheba $149,607**

FRONTRUNNERS By Capacity
1. Jersey Boys 99,48%
2. Wicked 99.09%
3. Sunday in the Park with George 92.75%*
4. The Little Mermaid 88.09%
5. The 39 Steps 87.87%

UNDERDOGS By Capacity
5. Legally Blonde 55.60%
4. Come Back, Little Sheba 53.98%**
3. Chicago 53.81%
2. Xanadu 51.38%
1. The Homecoming 46.93%

* Number based on 5 preview performances
** Number based on 6 preview and 2 regular performances
Data provided by the Broadway League.