Broadway B.O. slips 3% for week

'The Lion King'Broadway did a backslide after last week's gains, with overall box office lowering by 3% and attendance falling 4% in week 29. Individuals declines were softened somewhat by recently previewing shows "Porgy and Bess" ($292,703, attendance 2,564 for 2 performances) and "The direction to Mecca" ($80,118, attendance 2,268 in five perfs). Take away individuals ducats and butts and also the Primary Stem was off a lot more than 4% when it comes to dollars and nearly 6% of attendance. B.O. dropoff was especially severe at "Sister Act" ($601,705, off 23%) and also the flagging one-act collection "Relatively Speaking" ($345,133, a small amount of almost $400,000 from the peak in Week 23). This news wasn't all bad around the Rialto, though. "The Lion King" required the general crown for that third consecutive week having a haul of $1,833,881, up 2% against a week ago. Audiences also clustered to "Billy Elliot" ($817,957, up 2%) prior to its closing on Jan. 8, and "How to achieve Business Without Really Trying" ($1,100,832, a 6% increase) to determine star Daniel Radcliffe before his approaching departure. Plays were also hit less hard than musicals, with "Other Desert Metropolitan areas" ($551,176) ongoing to command a per-ticket cost above $100 and "War Equine" ($988,373) galloping along at 100% attendance a lot more than eight several weeks after opening. The prognosis is less rosy for battling David Henry Hwang play "Chinglish" and merely-opened up basketball-Greek comedy-musical "Lysistrata Johnson." "Chinglish" performed to 35% of capacity in the Longacre, while "Johnson" offered tickets for $25.14 normally, or $2 under its cheapest marketed cost. Even taking opening-evening comps into consideration, that's terrible news for that newcomer. However poor this news now, legiters should search for Broadway to recover nicely throughout the ultimate days of the season as vacationers swarm to Midtown Manhattan. Indeed, lately opened up Harry Connick, Junior. starrer "On the Obvious Day You Can Observe Forever" ($744,076) and "A Night Time With Patti LuPone and Mandy Patinkin" ($480,422) both elevated their box office with the addition of an eighth performance for their weekly agendas to capture the wintertime crowds. Overall Broadway cume totalled to $24.3 million, up nearly $400,000 against this past year, when three more shows were playing. Contact the range newsroom at news@variety.com