Few treats at Broadway box office

Halloween, World Series distract audiences

By GORDON COX

‘Finian’s Rainbow,’ which opened Thursday, rode strong reviews to an 8% box office uptick with $371,003. More Articles: 'Tudors''s Rhys-Meyers to age Preisser, McElroen depart Harlem troupe 'Robin,' DiPietro set for San Diego Bard in the Park lines up 'Venice,' 'Tale' 'Venice' set for Public Theater slate Broadway faces a busy, uneasy season Most Viewed: MacFarlane special loses Microsoft(17421 views) Carr to drive 'Short Circuit' remake(9313 views) Par breaks window for 'G.I. Joe' DVD(5559 views) New Regency bulks up for 2010(3244 views) Final Jackson bow Tuesday(1102 views) January Jones mad for 'Rabbit'(1013 views)

Halloween scared ticketbuyers away from Broadway, which saw a sales dip last week that was exacerbated by Gotham's rooting interest in the World Series.

The B.O. dip was far from unexpected. The holiday's trick-or-treating activities and spooky parties often end up distracting theatergoers from Main Stem productions, and an essentially local World Series between the Yankees and the Phillies was virtually guaranteed to overshadow Broadway, too.

Total Rialto cume sank almost $2.4 million to $18.3 million for 32 shows on the boards. Overall attendance fell by more than 20,000 to 229,603, or 75% of capacity.

Some shows, including "In the Heights" ($492,463), "Burn the Floor" ($199,039) and "The 39 Steps" ($138,621), saw B.O. figures plummet by as much as one-third, and some recent-vintage musical productions from last season -- "West Side Story" ($857,501), "Hair" ($627,172) and "Next to Normal" ($311,150) -- were off by about a quarter.

Nonetheless, the number many legiters had their eyes on was the one for "Brighton Beach Memoirs" ($119,561). To the surprise of many, the lukewarm-to-glowing reviews the production earned after its Oct. 25 opening caused no discernible bump in sales: Last week receipts slipped slightly and producers decided to pull the plug, shuttering the revival on Sunday (Daily Variety, Nov. 2).

On the other hand, strong reviews seem to have given at least a bit of a boost to "Finian's Rainbow" ($371,003), which opened Thursday and saw box office step up by about 8%.

Among previewing productions, "Fela!" ($200,810 for seven perfs) fell slightly while both "Ragtime" ($364,924) and "In the Next Room or the Vibrator Play" ($120,650) each got a boost from playing a full week of eight perfs vs. a partial frame last week.