'Book of Mormon' hooks Broadway crowd

The only method to conquer Broadway's annual publish-Labor Day slump is to possess a little belief.Belief in "It of Mormon," anyway: Per week when nearly every show about the Primary Stem saw sales drop, "Mormon" ($1,293,582) rose -- and handled to top perennial smash "Wicked" ($1,253,990) and almost nick "The Lion King" ($1,299,169). The "Mormon" task is particularly impressive since its theater seats only one,075 versus. 1,800 at "Wicked" and 1,675 at "The Lion King."Otherwise, it had been a difficult week throughout, with major 35mm slides published for the most part from the shows about the boards. "Lion King," "Wicked" and "Spider-Guy: Switch Off the Dark" ($1,197,278), for example, saw week-to-week sales visit about 20%.The annual downturn is because of Labor Day, the state finish from the summer time travel several weeks. However the effects were amplified through the attention forwarded to activities organized round the tenth anniversary of 9/11.Using the concurrent startup from the school year, productions with family appeal -- including "Mary Poppins" ($492,889) and Daniel Radcliffe topliner "How to achieve Business Without Really Trying" ($757,240) -- required a few of the toughest hits from the frame.The general Broadway cume fell $4.a million to $14.3 million for that 21 shows about the boards, with attendance sinking to 165,000 at 71.7%. Still, that marked a noticable difference within the week ending Sept. 12, 2010, when 23 shows drawn $13.4 million. Average compensated attendance fell from $91.63 to $86.92.The 19 musicals made $13,263,444 for 93.7% from the Broadway total, with attendance of 545,122 at 69.7% capacity and average compensated admission of $86.06.The 2 plays made $1,041,765 for six.3% from the Broadway total, with attendance of 10,448 at 78.8% capacity and average compensated admission of $99.71. Contact Gordon Cox at gordon.cox@variety.com