Winter lull for Broadway

'The Route to Mecca'Broadway experienced its worst week because the first week of 2012, with overall Rialto box office collapsing a lot more than $3.4 million and attendance lower by nearly 25,000, despite adding two new previewing productions.Unhealthy B.O. mojo was spread pretty evenly one of the 27 shows around the boards, with only hit "It of Mormon" ($1,493,754 -Up 2% and setting another house record in the Eugene O'Neill) and merely-shuttered "The direction to Mecca" ($250,244 -- a 14% uptick in the final week) growing their haul over a week ago. One of the toughest hit were the lately recast revival of "How to achieve Business Without Really Trying" ($530,319), and tourist magnets "The Phantom from the Opera" ($621,644) and "Mary Poppins" ($627,330), which were lower a lot more than 30% against a week ago. One-guy show "Shatner's World: We Simply Reside In It" did not inspire the ultimate week hurry that rose to satisfy "The direction to Mecca," because the famous actor and Priceline spokesmodel ended his three-week Broadway run having a $295,534 take (although for just six performances), lower 6%, though which was still enough to conquer out "Godspell" ($279,527, lower 22%). If there's a silver lining for legiters within this week's amounts, it is incorporated in the performance from the previewing productions. The Philip Seymour Hoffman-toplined revival of Arthur Miller's "Dying of the Salesperson" ($661,262 in seven perfs) cracked the very best 10 list in front of its March 15 opening and experienced minimal decline in comparison to a week ago, lower only 4%. Tuners "Once" ($525,050) and "Jesus Celebrity" ($370,699 for four perfs) also opened up strong, playing to almost full houses. Overall Broadway cume was $16,890,525, a rise of just about $two million against the same time frame this past year, when 26 shows were running. Attendance was at 192,998, or 75.7% capacity. Contact the range newsroom at news@variety.com