At awards time, acclaim won't always fill seats

NEW YORK — The Tony Award nominations on May 5 generated mixed results in Broadway ticket sales: Most of the honored musicals and plays did normal business for the week — sluggish, compared with many nominees in years past — while several producers said their advance ticket sales were unusually strong.

Among the four nominees for best musical, a category for which nominations often generate a quick bounce at the box office, only "Next to Normal" had a double-digit increase in grosses — 24 percent. That gain looks considerable partly because the grosses for "Normal," which opened on April 15, had been relatively low.

David Stone, the lead producer of "Normal," said that daily ticket sales increased by 51 percent last week and that advance sales rose by 33 percent, compared with sales in the previous week.

"Normal," for a musical, is a modest production — six cast members, a basic set, one of Broadway's smallest theaters — so its operating costs are relatively low; as a result, Stone said he was "very pleased" with the 24 percent jump.

"However, we know that if we are to have any substantial run, this is really just a good start," he added. "Normal" received 11 Tony nominations; the awards ceremony is on June 7.

"Billy Elliot: The Musical," which received 15 nominations — a tie for the most ever — and is also in the running for best musical, had a 4 percent increase in grosses last week. "That percentage is a little misleading because we don't have an awful lot more tickets to sell on a weekly basis," said Eric Fellner, a lead producer for "Billy."

A senior person on the business side of "Billy," who was not authorized to speak publicly about advance sales, said the show had sold $2.5 million in total tickets since the nominations. Fellner would not confirm the number of advance ticket sales but called it "fantastic." Of the two other nominees for best musical, "Shrek the Musical" had a 6 percent gain in gross sales last week, and "Rock of Ages" decreased by about 5 percent. By comparison, three of the four nominees for best musical in 2008 — "In the Heights," "Passing Strange" and "Cry-Baby" — had double-digit jumps in this same period last year, while the fourth nominee, "Xanadu," had a 5 percent increase.

Overall, Broadway shows grossed $18.5 million last week, an increase of about 2 percent from the previous week.