*Despite an overall sluggish sales week on Broadway, “Fences” managed to break the house record at the Cort, and producers have announced that the revival starring Tony nominees Denzel Washington and Viola Davis will recoup its costs by of the end of this week.
The August Wilson play will make back its $2.8 million capitalization in eight weeks of performances, according to producers.
The quick trip into the black won’t come as a surprise for anyone: The show has been powering along week after week, thanks to crowd-magnet topliner Washington, according to Variety.
The Kenny Leon-directed production heads into Sunday’s Tony Awards with 10 nominations, a record for a play revival.
Last week the production’s house-record-breaking gross ($1,024,317) beat “Billy Elliot” ($1,015,157) to land at number five on the top 10.
“Fences” provided one of the few bright spots on the charts last week, in a frame that saw most productions post losses — some of them big ones — after the steady Memorial Day weekend sales of the prior session.
“American Idiot” ($612,380), for instance, slid a whopping $225,000 (or 27%). Also down were fellow Tony nominees “Memphis” ($539,905), “Million Dollar Quartet” ($417,304), each off by 20%, and “Fela!” (down 16% to $507,018).
Total box office slid $1.6 million to $20.7 million for 34 shows on the boards, and attendance (243,014) dropped by nearly 20,000.
