(New York, May 31, 2006) The League of American Theatres and Producers, Inc. has released its end of year statistics for the 2005-2006 Broadway season, which began May 30, 2005, and ended May 28, 2006. Thirty-nine plays and musicals opened during the 2005-06 season:

• For this 52-week period, paid attendance to Broadway was 12,003,148 million, up 4.1% from last season (11,527,349). This is the first time that Broadway attendance has crossed the 12 million mark.*

• The percentage of seats filled for the season was at an all-time high of 81.6%.

• The number of playing weeks** was the third highest on record. The 2005-06 season totaled 1501 playing weeks, up from 1494 in 2004-05.

• Grosses increased 12% from $768.5 million to $861.6 million – a new record.

A main contributor to these increases was strong attendance by tourists. Domestic tourists accounted for more than 5 million tickets and international visitors, more than 1.3 million (estimated).

“This season was marked by tremendous new musicals and plays, offering audiences a diversity of shows from which to choose,” commented Jed Bernstein, President of The League of American Theatres and Producers, Inc. “Although the strong business results continue to underline Broadway’s revenue stakes in New York, increasing cost pressures have resulted in no increase in the number of shows making a profit. Broadway is still a high risk investment.”

Note:

*The League has been collecting data since 1957.
**The sum total of all shows multiplied by the number of weeks each show played is considered to be one of the best indicators of activity in a given Broadway season.

Below is a complete list of the thirty-nine plays and musicals that opened during the 2005-06 season:

After the Night and the Music (P)                

A Naked Girl on the Appian Way (P)                                        

A Touch of the Poet (P)                                                              

Absurd Person Singular (P)                                                    

Awake and Sing! (P)                                                                     

Barefoot in the Park (P)                                                              

Bridge & Tunnel (S)                                                                     

The Blonde in the Thunderbird (P)                                          

The Caine Mutiny Court-Martial (P)                                         

Chita Rivera: The Dancer’s Life (M)                                       

The Color Purple (M)                                                   

The Constant Wife (P)                                                            

The Drowsy Chaperone (M)                                      

Faith Healer (P)                                                         

Festen (P)                                                                

The History Boys (P)                                             

Hot Feet (M)                                                                 

In My Life (M)                                                              

Jersey Boys (M)                                                          

Latinologues (P) 

Lennon (M)

Lestat (M) 

The Lieutenant of Inishmore (P) 

Mark Twain Tonight! (P) 

The Odd Couple (P)

The Pajama Game (M) 

Primo (P)

Rabbit Hole (P) 

Ring of Fire (M)

Seascape (P) 

Shining City (P) 

Souvenir (P)

Sweeney Todd (M)

Tarzan (M)

Three Days of Rain (P)

The Threepenny Opera (M) 

The Wedding Singer (M)

The Woman in White (M) 

Well (P)

M=Musical
P=Play
S=Special Theatrical Entertainment

List of Long Running Shows for 2005-2006 Season:

25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee
Avenue Q
Beauty and the Beast
Chicago
Dirty Rotten Scoundrels
Doubt
Hairspray
Mamma Mia!
Monty Python’s Spamalot
Rent
The Light in the Piazza
The Lion King
The Phantom of the Opera
The Producers
Wicked

About The League of American Theatres and Producers, Inc.

The League of American Theatres and Producers, Inc., founded in 1930 and operating under the trademark “Live Broadway,” is the national trade association for the Broadway industry. The League’s 500-plus members include theater owners and operators, producers, presenters, and general managers in over 140 North American cities, as well as suppliers of goods and services to the theater industry.

Broadway industry programs initiated by the League include Kids’ Night on Broadway, Broadway On Broadway, an annual outdoor concert in Times Square, The Broadway Line, a national toll-free Broadway information hotline (888-BROADWAY), Broadway Ticket Center, LiveBroadway.com, and IloveNYTheater.com, a multi-lingual Broadway website, and IBDB.com (Internet Broadway Database).

Each year, League members bring Broadway to nearly 25 million people in New York and on tour across the U.S. and Canada, contributing $4.8 billion to the New York economy and billions more to the national economy.