Broadway fends off chill

Nick Jonas, center, assumed charge role in "How to achieve Business Without Really Trying" a week ago. Broadway's overall cume may take an autumn a week ago, but things were not so harmful to the person shows around the boards. Although total Rialto receipts fell by about $two million, lots of that may be paid for for by the lack of two implies that closed throughout the last frame, "Follies" and "The Mountaintop." The only real really large slide each week was taken by "How to achieve Business Without Really Trying" (defeating nearly 50% to $682,879), but even that were expected, since a week ago was the first one to see topliner Nick Jonas walk into the role that Darren Criss ("Glee") performed for 3 B.O.-busting days. Whereas the brevity of Criss' stint prodded fans to purchase now, Jonas' six-month run does not provide the same emergency, especially in the finish of what's typically a difficult month for that Rialto. Generally, the majority of the shows around the Primary Stem were built with a relatively steady week. Most productions, actually, upticked, and also the other declines were not terribly dramatic. "It of Mormon" ($1,445,407) for example, rose a little to interrupt another house record in the Eugene O'Neill Theater. Show handled to climb towards the second rung on top 10 -- an indication that although demand at other, older hits may sag a little this month, last season's "Mormon" is constantly on the ride its wave of must-see hype. Arriving directly behind "Wicked" ($1,503,461), "Mormon" outpaced both "Spider-Guy: Switch Off the Dark" ($1,417,922) and "The Lion King" ($1,382,353). Among the greatest bumps was seen at "Porgy and Bess" ($921,404), ongoing to appear strong despite winter season sales challenges and reviews which were all around the map. Actually, nearly all shows around the Rialto published gains, although most were fairly modest. The heftiest rise from the sesh was at "Chinglish" ($366,258), climbing a lot more than $100,000 because of last-minute biz just before its Jan. 29 closing. Also exiting a week ago were "On the Obvious Day You Can Observe Forever" ($614,214) and "Relatively Speaking" ($338,355). With three showcases the table, Broadway's overall cume might slide downward again now. Still, by having an attendance of 205,816 at 26 shows, a week ago was much more participating in the Rialto compared to same frame this year, which introduced within 150,000 theatergoers to some smallish slate of 19 productions. Contact Gordon Cox at gordon.cox@variety.com