NEW YORK, Jan. 6 (UPI) -- Broadway started 2004 by posting the best first week of any year with $20.44 million in ticket sales, the Daily Variety reported Tuesday.
The first week record, however, fell short of the all-time high of $21.35 million produced during Christmas week 2002, when 33 shows were running on Broadway.
In other record-breaking news, six shows set house records: "Avenue Q" ($493,128) at the Golden, "Beauty and the Beast" ($986,950) at the Lunt-Fontanne, "The Boy From Oz" ($920,845) at the Imperial, "Mamma Mia!" ($1,102,780) at the Winter Garden, "Wicked" ($1,188,937) at the Gershwin and, of course, "The Producers" ($1,600,243) at the St. James.
Nathan Lane and Matthew Broderick returned to Mel Brooks' "The Producers" last week, which now holds the Broadway record for $1.6 million for eight performances.
After 2,378 performances, "Cabaret" ($536,433) finally called drew its final curtain, with the box office growing $91,502 in its final week.
