The Ticket Gurus

It has been announced that Beyoncè will perform for a fourth night at Revel Resorts in Atlantic City, NJ. Beyoncé, recently named "The Most Beautiful Woman" in People Magazine, was originally scheduled to play only three concerts exclusively for the casino on Memorial Day weekend: Friday, May 25; Saturday, May 26; and Sunday, May 27. However, her concerts on those nights sold out less than sixty seconds after going on sale, according to The Washington Post. As a result, an additional performance has been added for Monday, May 28.

This is the first time Beyoncé has performed since the birth of her daughter, Blue Ivy Carter, as well as the first performance in Atlantic City since her concert in 2007 at the Taj, according to pressofAtlanticCity.com. The website further explained that since the release of her album "4" in June 2011, Beyoncé has only performed four concerts in North America at the 3,200-capacity Roseland Ballroom in New York City.

"I remember thinking she was a machine… I've seen a lot of people in concert, but just her ability to perform the way she did. She always gave her all, but her all is light years ahead of everyone else," said Kim Osorio, the editor-in-chief of The Source, a hip-hop music magazine, told pressofAtlanticCity.com, "It's like a big production… She's definitely like a superwoman on stage."

Beyoncé's performances will not only be celebrating Memorial Day weekend, but also the grand opening of the recently built hotel and casino, Revel. As a "preview," the casino has been open since April 2, according to The Washington Post. However, it plans to open officially during that weekend.

According to PR Newswire, Scèno Plus, veterans of Cirque du Soleil, designed the Ovation Hall, which was designed to hold 5,050 fans and is where Beyoncé's concerts will be held.
It spans 6.3 million square feet and stands 47 stories tall.

In a press release from Revel, it describes the facility as "smoke-free and features 1,800 rooms with an ocean view, two performance spaces, more than a dozen restaurants, two night clubs, a day club, spa, beach club, retail shop, and casino." The Revel casino is expected to revive the commerce in Atlantic City, according to Newsday.

"I think Beyoncé in and of herself is a huge draw. I think that's going to get a lot of buzz," Jeffrey Vasser, executive director of the Atlantic City Convention and Visitors Authority told pressofAtlanticCity.com. "The other acts… reflect the fact that we (Atlantic City) always offer something for everybody."

While tickets for the first three performances of Beyoncé's tour sold out in under sixty seconds, there are still currently tickets available for her Monday, May 28 performance, according to the official Revel website.

Cashing in on Coachella 2012's rampant success, advanced sale tickets for the music and arts festival's 2013 installment were made available a mere month after the California festivities concluded.

"We are excited to announce Coachella 2013 will again be held over two consecutive weekends," boasts the official website of the high profile Coachella Valley festival. The addition of two weekends was new for the festival last year, and something that Coachella producer Goldenvoice chose to continue in 2013 to meet the high demand for tickets. Advanced passes went on sale Thursday, May 17 at 10a.m. PDT, and will be available through the following Thursday, May 24 10p.m. PDT, or until sold out. "Then general sale will happen early next year," the site optimistically notes, so those who missed the first round shouldn't fret.

Five hours after the Coachella 2013 presale began, general weekend passes were all sold and the advanced tickets were reduced to shuttle passes and VIP camping packages. Amazingly, compared to 2012's statistics, this was relatively slow moving. "We all knew it was going to be crazy, but this is just outrageous," wrote a music reporter for CraveOnline.com about the 2012 ticket sales. "Weekend 1 was gone in 40 minutes, while Weekend 2 only took two hours to sell out."

There are several prominent new elements presented in this year's advanced sale. Foremost, the option of a payment plan. A minimum of 20 percent down payment is required, and then 7 monthly payments will be automatically deducted from the purchaser. Additionally, presale tickets are limited to 2 per customer for the first time, which means patrons — or Coachellians, as bloggers refer to the die-hard fans — will need to coordinate their larger road trips accordingly. The final ticket price is also all-inclusive, so there are no additional fees tacked onto the presale, which makes the slightly increased face value price apparent.

With precisely zero confirmed acts for 2013, fans are scrambling to purchase tickets, yet taking a distinct gamble. What's to come is perhaps best surmised by replaying this past festival's highlight reel.

Each of the six festivals days corralled around 75,000 people, and both weekends hosted the same line-up of over one hundred musical acts. Friday included the Black Keys, Pulp, Swedish House Mafia, Afrojack, and Arctic Monkeys. Saturday saw Radiohead (who are known for their epic performances, and reportedly delivered!), the Shins, Bon Iver, AWOLNATION, and Feist. Sunday drew considerable buzz, with Dr. Dre & Snoop Dogg headlining, and performances by Florence and the Machine, Avicii, At The Drive-In, the Hives, Beats Antique, and Santigold.

The most attention-demanding press was about Dr. Dre and Snoop Dogg's innovative performance with the deceased rap artist, Tupac Shakur. Combining Dr. Dre's vision, permission from the late rapper's mother, and efforts of Digital Domain and AV Concepts they captivated audiences by interacting with the illusion of a full color, moving, "hologram" Tupac. Joining in on his songs "2 of Amerikaz Most Wanted" and "Hail Mary" — which was released after the icon's death, and never performed 'live' — the show was eerie, captivating, and left the audience ardently guessing its implications on the future of the live entertainment industry.

When seeking reprieve from the music, fans could wander among towering art installations, patrons in flamboyant costumes, and multitudes of tents featuring different themed parties, enjoy worldly foods and drinks, or hunker down with scenic mountain backdrop and people watch — from A-list celebrities to unitard-wearing free spirits. All considered, what drives the demand for Coachella, and why it's regarded as one of the most triumphant festivals, is understandable — the experience is inimitable.

There's one more hurdle left to clear for the Minnesota Vikings as they attempt to secure a new stadium in the Twin Cities.

Under the terms of the law Minnesota Governor Mark Dayton signed off on Monday, May 14, Minnesota and the city of Minneapolis would basically split the cost of a new stadium that is scheduled to be built at the Metrodome site, the Vikings' home since 1982. According to The Associated Press, the stadium would cost $975 million to build, of which the city and state would contribute $498 million while the Vikings would pony up $477 million. The new stadium would be built in time for the 2016 season.

However, the deal must still be approved by the Minneapolis City Council when it meets Friday, May 25. The City Council voted to support the stadium plan in April, but by a mere 7-6 vote.

The possibility of someone switching his or her vote from yes to no may have increased once the details of the governor's proposed bill were revealed. The Associated Press reported the Vikings would be able to keep "any financial information" about the team from the public. Such a provision would be notable even in Minnesota, which The Associated Press reports allows state-funded businesses to keep from the public items such as business plans, tax returns, additional financial data, and trade secrets.

The law signed by Dalton has already been criticized by some Minnesota politicians.

"We now have the largest public commitment in the state's history in an agreement with the Vikings, and we have an unprecedented lack of disclosure," Rep. Mary Liz Holberg told The Associated Press. "I just think that sunshine in government is good, and in exchange for nearly half a billion dollars in public commitment, there should be some sunshine on the other side of the ledger."

Proposed stadium deals for the Vikings have fallen apart at the finish line before. Last May, the Vikings and Ramsey County agreed to build a new stadium at Arden Hills, which is where ammunition was stored during World War II, but Ramsey County could not secure the necessary public funding on a facility that would have cost more than $1 billion by completion. Ramsey County and Minnesota would have combined to contribute about $700 million while the Vikings would have contributed about $425 million.

Without a new stadium, the Vikings — who have been in Minnesota since they were founded as an expansion team in 1960 — could move to Los Angeles, which has been without an NFL team since 1995.

The Vikings' search for a Metrodome replacement has spanned parts of three decades and two ownership groups. Former owner Red McCombs, who held the team from 1998 through 2005, spent most of his time with the team trying to land a new stadium before selling the team to current owner Zygi Wilf, a New York-based businessman.

Wilf signed Brett Favre — the longtime quarterback of the Vikings' main rivals, the "Green Bay Packers — in 2009 in hopes of making a Super Bowl run that would jumpstart new stadium negotiations, but Favre's ill-timed interception in the waning seconds of the NFC Championship Game cost the Vikings a chance at their first Super Bowl appearance since 1976.

The Vikings went just 6-10 in 2010, when Favre suffered a spate of injuries and the Vikings were forced to move their final two home games to Detroit and to the University of Minnesota, respectively, after the Metrodome's roof collapsed during a blizzard. Last year was even rougher for the Vikings, who stumbled to a 3-13 record — the third-worst mark in the NFL.

Tickets to the upcoming summer tour from former American Idol champion Carrie Underwood are among the onsales for the weekend ending May 21, 2012 as compiled by TicketNews®.

Carrie Underwood, who saw her career skyrocket following her season four American Idol victory, has several upcoming concerts on her "Blown Away Tour" leading off this weekend's onsales. Underwood's most recent album, also named "Blown Away," debuted at number one on the Billboard Hot 200. Concert dates in Dallas, TX; Long Island, NY; Newark, NJ; St. Louis, MO; Minneapolis, MN; San Diego, CA; and Seattle, WA are on sale throughout the weekend.

Monday, May 21, 2012, has tickets for three upcoming concerts from music legend Barbara Streisand. Streisand will be playing new songs from her 2012 Grammy nominated album, "What Matters Most," as well as her classic hits during her three concert series at Brooklyn, NY's Barclay's Center.

Country singer Jason Aldean has upcoming dates on his "My Kinda Party" tour. Named after his award winning album with the same name, Aldean will be joined on his tour by Luke Bryan and American Idol's 2011 runner-up Lauren Alaina. Dates on sale this weekend include shows in Tampa, FL; Jacksonville, FL; San Antonio, TX; and Holmdel, NJ.

Continuing with the country onsales, tickets to three upcoming concerts from Toby Keith and Brantley Gilbert are on sale this weekend. The concerts will be held in Virginia Beach, VA; Chicago, IL; and Cuyahoga Falls, OH. Also among the onsales for this weekend are tickets to Brad Paisley, Scotty McCreery, and the Band Perry's upcoming concert in Hollywood, CA.

Finally, tickets go on sale this weekend for several upcoming summer radio station concerts. The 103.7 Summerfest featuring Huey Lewis and Joe Cocker, has tickets on sale Friday, May 18, 2012, and will be held in Concord, CA. Hot 92.3's Solar Galaxy Of The Stars also goes on sale Friday, and will be held in Los Angeles, CA. The concert will feature performances from Morris Day, Midnight Starr, and Dazz Band.

"Onsales" is a ticketing industry term describing when tickets initially go on sale to the general public. Each week, tickets are released by promoters, venues and others to dozens of events, but the number of tickets available can vary significantly between locations.

The Charlie Chaplin musical "Chaplin" is slated to make its Broadway debut on September 10 at the Barrymore Theatre, but critics fear that a lack of well-known actors may hurt the production when it comes to drawing large audiences.

The production ran in 2010 at San Diego's La Jolla Playhouse under the name "Limelight: The Story of Charlie Chaplin" and received mixed reviews; however, the show earned the San Diego Theatre Critics Circle's Craig Noel Award for Best Musical, according to Entertainment Weekly. The musical, which chronicles the story of silent film icon Charlie Chaplin as he moved from London to become a Hollywood film star, will begin previews on August 21 according to The New York Times.

While most are reporting that casting has not yet been announced, according to Forbes, the main roles of Chaplin and his wife Oona O'Neill have been offered to Rob McClure and Ashley Brown, the actors who originally played the parts during the show's run at the La Jolla Playhouse. While the names are mostly unknown in the Broadway world, McClure acted in "Avenue Q" and Brown did in fact play the original "Mary Poppins."

Although a lack of star power may be viewed as a weakness, a story on the Forbes website pointed out that shows such as "Once," "Newsies," and "Jesus Christ Superstar" have no big names among their cast but are nominated for several Tony Awards this year.

"When it comes to the more successful musicals during the past two seasons the more profitable ones have been shows without big name stars," said J. William Bruce, a sales rep at Applause-Tickets.com in a recent email to TicketNews. "Shows like last year's big Tony winner 'The Book of Mormon,' which doesn't have any stars at all and is the most popular show in the past eight years. Now do I think that the producers of 'Chaplin' will try to attract a big name? My guess is yes. Any producer that is trying to mount a new production in this economy will always look for a way to sell tickets."

According to reports by Entertainment Weekly, Warren Carlyle of Finian's Rainbow will continue to direct "Chaplin" with music and lyrics by Christopher Curtis in his Broadway debut.

In a September 2010 review of "Limelight," Charles McNulty of The Los Angeles Times, said that the musical "doesn't rise to the challenge with anything resembling bold invention," but according to recent reports by The LA Times producers for the show said that the musical has been restructured since its run at La Jolla.

Thrillcall, offering listings of live events and select daily deals on local entertainment, has just announced a new agreement with tech company ThingLink to offer rich media tags to Thrillcall's clients.

Event promoters, artists, and venues can now embed Thrillcall's rich media tags into their web images to make ticket purchases easier for fans.

In a press release announcing the new partnership and website feature, Thrillcall co-founder Matthew Tomaszewicz explained, "It's now a lot easier to find out about shows, but getting people in the door is still a challenge."

"We are trying to solve this by using our technology to create new ways for venues, artists and event promoters to get more people to the show and build a closer connection to music fans."

Clients can embed the tags on their own images on Facebook or elsewhere on the web. Scrolling over a tagged image brings up a new image which includes information about the artist's next three performance dates, as well as a link back to the artist's page on Thrillcall. Once there, a user can easily purchase tickets for that artist's upcoming shows. Subsequently, fans can share these images on their own social media sites to share news of upcoming events with online friends.

In a recent conversation with TicketNews, Tomaszewicz discussed the specific benefits this new feature brings to promoters as well as ticket purchasers:

"Event promoters can now drive ticket sales by adding the Thrillcall rich media tag to images on Facebook and across the web….Consumers are now enabled to get access to live shows through interactive images that can also be shared with friends."

Tagged images are the best choice for online marketing, says Tomaszewicz, because they increase ease of use and efficiency of the purchasing system.

"Images are one of the most effective ways for promoters, labels, and artists to fill venues. With a Thrillcall tag embedded in images, ticket sales can happen anywhere consumers are already engaged with artists through video, audio, and social elements."

And because, according to Tomaszewicz, "the web — via social networks and mobile — is becoming more and more image oriented." In essence, images are the natural language of the global entity that is the internet.

Founded in 2008 by Tomaszewicz, Jonathon Leone, and Chad Taylor, Thrillcall is described on its website as a "live event discovery service". Via its recently launched app, the company also provides users with daily local entertainment deals, à la Groupon. The app currently provides its "live music last minute limited offers," as they are described on the company website, to two geographic regions, San Francisco and Los Angeles, with New York City expected in mid-June and Austin, TX, on the horizon.

Also launched in 2008, ThingLink is a Finnish–American company that provides interactive image technology to web clients, allowing them to share additional content when a user hovers over the images. Last year, the company made a similar agreement with do-it-yourself ticketer Eventbrite regarding use of its rich media tags.

According to a February article on GigaOM.com, the company only recently added Facebook image embeds to its repertoire, in part to gain access to a broader audience of potential clients. And with roughly 800 million Facebook subscribers, this sounds like a good gamble.

For his part, Tomaszewicz sees the new relationship and new media tag feature as having potentially great impact upon the ticketing industry, and the live entertainment industry as a whole: "With this partnership, Thrillcall and ThingLink are setting a new standard for concert awareness and the consumer experience. The growing convergence of music and tech is enabling many companies to innovate together, bringing benefits to not only music fans, but to the artists, promoters and record labels."

California Assemblymember V. Manuel Pérez is facing a public relations pickle following revelations that he resold 25 wristbands for the always popular Coachella Music Festival.

While Coachella's organizational parent company Goldenvoice outlines on the Coachella website that the festival does not "tolerate scalping of any kind at all," those same rules apparently do not apply to local California politicians. Pérez's campaign spokesman Josh Pulliam told The Desert Sun newspaper that Goldenvoice "specifically approved the campaign purchasing tickets for a campaign fundraiser."

Pérez is a two-term Democratic member of the California State Assembly representing a district that includes the city of Coachella. Pérez is currently running for reelection against Republican challenger Corky Reynaga- Emett. Reports have Pérez with a large lead over Reynaga- Emett in terms of campaign funds raised, with Reynaga- Emett raising roughly $7,000 and Pérez having raised upwards of $156,000 prior to the wristband campaign fundraiser.

The 25 wristbands, which sold for $2,500.00 for a single wristband and $3,900.00 for a pair, were for the second weekend of Coachella from April 20, 2012 through April 22, 2012. A regular priced wristband for a single weekend cost $285.00 plus additional service fees. Included in the price of Pérez's wristbands was food, transportation, and hospitality. Lodging for the weekend was not part of the price.

While Pérez's resale of tickets to such a popular event may have created a media stir, it is hardly illegal under California law. In California, it is only illegal to resell tickets at a price above face value if the sale takes place "while on the grounds of or in the stadium, arena, theater, or other place where an event for which admission tickets are sold is to be held or is being held," and the ticket is sold without the written consent of the property owner. In this instance, Pérez's actions were not governed by the California ticket resale law and were thus perfectly legal.

The resale of tickets to high profile concerts and sporting events by politicians is hardly new, particularly in California politics. According to The Desert Sun, California Rep. Mary Bono Mack is on record as having sold $1,000.00 tickets to an NCAA Men's Basketball game in 2011. But the major difference between Mack and Pérez's actions, The Desert Sun points out, is that tickets to NCAA Basketball games are routinely available for resale via secondary ticketing websites, while tickets to Coachella are, according to the event's organizers, not meant to be resold via the secondary market.

Rather than politicians using the sale of event tickets as a fundraising enterprise, what tends to cause the most public backlash is the acceptance of complementary tickets to high profile events. The topic of politicians receiving complementary tickets has, in the past, lead to state action, with Louisiana even going so far as to pass a piece of legislation in 2008 barring politicians from accepting free tickets to certain events. Similarly, in 2008 a Texas Representative was found in violation of Texas state law when he accepted complementary tickets to the 2004 Super Bowl.

According to The Desert Sun, Pérez received six complementary tickets to the first weekend of the 2012 Coachella Music Festival. However, those wristbands were not among those sold during the fundraiser, and California law allows for such transactions to occur.

While Pérez's actions were not illegal in the state of California, it remains to be seen if this situation will have any sort of impact on Pérez's chances in the November elections.

While the Western Conference Finals pits a pair of warm weather foes (the Los Angeles Kings and Phoenix Coyotes) who have combined for one trip to the Stanley Cup and are likely unfamiliar to casual hockey fans, the Eastern Conference Finals features an East Coast rivalry that is almost sure to be fondly recalled by even people who normally don't pay attention to hockey.

The top-seeded New York Rangers and sixth-seeded New Jersey Devils, whose home arenas are separated by just nine miles and the Hudson River, are playing each other in the conference finals for the first time since their epic 1994 series, which the Rangers won in seven games. The Rangers won Game One of this seven-game series, 3-0, Monday, May 14 at Madison Square Garden. Game Two is scheduled for tonight, May 16, before the series shifts to New Jersey's Prudential Center for Games Three and Four Saturday, May 19 and Monday, May 21.

Jason Berger of Connecticut's AllShows.com told TicketNews today demand for Rangers' playoff tickets at MSG was high to begin the playoffs and has only increased as the Rangers survived seven-game duels with the Ottawa Senators and Philadelphia Flyers.

"The Rangers being in first place this year, people have high hopes for the Rangers, and as we've gotten closer to the Stanley Cup, every series seems to be more and more popular and we're getting more and more activity," Berger said.

Berger also said the scheduling of the series, as well as the prestige of MSG — and the relative anonymity of the Prudential Center, which is less than five years old — has made tickets to Rangers games far more popular than tickets to the Devils' home games, at least among the corporate clientele that drives the resale market. A search of StubHub this afternoon revealed 872 tickets available, beginning at $190, for Game Two tonight and 2,369 tickets available, beginning at $140, for Game Three.

"We're seeing a lot more corporate spending at MSG and a lot more consumer spending at Prudential Center, which would tie into the fact that the games in New Jersey are on Saturday and Monday, which generally are not a big corporate entertaining night," Berger said. "Tuesday through Thursday are usually popular for that."

The 2012 edition of Rangers-Devils has quite a high bar to clear to match the drama of 1994. The Rangers, who hadn't won the Stanley Cup since 1940, trailed three games to two back in '94 but won Game Six when captain Mark Messier — who had, a la Joe Namath, guaranteed a victory prior to the game — scored a natural hat trick (three goals in a row) in the third period to single-handedly mount a Rangers comeback and won Game Seven in double overtime on Stephane Matteau's goal, which inspired Rangers radio broadcaster Howie Rose's euphoric and oft-quoted "MATTEAU! MATTEAU! MATTEAU!" The Rangers then, of course, finally won the Stanley Cup by edging the Vancouver Canucks in seven games.

The Rangers haven't won it all since then while the Devils have won the Stanley Cup three times since 1995 — the second-most in the NHL in that span behind only the Detroit Red Wings — and could stake a claim as the best team of this generation with a fourth crown. So ticket brokers could benefit if this series extends to a sixth and/or seventh game and further reminds fans of 1994.

"I can tell you there are a lot of people waiting for Games Five, Six and Seven," Berger said. "The first two games at MSG weren't as popular as games five and seven [the last two Rangers' home games] of the last round."

The world of mixed martial arts is invading Canada on Saturday, July 21 as the Ultimate Fighting Championship debuts in Calgary at Scotiabank Saddledome. UFC 149 showdown is billed as one of the most anticipated sports tickets sales in UFC history and was expected to be a sellout event long before tickets went on sale. Previous UFC events in Canada have drawn an overwhelming interest from fans.

According to the Montreal Gazette UFC director of Canadian operations Tom Wright said "I think it's going to be a great event. One of the great things about coming to a city like Calgary for the first time, is a lot of people will have the chance to experience this for the first time. " Wright also noted that the unique shape of the Saddledome has created a very interesting seating situation as the "saddle shape" of the venue cut seating capacity from 20,000 to an estimated 19,000 seats.

UFC 149 tickets were released for purchase Thursday, May 10 for members of UFC Fight Club, at UFCFightClub.com. Then, on Friday morning UFC newsletter subscribers ordered tickets through Internet pre-sales at UFC.com. Saturday morning tickets were released to the public and sold out in minutes.

UFC has a great fan base in Canada — UFC 83 debuted in Montreal 2008 and UFC 115 opened in Vancouver 2010 the venues sold out in one minute as tickets were released to the general public, according to the Montreal Gazette. Last year UFC 129 was headlined by St. Pierre v. Shields in Toronto and sold 42,000 tickets on opening day and set a Rogers Centre attendance record of 55,724.

The excitement of UFC events has been building over the past decade with loyal fan support. UFC has grown into a worldwide brand as UFC Hall of Famers Ken Shamrock, Royce Gracie, and Randy Couture have passed the UFC flagship to Georges St. Pierre and Anderson Silva. In August 2011 Owner Dana White brought UFC to the next level striking a $100 million broadcasting deal with FOX Network. UFC events are now aired to over 100 million homes every Friday night through the FOX Network via FX, the new home of UFC.

UFC's interactive nature with fans provides a following next to none in modern day sports. According to Sports Illustrated, last year White scored a social media coup by airing the UFC's preliminary pay-per-view fights for free on Facebook.

UFC 149 event from Calgary will feature reigning world champion Jose Aldo taking on No. 1 contender Erik Koch. Another highlighted match is the light heavyweight bout between Mauricio "Shogun" Rua and Thiago Silva. In all there are nine matchups set for UFC 149, along with two weeks' worth of pre-fight events for Calgary's UFC fans to enjoy. For the fight card and the full list of events visit the official UFC 149 site.

Calgary Herald reports that tickets for UFC 149 sold at a rapid pace — within the first hour of the Thursday pre-sale UFC Fight Club members were unable to purchase two or more seats together, as only scattered single tickets were left. UFC 149 tickets were on sale Saturday for $85, $125, $200, $275, $400 and $650 via Ticketmaster.

In an effort to limit the amount of tickets scalpers and resellers could purchase UFC limited buyers to just four tickets. A search on StubHub.com today, May 16, came back with only 786 results of the estimated 19,000 tickets. Ticket prices range from $19,998 for the first row floor seats to $175 for press-level.

UFC has already scheduled two more events in Canada later this year — UFC 152 on September 22 in Toronto, and UFC 154 on November 17 in Montreal.

The Mother's Day weekend seemed to have little effect on Broadway's gross ticket sales for the week ending May 13, with an increase of just $28,000 over the previous week.

According to figures posted by The Broadway League, ticket sales for the Great White Way's 38 productions totaled $25.2 million with an increase among 15 shows. With a decrease among 24 productions, the holiday weekend did not boost ticket sales as much as producers had hoped and with few upcoming openings on the calendar, overall sales are likely to stay consistent.

"Peter and the Starcatcher" ($370,039) was the week's big winner in terms of increased ticket sales taking in 29.2 percent over the previous week. "A Streetcar Named Desire" also had a successful week with sales of $446,069, up 24.2 percent and "How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying" ($439,851) also made gains with sales up 19.7 percent.

Amanda Pekoe, president of theatrical marketing and advertising company The Pekoe Group, spoke via email to TicketNews about the week's Broadway ticket sales. Pekoe pointed out that with Tony Award nominations announced, productions that received a lot of nominations, like "Peter and the Starcatcher," will likely see an increase in attendance and ticket sales. Also, " 'How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying' is closing on May 20, so there is some urgency to see it before it's gone," added Pekoe.

While overall ticket sales did increase through the week ending May 13, more Broadway productions experienced a decrease rather than increase. "Mary Poppins" ($529,251) had the greatest decline in sales, down 28 percent with a loss of $139,939, based on figures posted by Playbill.com. "Mamma Mia" ($662,496) also took a hit with sales down 17.4 percent and Broadway fixture "The Phantom of the Opera" ($800,916) saw a decline of 10.4 percent.

"These are shows that have been around for some time and are crowd pleasers," said Pekoe to TicketNews. "They are not going to close anytime soon, so ticket buyers are likely looking to buy tickets to newly nominated shows and productions that have a limited engagement."

"Nice Work If You Can Get It," which had the greatest increase in sales through May 6, managed to keep earnings above $1 million and made significant gains through May 13 taking in nearly $71,000 over the previous week, up 6.9 percent based on Playbill.com figures. "Gore Vidal's The Best Man" had the greatest loss ($210,857) through the week ending May 6, but managed to turn it around this week with gross sales totaling $737,996, an increase of 8.2 percent.

Several shows are likely to experience lower attendance until after the buzz around Tony Award nominations dies down, but until this happens, there is at least one Broadway show that is ramping up marketing efforts in order to draw audiences. According to Playbill.com, "Godspell" recently announced a "pay-your-age night" to take place on Thursday, May 17, which according to producer Ken Davenport, will hopefully help to attract a younger demographic and help give theatergoers what they want — more affordable tickets.

"I think the 'pay-your-age night' is a really creative way of reaching a younger audience, and letting them know that the production is fun and has a youthful energy," said Pekoe. "With Tony Awards approaching, shows are looking to stand out from the competition and implement new ways of attracting audiences."

Ticketmaster is also following suit with the announcement of Broadway's BIG Deals. According to a press release posted by TicketNews, Ticketmaster, a Live Nation Entertainment company, will offer discounted tickets to nearly 50 events across the country including several Tony Award nominees.

All data provided by The Broadway League.