The producers of The Book Of Mormon opened the Tony winning hit Thursday night at London’s Prince of Wales Theatre. They will announce that the show set a record for the biggest single day of sales in West End and Broadway HISTORY on the day following. Yesterday, between 10:00 AM and Midnight (YES, 14 HOURS), the box office did £2,107,972, or $3,210,019 in advance ticket sales.
Cameron Mackintosh, who owns the theater and has had his share of big stage hits said: “After a phenomenal opening night I am delighted to see a phenomenal record-breaking post opening box office of over £2m. The Mormons have truly delivered a Heavenly hit!”
What first looked to be the battle of the Titans, with rival Harvey Weinstein’s UK theatrical attempt, Finding Neverland, debuting outside London before hoping to make it to The West End, turned out to be a battle of David vs Goliath. Scott Rudin’s West End debut has grossed more in 14 hours than Weinstein’s ill fated show took in for its ENTIRE run! (Finding Neverland got lost and never did make it to the West End)
The Book Of Mormon, with book, music and lyrics by Trey Parker, Robert Lopez and Matt Stone, continues to break records on Broadway at the Eugene O’Neill Theatre. In addition to breaking records in London, the National Tour has continually broken house records across the country, and the Chicago production holds the house record at the Bank of America Theatre.
The musical won NINE Tony Awards and a Grammy.
UPDATE: RUDIN STARTS PREVIEWS OF A NEW ONE WOMAN SHOW – THE TESTAMENT OF MARY – STARTS THIS WEEK ON BROADWAY – STARRING THE LEGENDARY FIONA SHAW AND DIRECTED BY THE EQUALLY INCOMPARABLE DEBORAH WARNER
