Broadway Attendance Fell Six Percent This Season Attendance at Broadway shows shrank by 6.2 percent during the 2012-13 theater season to its lowest level in eight years, with theater producers blaming Hurricane Sandy as well as a weak lineup of musicals and plays during the fall and winter. Approximately 11.57 million people attended Broadway productions during the season, compared to 12.33 million in the previous one, according to statistics released on Tuesday by the Broadway League, the trade association of theater owners and producers. The last time that attendance numbers were so low was the 2004-5 season, which drew 11.53 million people. Broadway box office grosses were virtually unchanged, meanwhile; shows this season grossed a total of $1.139 billion, a fraction less than the year before, according to the Broadway League data. During Hurricane Sandy and its aftermath last October and early November, most Broadway shows canceled several days of performances, and attendance was sluggish for weeks afterwards at all but the most popular musicals. At other points in the season, musicals like "Chaplin," "Scandalous," "Priscilla Queen of the Desert," "Sister Act," "Godspell," "Jesus Christ Superstar," and "Jekyll & Hyde" closed earlier than producers had hoped; another show, "Evita," ended its run this winter when the producers chose not to recast the lead roles. The executive director of the Broadway League, Charlotte St. Martin, pointed to the hurricane's devastation and "early closings of some of our open-ended runs" as the factors behind the lower attendance. Several Broadway producers concurred, though they put the emphasis on the spate of show closings and, as a result, the relatively sizable number of empty theaters at times during the 2012-13 season. The high cost of ticket prices also may have hurt attendance: Many musicals and some plays now sell their best seats at premium ticket levels of between $200 and $300, with relatively inexpensive seats limited to the worst locations in the theaters. Last week on Broadway, musicals and plays grossed a total of $25.5 million, compared to $24.7 million the previous week and $26.6 million for the same week during the 2011-12 season. The top-grossing shows last week on Broadway were "The Lion King," "Wicked," "The Book of Mormon," "Lucky Guy" and "Motown: the Musical."