Photo

The new Broadway musical “A Gentleman’s Guide to Love and Murder” opened last week to some of the best reviews of the fall, but now comes the hard part: increasing its ticket sales.

“Gentleman’s Guide” lacks big-name stars and songwriters who can generate buzz, and it isn’t adapted from a popular film with a built-in fan base like many modern Broadway musicals. In its first set of performances since opening, “Gentleman’s Guide” grossed $414,591 last week — or 46 percent of the maximum possible gross, a relatively modest amount that will need to increase for the show to have a healthy run. Ticket sales were up about 50 percent over the previous week, but that is partly because many of those earlier tickets were provided complimentary or at a sharp discount to theater critics, journalists and others.

Some other new musicals have struggled to catch fire this fall. “Big Fish,” which was adapted from a movie and had been highly anticipated because of its star, the Tony Award winner Norbert Leo Butz, had its worst week of ticket sales since performances began, as the show slides from poor reviews in October to a closing date of Dec. 29. The show grossed $453,940 last week, or 33 percent of the maximum possible amount. Another soon-to-close new musical, “First Date,” played to half-empty houses and grossed only $279,966.

There was better news for “Beautiful,” a new Broadway show based on the life and career of the singer Carole King. The musical grossed $507,431 for its five preview performances last week, or 79 percent of the maximum possible. Another new musical, the Cotton Club-inspired “After Midnight,” has been steadily increasing its grosses since opening to strong reviews in early November; the show took in $662,568, or 67 percent of the maximum.

Among Broadway plays, the revival of “Romeo and Juliet” continued to fizzle in spite of having some star power from the movie actor Orlando Bloom as Romeo. The play, whose producers have announced a Dec. 8 closing date due to softening sales, grossed $312,045 last week, or 25 percent of the maximum possible — the smallest percentage of any Broadway production last week.

Over all Broadway plays and musicals grossed $23.4 million last week, compared with $24.7 million the week before. Attendance was 233,393, compared with 247,240 a week earlier.