MPAC ticket sales outpace NJ, global competition

The Mayo Performing Arts Center continues to rank among the most successful mid-size theater concert venues in the world, according to a Pollstar worldwide Tickets Sales Report for the first half of 2015.

The 1,302-seat nonprofit theater in Morristown placed 38th on the concert-tour-industry publication’s global midyear list, down one spot from last year, but good enough for second in New Jersey, trailing only the New Jersey Performing Arts Center’s 2,800-seat Prudential Hall in Newark.

From Jan. 1, 2015 to June 30, 2015, 87,030 paid tickets were sold for ticketed events at MPAC, according to the report. That total does not include performances by the New Jersey Symphony Orchestra, which manages its own ticketing, free events and non-paid ticketed education-related events.

Prudential Hall in Newark placed 22nd on the global list with 116,450 tickets sold. Other notable New Jersey venues on the list include the Count Basie Theatre in Red Bank (40th, with 84,203 tickets sold), the State Theatre in New Brunswick (42nd, 82,104), and Bergen PAC in Englewood (82nd, 38,520).

Topping the global list was Auditorio Nacional in Mexico City, with 831,197. The No. 1 U.S. venue on the list was the Fox Theatre in Atlanta, with ticket sales of 260,670.

MPAC staged 96 events in the fist half of 2015, selling out performances by Carol Burnett, Don Rickles, Vince Gill, Daughtry, Dancing with the Stars Live, Peter Frampton and “Disney’s Beauty and the Beast.”

The list does not include large venues including the PNC Arts Center and the Prudential Center arena in Newark.

Staff Writer William Westhoven: 973-428-6627; wwesthoven@GannettNJ.com.

Full list:

www.pollstarpro.com/files/Charts2015/2015MidYearWorldwideTicketSalesTop100TheatreVenues.pdf