Indigenous Peoples' Day technically fell on the first day of last week—but for the most part, it was a post-holiday week. That usually means a slump at the Broadway box office, but not this time! Cumulative grosses actually rose from $34.3 to $34.7 million last week, likely thanks to a season that is really amping up with lots of new shows.
Three productions—A Wonderful World, Maybe Happy Ending, and Tammy Faye—began previews last week. Tammy Faye's total of $167,503 for one single preview could land the show in The $1 Million Club in its first full week if those sales continue. Maybe Happy Ending and A Wonderful World had more modest first weeks out, but that's not altogether uncommon.
Also contributing to that overall box office increase were gains in excess of six figures at McNeal, Our Town, Hell's Kitchen, and Suffs, notably all new productions running for less than a year. New shows seem to be a major driver of Broadway's current box office success. Romeo and Juliet played to standing-room-only crowds last week and made The $1 Million Club even while comping press tickets (in anticipation of its October 24 opening night). The Outsiders, McNeal, Oh, Mary!, and Stereophonic were all sell-outs too. In fact, the only non-new sell-out was Wicked, which is continuing to see surging box office as a giant marketing arm hypes everyone up for the long-awaited movie adaptation.
Notably, the increase in total productions allowed cumulative grosses to rise even as the average ticket price fell, from $127.83 to $122.86. With lots of new productions comping press, that downturn is not too surprising. And a return to higher figures is almost guaranteed as hot tickets like Sunset Boulevard and Romeo and Juliet get past their opening nights.
Take a look at the full report here.
The $1 Million Club (shows that earned $1 million or more at the box office):
- Wicked ($2.23 million)
- The Lion King ($2 million)
- Hamilton
- Hell's Kitchen
- MJ The Musical
- The Outsiders
- McNeal
- The Great Gatsby
- Aladdin
- Sunset Boulevard
- Moulin Rouge! The Musical
- Oh, Mary!
- Cabaret
- Harry Potter and the Cursed Child
- Romeo and Juliet
- & Juliet
(16 of 35 currently running productions)
The 90s Club (shows that played to 90% or higher of their seats filled over the entire week):
- Romeo and Juliet (102.87%)
- The Outsiders (102.27%)
- McNeal (100%)
- Oh, Mary! (100%)
- Stereophonic (100%)
- Wicked (100%)
- Hell's Kitchen
- Sunset Boulevard
- Moulin Rouge! The Musical
- The Lion King
- The Book of Mormon
- Hadestown
- Hamilton
- Aladdin
- & Juliet
- Suffs
- The Great Gatsby
- Cabaret
- MJ The Musical
- Tammy Faye
- The Notebook
- Harry Potter and the Cursed Child
(22 of 35 currently running productions)
