Broadway Grosses Analysis: Box Office Drops Without Phantom; Disney's The Lion King Reclaims Top Spot | Playbill

Grosses Broadway Grosses Analysis: Box Office Drops Without Phantom; Disney's The Lion King Reclaims Top Spot

With the Tony eligibility cut-off in sight, Sweeney Todd is consistently proving to be the best performing of the season's new shows.

Graphic by Vi Dang

Broadway said goodbye to The Phantom of the Opera April 16, and it certainly felt the loss last week. Minus the long-running musical's stratospheric box office performance in its final weeks, cumulative grosses on the Main Stem fell by nearly $7 million. To be fair, we can't only blame Andrew Lloyd Webber and Cameron Mackintosh; 21 of 33 running shows last week are new this season, many in previews and comping seats to industry and press. Box office typically sees increases following Tony nominations, set to be announced May 2, and even more once winners are decided June 11.

And speaking of those Tony Awards, voters are sure to have their eyes on which contenders for Broadway's top honors are hitting with audiences. The Josh Groban- and Annaleigh Ashford-led revival of Stephen Sondheim and Hugh Wheeler's Sweeney Todd is consistently the best performing of the season's new shows, ranking third overall last week with $1.82 million. When Phantom was still dominating with near-$4 million weeks, Sweeney seemed to be waffling between the fifth and sixth spots. The loss of the long-runner may pave the way for Sweeney becoming a permanent fixture in the top five.

Fellow newcomers & JulietParade, and A Beautiful Noise were also in the $1 Million Club this week. And Prima Facie, even in a week of previews that had lots of comped seats, is proving to be a strong contender amongst the season's new plays. The Jodie Comer-led solo show brought in $807,415.60 and played to nearly 97%-full houses at the Golden Theatre. A Doll's House, starring Jessica Chastain, came in just behind Prima Facie at $806,285. The Ibsen revival has been another strong performer this season.

But remember—anything could happen in the coming weeks. Tony nominations and wins could change everything. We won't know for sure until June who's going into summer 2023 as Broadway's hottest ticket.

In a post-Phantom world, Disney's The Lion King reclaimed its title as the top grosser of the week with $2.17 million. If past performance is any indicator, we can expect the Elton John musical to duke it out with Hamilton for the top spot in the weeks ahead. The Lin-Manuel Miranda musical brought in $1.95 million last week, and has frequently broken into the $2 Million Club.

Take a look at the full report here.

The $1 Million Club (Shows that earned $1 million or more at the box office):

(13 of 33 currently running productions)


The 90s Club
(Shows that played to 90% or higher of their seats filled over the entire week):

(18 of 33 currently running productions)

 
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