Broadway's Job capped off its run with its highest-ever gross last week, bringing in $363,992.25 at an average ticket price of $85 and filling more than 90% of seats at the Helen Hayes Theater. The two-hander, along with recently opened Sunset Blvd and newcomer Tammy Faye saw the biggest increases at the box office last week.
Tammy Faye's increase isn't surprising—the Elton John musical played its first full week of performances, seeing a 227% increase from the previous week (when it played just one single preview). Meanwhile, another U.K. transfer, Sunset Blvd, looks to be getting huge gains from post-opening word of mouth and the end of comped press performances—increasing its take 37% from the previous week and earning $1,664,663. The Jamie Lloyd-directed revival looks like it may repeat its box office success from London's West End. And it could actually well exceed its U.K. success—the London bow ran for just 16 weeks, whereas the Broadway run is currently scheduled to continue past the 2025 Tony Awards and into July. Suffice it to say, it's no surprise Lloyd Webber is reportedly looking to Lloyd to helm his next new musical too.
Broadway otherwise didn't have any major surprises as overall grosses softened somewhat. Over the 36 currently running shows (one less than the week prior), box office take fell by a little over 2% from the previous week—though overall grosses are higher now than this point last season. Attendance, on the other hand, raised by a meager percentage point this week, with more than 87% of seats filled across Broadway.
Of course, we know there's only one way for those two data points to happen at once, and that's lower ticket prices. Average paid admission fell by $4 to just $118.86, so last week may have been the perfect week to take in a show as a budget-conscious audience member.
But none of that drop will be enough to make producers hold their breath. Thanksgiving and the winter holidays are just around the corner. Broadway seems to be reliably filling seats, and those holidays will only increase that trend—and at far higher ticket prices, too. Let it snow, we say!
Take a look at the full report here.
The $1 Million Club (shows that earned $1 million or more at the box office):
- Wicked ($2.22 million)
- The Lion King ($1.99 million)
- Hamilton
- Sunset Blvd
- Hell's Kitchen
- MJ The Musical
- The Outsiders
- McNeal
- Aladdin
- Oh, Mary!
- The Great Gatsby
- Cabaret
(12 of 36 currently running productions)
The 90s Club (shows that played to 90% or higher of their seats filled over the entire week):
- The Outsiders (102.23%)
- Romeo and Juliet (101.2%)
- McNeal (100%)
- Oh, Mary! (100%)
- Wicked
- Stereophonic
- Hamilton
- The Lion King
- Sunset Blvd
- Hell's Kitchen
- Death Becomes Her
- Aladdin
- The Book of Mormon
- Suffs
- & Juliet
- Moulin Rouge! The Musical
- MJ The Musical
- Hadestown
- Job
(19 of 36 currently running productions)
