With holidays officially behind us, Broadway grosses saw a completely expected but steep drop of almost 30%, with the 30 currently running shows bringing in a cumulative $32 million last week, down from $45 million the week prior. Three fewer shows alone account for a lot of that, and there were cancellations at Death Becomes Her.
But mostly, people are just paying less for their tickets now that the holiday high time has passed, and that's nothing to be concerned about. The average ticket price last week was a still-healthy $126.52, down from $155.37 the week of New Year's and the even more stratospheric $182.32 from Christmas week. That, of course, also means that now is the perfect time to see a show if you live in or near NYC and are looking for a good deal. Once this year's Broadway Week starts, you can even get BOGO tickets to most shows.
And doing a lot of the heavy lifting on last week's average ticket price is All In: Comedy About Love, an all-star cast affair at the Hudson Theatre. Last week—with a cast including John Mulaney, Fred Armisen, Chloe Fineman, and Richard Kind—the show pulled in an average ticket price of $215.61, by far the top of any show on Broadway. In fact, it beat runner-up Hamilton by more than $40! The show was also a complete sell-out, bringing in a total of $1.67 million, making it the top-grossing play of the week and the fifth highest-grossing show overall. A new cast starts this week, led by Lin-Manuel Miranda, so it'll be interesting to see how—or if—that affects box office.
Attendance fell by more than 12% (around 36,000 people), but that doesn't mean seats weren't filled. The current crop of shows played to an average of 91.51%-full houses last week, and seven shows were complete sell-outs. Among those: 2024 Best Play Tony winner Stereophonic, which played its final performances last week at the Golden Theatre. The show was frequently a sell-out (and if not, nearly so) throughout its run, but theatregoers were clearly eager to see the David Adjmi play before it closed up shop. The show pulled the second-highest gross of its entire run, only barely missing the sum it brought directly after winning Best Play at last year's Tony Awards. London's West End and a U.S. tour are next, so don't beat yourself up too much if you didn't get to this one before closing.
Wicked continued to dominate the boards last week, handily maintaining its status as Broadway's top grosser with $2.43 million. That's an impressive till regardless of when, but considering that Broadway is otherwise getting its feet back on the ground after a true holiday bonanza, it's an extra good gross. Hamilton, The Lion King, Gypsy, and All In filled out the rest of the top five.
Take a look at the full report here.
The $1 Million Club (shows that earned $1 million or more at the box office):
- Wicked ($2.43 million)
- Hamilton
- The Lion King
- Gypsy
- All In: Comedy About Love
- The Great Gatsby
- The Outsiders
- Oh, Mary!
- Aladdin
- MJ The Musical
- Cabaret
- Hell's Kitchen
- Romeo and Juliet
- Harry Potter and the Cursed Child
- Death Becomes Her
- Stereophonic
(16 of 30 currently running productions)
The 90s Club (shows that played to 90% or higher of their seats filled over the entire week):
- Romeo and Juliet (102.93%)
- The Outsiders (102.51%)
- Hadestown (101.23%)
- All In: Comedy About Love (100%)
- Oh, Mary! (100%)
- Stereophonic (100%)
- Wicked (100%)
- Hamilton
- Gypsy
- Maybe Happy Ending
- The Lion King
- Death Becomes Her
- Cabaret
- The Book of Mormon
- Aladdin
- Moulin Rouge! The Musical
- The Great Gatsby
- Our Town
- SIX: The Musical
- & Juliet
- Harry Potter and the Cursed Child
- Sunset Boulevard
(22 of 30 currently running productions)