Broadway's box office is officially booming, with $50.87 million coming in last week from the 40 currently running shows. That's the first time we've surpassed $50 million since New Year's, and far and away the highest springtime gross in Broadway history—not since pre-pandemic, ever.
That performance was led by huge increases at long runners (and consistently top grossers) Wicked and The Lion King, both of which exceeded their grosses from the prior week by more than $800,000. Both achieved that with dramatically higher ticket prices, with Wicked's average landing at $192.30 (up from $159.84 the week prior) and The Lion King's at $194.62 (up from $159.55). That led to the entire top five top grossers making The $2 Million Club. The top three made The $3 Million Club. Unsurprisingly, Good Night, And Good Luck remains the top earner, bringing in $3.88 million last week; followed by Wicked, Othello, The Lion King, and Glengarry Glen Ross. Even Hamilton and Aladdin, landing in the sixth and seventh spots respectively, were in The $2 Million Club. Wild times on Broadway!
Ticket prices are actually up across Broadway, with the average paid price rising from $134 last week to $142.38. Together with 95% of seats being filled, that is just extraordinary business.
As pointed out in several earlier grosses analyses, expensive tickets are certainly leading this heady time in Broadway's box office, but it's also about the amount of shows theatregoers have to choose from. We currently have 40 shows on the boards, and if everything can hold on until Call Me Izzy starts in May, we will actually have shows running in all 41 Broadway houses for the first time since 2018. This time last season, we had 36 to choose from. Knock wood, but perhaps the pipeline issues that plagued the industry post-pandemic have finally passed us by.
What's going to be interesting to watch going forward is how—or if!—Tony Awards nominations and ultimately wins affect box office. Last week's performance makes one wonder if there's even room to keep seeing gains, as there typically are with awards buzz. Nominations come out next week May 1, so we shall see.
Take a look at the full report here.
The $1 Million Club (shows that earned $1 million or more at the box office):
- Good Night and Good Luck ($3.88 million)
- Wicked ($3.33 million)
- Othello ($3.13 million)
- The Lion King ($2.94 million)
- Glengarry Glen Ross ($2.36 million)
- Hamilton ($2.16 million)
- Aladdin ($2.03 million)
- MJ The Musical
- Harry Potter and the Cursed Child
- The Outsiders
- Moulin Rouge! The Musical
- The Great Gatsby
- Hell's Kitchen
- Gypsy
- Stranger Things: The First Shadow
- The Picture of Dorian Gray
- Death Becomes Her
- & Juliet
- Oh, Mary!
- Buena Vista Social Club
- Cabaret
- Smash
(21 of 40 currently running productions)
The 90s Club (shows that played to 90% or higher of their seats filled over the entire week):
- Just in Time (103.39%)
- The Outsiders (102.21%)
- Good Night, And Good Luck (101.92%)
- Hamilton (101.27%)
- John Proctor is the Villain (101.25%)
- The Picture of Dorian Gray (100.8%)
- Stranger Things: The First Shadow (100.13%)
- Wicked (100%)
- Oh, Mary!
- Glengarry Glen Ross
- Othello
- Buena Vista Social Club
- Maybe Happy Ending
- Operation Mincemeat
- Moulin Rouge! The Musical
- Hadestown
- The Lion King
- Harry Potter and the Cursed Child
- Dead Outlaw
- Aladdin
- & Juliet
- MJ The Musical
- The Book of Mormon
- Pirates! The Penzance Musical
- Hell's Kitchen
- Cabaret
- The Great Gatsby
- The Last Five Years
- Death Becomes Her
- Purpose
- SIX: The Musical
- Chicago
(32 of 40 currently running productions)
