Broadway Grosses Analysis: Chicago Says Goodbye to Jinkx Monsoon With Highest-Grossing Non-Holiday Week | Playbill

Industry News Broadway Grosses Analysis: Chicago Says Goodbye to Jinkx Monsoon With Highest-Grossing Non-Holiday Week

The RuPaul's Drag Race winner sashayed away from the long-running revival March 26.

Graphic by Vi Dang

Grosses have been up at Chicago since two-time RuPaul's Drag Race winner Jinkx Monsoon joined the cast as Matron "Mama" Morton earlier this year, but fans gave the drag sensation a fitting send off last week with the long-running revival's highest-grossing non-holiday week of its entire 26-year run. The Kander and Ebb musical brought in $926,467.14 at the Ambassador box office and played to 99.92% full houses.

Elsewhere, Camelot seems to be seeing healthy growth in sales over at the Vivian Beaumont. Still in previews, the musical brought in $859,626.50 last week, up 16% from the week previous. The production may be one to watch as the Lerner and Loewe revival approaches its April 13 opening night. If it continues on its current trajectory, it may easily prove to be one of the season's hits.

Sweeney Todd and Parade are continuing to prove themselves among the highest grossers of the season's new productions. The Sondheim revival, playing the Lunt-Fontanne, brought in $1.4 million even playing a seven-performance week—and that was before its largely positive reviews dropped. Over at the Jacobs (which has 478 less seats than the Lunt-Fontanne), Parade brought in $1.13 million, making these two likely to be top contenders for Best Revival of a Musical at this year's Tony Awards. They certainly seem to be winners when it comes to theatregoers' wallets.

Another newcomer that is showing it could prove to be a hit is New York, New York, which began previews at the St. James Theatre March 24. With just two previews, the show brought in $418,601.25 and filled 100.18% of its seats (of which there are many—the St. James is one of Broadway's largest theatres at 1,643 seats). Assuming the production keeps up that performance over a regular eight-performance week, New York, New York would definitely rank itself as one of the highest-grossing new productions of the season.

It's no surprise at this point, but The Phantom of the Opera continues to dominate at the box office. The long-running musical played what was then the highest-grossing week of its entire run the week ending March 19, bringing in $3.03 million. Last week, the production bested even that with $3.06 million. With just three weeks left to see the Andrew Lloyd Webber musical before its chandelier crashes down for the final time April 16, theatregoers are clearly frantic to see the Tony-winning musical one last time.

Take a look at the full report here.

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

(14 of 31 currently running productions)


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

(23 of 31 currently running productions)

 
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