After a few sleepy summer weeks on Broadway with vacations ending and schools starting back up again, fortunes rose last week on the Main Stem. Over Labor Day weekend, not one of the 25 currently running shows brought in box office lower than the week prior, and, in fact, cumulatively saw an 11% increase.
Winners included newcomer The Roommate, which played its first week of previews to standing room-only crowds. It looks like the Patti LuPone and Mia Farrow-led play is hoping to build up some early word of mouth with discounts—those sold-out audiences paid an average of just $101.11 for their tickets, and the production brought in $315,872.50. Once press comps are done and reviews are out, we will likely see those ticket prices move up along with the production's weekly box office.
And then there's The Outsiders, which has been on an upwardly aimed winning streak for some weeks now. The Best Musical Tony winner made the top five highest grossers yet again, breaking the house record at the Jacobs for the eighth time. As is often the way when it comes to Broadway grosses, Outsiders' strength seems to lie with its strategically priced tickets. The production sold out its entire week with theatregoers paying an average of $181.75, which actually makes it the priciest ticket on Broadway last week. Compare that with fellow top-grossing newcomer Hell's Kitchen; the Alicia Keys biomusical out-grossed Outsiders by more than $17k, but only because the Shubert has almost 500 more seats than the Jacobs. Hell's Kitchen audiences paid an average of $132.34, which landed it as the ninth most expensive average ticket.
Along with Hell's Kitchen and The Outsiders, the rest of the top five top grossers list was filled out by mainstays Wicked, The Lion King, and Hamilton. Wicked, in particular, has been interesting to watch the last few months. As anticipation has been building (thanks in no small part to a very well-funded marketing budget) for the upcoming two-part screen adaptation of the 2003 musical, its grosses have been notably higher than in years past. It's always hard to predict how a major movie adaptation will affect a currently running stage original, but as long as things continue as they are now, it looks like Wicked in movie theatres may be a huge win for Wicked on Broadway. The show continues to be the most attended show on the Main Stem. With the Gershwin among Broadway's largest houses, nearly 15,000 people saw the musical last week—and that's without even selling out every performance.
Take a look at the full report here.
The $1 Million Club (shows that earned $1 million or more at the box office):
- Wicked ($2.18 million)
- The Lion King
- Hamilton
- Hell's Kitchen
- The Outsiders
- Cabaret
- MJ the Musical
- Moulin Rouge! The Musical
- Aladdin
- Harry Potter and the Cursed Child
- The Great Gatsby
- Oh, Mary!
(12 of 25 currently running productions)
The 90s Club (shows that played to 90% or higher of their seats filled over the entire week):
- The Outsiders (102.45%)
- The Roommate (101.17%)
- Hadestown (100.2%)
- Hell's Kitchen (100%)
- Oh, Mary! (100%)
- Stereophonic (100%)
- Once Upon a Mattress
- & Juliet
- Moulin Rouge! The Musical
- The Lion King
- Wicked
- Hamilton
- The Book of Mormon
- MJ The Musical
- Cabaret
- Aladdin
- The Great Gatsby
- Suffs
- SIX: The Musical
(19 of 25 currently running productions)
