There's been no "maybe" about this year's Best Musical Tony winner since the 2025 Tony Awards, held June 8 at Radio City Music Hall. In fact, since becoming one of three shows tied for the most nominations of the season (along with Death Becomes Her and Buena Vista Social Club), Maybe Happy Ending has been riding box-office high after box-office high. In fact, this last week the musical continued a now long-running streak to see the highest weekly grosses of its entire run—and it's the seventh week in a row that's been true over at the Belasco.
And making that even more notable is the fact that it was one of only seven shows on the Main Stem that saw increases compared to the week prior, and in one of the smaller houses, too. Grosses over the 30 currently running shows cumulatively fell by more than 22%, bringing in $30.53 million compared to almost $40 million the previous week. Even with five less shows (June 29 was Broadway's biggest closing day, including top grosser Glengarry Glen Ross), that's pretty notable. But then it was also July 4th weekend, which is not exactly a holiday with a strong association with theatregoing. Many were likely out watching fireworks, or even watching Broadway stars accompany fireworks on TV!
By the way, the other shows that saw increases were Hamilton, Sunset Boulevard, BOOP! The Musical (notably headed to a July 13 final performance following lackluster sales), Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, MJ The Musical, and Aladdin.
Now for the good(-ish) news. The drop wasn't from lack of attendance. At last week's shows, 261,793 people filled 91.67% of seats across Broadway. The main difference is that without productions like Glengarry commanding pricey, pricey tickets, average paid admission fell by more than $15 to $116.62. That's not necessarily anything to be upset about, but it sure does translate to losses at the box office, especially when combined with there being less shows available—which translated to 41 less performances.
The top five held few surprises last week, with family favorite Aladdin taking Glengarry's spot in the top five, which was led by Wicked and also included Hamilton, The Lion King, and Sunset Boulevard—Maybe Happy Ending missed out on making the same distinction by less than $50,000, further crystalizing just how much of a success story that musical is seeing. If the musical's trajectory continues, we might just be welcoming them as the newest top-five mainstay before we know it.
Take a look at the full report here.
The $1 Million Club (shows that earned $1 million or more at the box office):
- Wicked ($2.26 million)
- Hamilton ($2.11 million)
- The Lion King ($2.05 million)
- Sunset Blvd.
- Aladdin
- Maybe Happy Ending
- MJ The Musical
- Just in Time
- Harry Potter and the Cursed Child
- The Outsiders
- Death Becomes Her
- Buena Vista Social Club
(12 of 30 currently running productions)
The 90s Club (shows that played to 90% or higher of their seats filled over the entire week):
- Just in Time (103.01%)
- Maybe Happy Ending (102.54%)
- John Proctor is the Villain (102.27%)
- The Outsiders (101.75%)
- Hamilton (101.42%)
- Hadestown (100.01%)
- Wicked (100%)
- Sunset Boulevard
- Purpose
- & Juliet
- Buena Vista Social Club
- Operation Mincemeat
- The Lion King
- The Book of Mormon
- Death Becomes Her
- Aladdin
- Cabaret
- Oh, Mary!
- Hell's Kitchen
- BOOP! The Musical
- Pirates! The Penzance Musical
- Moulin Rouge! The Musical
- The Great Gatsby
(23 of 30 currently running productions)
