So it's not exactly a shock that a big, splashy Gypsy revival is a hot ticket. After all, it features the mother of all Broadway mothers, six-time Tony winner Audra McDonald (playing the mother of all Broadway mothers, no less). But after its first week of previews, that's now confirmed. The George C. Wolfe-directed revival played just three previews last week, and still managed to bring in more than $770k. Translate that into a full, eight-performance week, and it would be the second highest-grossing show of the week, handily joining the much coveted $2 Million Club.
Note that ticket prices—which were already last week sitting at an average of $160—will almost assuredly go up once the production is open and reviews are out (opening night is December 19). In short, we could easily be looking at a new box office champion at the Majestic. Everything's coming up Audra!
Elsewhere on the Main Stem, we saw Wicked continue to fly high thanks to the release of its also box office–dominating film adaptation. The musical continues its reign as Broadway's top grosser; it brought in $2.6 million last week. The show was also a sell-out, with an average ticket price of $166. The long-running musical has always performed well, but as we have said before, this movie is really pushing it into another echelon.
Wicked was joined in the top five by usual suspects The Lion King and Hamilton, with the last two spots going this week to Sunset Boulevard and, in its final week of performances, McNeal.
Though they weren't in the top five, Elf and Maybe Happy Ending also saw six-figure increases at the box office. Elf in particular gained some steam; it increased its grosses by more than $600k. Maybe Happy Ending's ascent is more modest, but the show has been on a much-needed upward trajectory after opening November 12. With glowing reviews and lots of good word-of-mouth, its current average ticket price of $94.95 may make it the perfect last-minute option for tourists looking for a heart-warming evening at the theatre.
In fact, things are looking rosy for Broadway on the whole. Over the 39 currently running shows, Broadway saw a cumulative increase of 6.4% compared to the previous week. The loss of McNeal—and its A-list star, Robert Downey Jr.—might threaten that with this week's numbers, but then again, a full week at Gypsy is likely to make up for that and then some. Last week, nearly 85% of seats were filled, with theatregoers paying an average ticket price of $121.49, a jump of more than $6 from the week prior.
Most importantly, last week outperformed the same week from last year by more than 8%, and the season so far is outpacing the same period from last season by more than 11%. That's been a trend for some time now, but one we're all happy to see continuing. This week's holiday traditionally kicks off Broadway's most active period, so we should be able to look forward to widening the gap between now and last season even further in the weeks ahead.
Take a look at the full report here.
The $1 Million Club (shows that earned $1 million or more at the box office):
- Wicked ($2.56 million)
- The Lion King ($2 million)
- Hamilton
- Sunset Blvd.
- McNeal
- The Outsiders
- MJ The Musical
- Hell's Kitchen
- Oh, Mary!
- Aladdin
- The Great Gatsby
- Elf
- Death Becomes Her
(13 of 39 currently running productions)
The 90s Club (shows that played to 90% or higher of their seats filled over the entire week):
- Yellow Face (101.79%)
- The Outsiders (101.11%)
- Romeo and Juliet (100.96%)
- Gypsy (100.82%)
- McNeal (100%)
- Oh, Mary! (100%)
- Wicked (100%)
- Hamilton
- Death Becomes Her
- The Lion King
- Aladdin
- Elf
- Stereophonic
- The Book of Mormon
- Suffs
- Sunset Blvd.
- Hadestown
- Once Upon a Mattress
(18 of 39 currently running productions)
