Bobby Darin biomusical Just in Time reached new highs at the Circle in the Square Theatre on Broadway last week, bringing in $1.34 million—the highest in the show's entire run so far. Led by Tony winner Jonathan Groff as the "Beyond the Sea" crooner, the show has been sold-out for its entire run, which began last spring. Groff is turning out to be quite the box-office draw, sending tickets to an average of $235.81 last week, which no doubt helped the musical reach its new high.
Even with that performance, you won't see the musical in the top five top grossers of last week, but that's because its home, the Circle in the Square, is one of Broadway's smallest houses, playing to just 690 people per night (plus whatever standing room tickets the show sells each performance). Those top five spots went to usual suspects Hamilton, Wicked, The Lion King, Waiting for Godot, and Mamma Mia!; Just in Time ranked seventh, though, which is no small potatoes.
The biomusical is not, however, Broadway's priciest ticket. That honor continues to go to Hamilton, which has been enjoying a renewed box office bonanza with the arrival of the encore run for Tony-winning original star Leslie Odom, Jr. Since he arrived, those tickets have been sitting at an average of around $350, putting grosses reliably in the $3.7 million range thanks to the Richard Rodgers Theatre (aka the room where Hamilton happens)'s 1,324-seat capacity. Sales like that have us wondering if we might see more of that legendary original cast planning returns in the weeks ahead.
As for the season's newest shows, it looks like Lincoln Center Theater's Ragtime revival may be a hit! The show played seven previews last week, one less than Broadway's typical eight. But those performances were all sold out at a healthy average ticket price of $132.78, leading to a total gross that was just shy of making The $1 Million Club. This week adds that eighth performance to the schedule. If the revival continues that box office performance, it will handily join that club next week.
Broadway's newest shows are doing remarkably well in general, actually. Waiting for Godot and Art, both continuing last season's trend of Hollywood star-led play revivals, are topping the grosses, as is the revival of Mamma Mia!, which does not count major stars in its cast. In fact the only new show of the season not at the top of the grosses last week was Punch, which is unsurprising because it opened last week and was comping much of its house for press. Here's hoping this trend will continue as the rest of the fall season gets going.
Grosses overall saw a modest increase, with the 27 currently running shows (one less than the week prior) bringing in $31.43 million. That's thanks to more than 90% of seats being filled across Broadway, an excellent place to be in the typically slow fall season.
Take a look at the full report here.
The $1 Million Club (shows that earned $1 million or more at the box office):
- Hamilton ($3.74 million)
- Wicked ($2.05 million)
- The Lion King
- Waiting for Godot
- Mamma Mia!
- Art
- Just In Time
- Death Becomes Her
- MJ The Musical
- Maybe Happy Ending
- Aladdin
- Buena Vista Social Club
(12 of 27 currently running productions)
The 90s Club (shows that played to 90% or higher of their seats filled over the entire week):
- Just in Time (102.81%)
- Hamilton (101.51%)
- Ragtime (100%)
- Waiting for Godot (100%)
- Wicked (100%)
- Art
- Oh, Mary!
- Mamma Mia!
- The Lion King
- Maybe Happy Ending
- Death Becomes Her
- The Book of Mormon
- Buena Vista Social Club
- Hadestown
- Aladdin
- Moulin Rouge! The Musical
- MJ The Musical
(17 of 27 currently running productions)