First things first—let's address some social media rumors. The release of this week's grosses report was not held by the Broadway League as a negotiating tactic. Reports usually drop on Tuesdays, but this week's was later because of the Jewish Rosh Hashanah holiday. The short version of the backstory here is a piece published in the New York Times earlier this week quoted Broadway League President Jason Laks on a supposed tenuous financial situation for Broadway musicals amid rising costs and a resulting continued difficulty to recoup investments and turn a profit. Critics have alleged online that the piece was a stunt placed to help the League as it continues negotiating new base Broadway contracts with the actor-stage manager and musician unions, a notion that was seemingly bolstered to some by the delay in reporting last week's grosses soon after the article published. We can't speak to this base allegation, but the delay in this grosses data was because of the holiday.
And now back to our regularly scheduled programming.
Theatre-going dudes partied on to give Waiting for Godot, the new revival led by Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure stars Keanu Reeves and Alex Winter at the Hudson, a nearly $2 million week at the box office last week, the third-highest of any show on Broadway. That likely sets up the Jamie Lloyd-directed production as Broadway's latest star-driven play revival to dominate ticket sales. And like many of the hit star-driven play revivals that came before it, Godot is doing this thanks to expensive tickets. Its total take of $1.8 million was made possible thanks to an average ticket price of $266.96, itself aided by a top ticket price of $599.
Only Hamilton—thanks to the return of Tony-winning original star Leslie Odom, Jr. as Aaron Burr—is commanding a higher price, with its average sitting at $335. Hamilton's top ticket price, by the way, is a jaw-dropping $1,500. Odom's return has put the Tony- and Pulitzer-winning Lin-Manuel Miranda musical back on top of Broadway's highest grossers. Even not quite matching the high from the week prior (Odom's first back in the show), the show brought in $3.6 million last week. Whatever there is to say about the financial health of the musical on Broadway, the same can certainly not be said of Hamilton!
Also having an excellent week was the Jonathan Groff-led Just in Time. The Bobby Darin biomusical has been completely sold out for its entire run so far. Its home, the Circle in the Square, is one of Broadway's smaller houses, which has kept the title from being higher up on the top-10 list. Nevertheless, the show has continued to be a hit with audiences, bringing in the highest gross of its entire run so far last week, $1.33 million, thanks to a healthy average ticket price of $233. It's a nice reminder that Broadway audiences don't just love movie stars on the boards. Certified Broadway baby Groff, a Tony winner, is quite the draw, too.
Along with Hamilton and Godot, the top five spots were filled by now-usual suspects Wicked, The Lion King, and Mamma Mia!, all seeing increases at the box office compared to the week prior. That seems to have been largely true across Broadway as a whole, whose 28 currently running shows saw an 18% cumulative increase, to a grand total of $32.2 million at an average ticket price of $129. That performance is extra impressive when you consider that usually high grosser Art (also a star-driven play revival, starring Bobby Cannavale, Neil Patrick Harris, and James Corden) played just three performances last week due to a pre-planned outage while its starry cast was filming other projects. And on top of that, the production opened September 16, meaning all three of those performances were also heavily comped.
It was also the final week of Broadway Week and its buy-one-get-one deal, which is an excellent showcase of just how effective that program is. The bi-annual event helps the industry get through a typically slow period, and even while slashing ticket prices in times when tourism is low, it's clearly helped move tickets and bring money to Broadway—a win-win!
Take a look at the full report here.
The $1 Million Club (shows that earned $1 million or more at the box office):
- Hamilton ($3.6 million)
- Wicked ($2 million)
- Waiting for Godot
- The Lion King
- Mamma Mia!
- Death Becomes Her
- Just in Time
- Oh, Mary!
- MJ The Musical
- Maybe Happy Ending
- Buena Vista Social Club
- The Outsiders
- Aladdin
- Moulin Rouge! The Musical
- Harry Potter and the Cursed Child
- Hell's Kitchen
(16 of 28 currently running productions)
The 90s Club (shows that played to 90% or higher of their seats filled over the entire week):
- Just in Time (103.7%)
- Hamilton (101.36%)
- Buena Vista Social Club (101.18%)
- Mamma Mia! (101.11%)
- Maybe Happy Ending (100.22%)
- Art (100%)
- Oh, Mary! (100%)
- Waiting for Godot (100%)
- Wicked (100%)
- The Outsiders
- Operation Mincemeat
- Moulin Rouge! The Musical
- The Lion King
- Death Becomes Her
- Hadestown
- The Book of Mormon
- Cabaret
- MJ The Musical
- Aladdin
- Hell's Kitchen
- & Juliet
- Harry Potter and the Cursed Child
- The Great Gatsby
(23 of 28 currently running productions)
