Whitney Leavitt Sends Chicago to Broadway's Top 5, and More From Last Week's Grosses

The name on everybody's lips is Whitney.

March 10, 2026 By Logan Culwell-Block

Broadway's long-running revival of Chicago enjoyed another top-grossing week last week, bringing in $1.44 million. That's all thanks to its current star, Whitney Leavitt, currently playing Roxie Hart and known to audiences for her reality TV work in The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives and Dancing With the Stars. The show has been in The $1 Million Club since Leavitt joined the company, and it previously had not seen numbers that high in more than a year. The show is selling slightly more than it usually does, but the bigger success is what people are willing to pay to see Leavitt's performance. The 9,422 people who saw Chicago last week paid an average of $153 per ticket. Compare that to the average of $89.48 the week before Leavitt began her run. The revival, which has been running since 1996, is no stranger to stunt casting surprising stars, but this particular casting seems to have especially hit with audiences.

Across all of Broadway's 28 running shows, the box office recovered somewhat from the previous week's storm-related performance cancellations, bringing in a total of $28.12 million at an average ticket price of $117.68. Producers will be looking for that last figure specifically to go up in the weeks ahead, and hopefully we can count on melting snow, spring breakers, and brand-new shows to make that a reality. Last week's total was 8% higher than the week prior, and attendance was up by nearly as much—not a bad place to be in the (hopeful) final days of winter.

And though there were no storm-related traumas last week, there were mitigating factors that contributed to the Main Stem's more modest performance. The Lion King gave its Wednesday matinee performance to TDF at a steep discount for its Intro to Theatre and Dance program, which meant the Disney musical brought in dramatically less than normal (don't be too sad—it was still the sixth highest grosser of the week). Stranger Things also had one less performance than typical, leaving it smaller than normal.

But, of course, the winners continue to win. Chicago was the only unusual face to see in the top five last week, taking the fourth spot. Harry Potter and the Cursed Child continued to dominate with the top figure thanks to its current star, Tom Felton (he's reprising his screen performance as Draco Malfoy in the sequel play, to much audience excitement), followed by fellow usual suspects Hamilton, Just in Time, and, in the fifth spot, Wicked. If you're keeping score, that actually means that Lion King's discount matinee did not affect Chicago's surprising Top-Five status, which would have happened regardless.

Every Brilliant Thing is also proving itself to be one of Broadway's latest hits. Last week was its first time not having a shorter performance week than is typical, giving nine performances (the usual is actually eight) to a total of $1,155,640. That sum put the show in the top 10 while missing the top five, but as a non-musical play in one of Broadway's smaller houses (the Hudson), that's a huge success. Conclusion: cast Harry Potter film stars and reality TV personalities, and audiences will pay to see them!

And speaking of star-driven projects, the new Nathan Lane and Laurie Metcalf-led Death of a Salesman at the Winter Garden gave only its first two previews last week, but they were a total sell out—and the Winter Garden seats nearly 1,500 a night! Those first two previews sold at an average ticket price of just $112.11, slightly under the overall average. That's the number to watch in the weeks ahead to see if it'll become the newest splashy, high-grossing play revival.

Take a look at the full report here.

The $1 Million Club (shows that earned $1 million or more at the box office):