Merrily We Roll Along, the Sondheim revival starring Daniel Radcliffe, Jonathan Groff and Lindsay Mendez, cemented its place among Broadway’s top earners during its opening week, grossing $1,706,962, filling all seats at the Hudson and securing the highest average ticket price with $220.88.
The figures for the week ending Oct. 15 saw only four productions top Merrily in grosses: Hamilton ($1,931,917), Wicked ($1,906,835), Sweeney Todd ($1,739,03) and, besting them all, that long-running powerhouse The Lion King ($2,090,583).
Beginning previews was I Need That, the new Theresa Rebeck comedy starring Danny DeVito, a Roundabout production at the American Airlines Theatre. The show’s first three previews filled 95% of seats and grossed $295,641, with a healthy average ticket price of $140.31. I Need That opens Nov. 2.
Last week also saw another opening night: Gutenberg! The Musical!, starring Josh Gad and Andrew Rannells, opened on Oct. 12, and took a hefty $842,159 for the week, filling 95% of seats at the James Earl Jones Theatre.
In all, the 27 productions on Broadway grossed a total $27,400,791, a small 2% jump from the previous week, with total attendance at 217,118, also up 2%. Average ticket price for the week was $126.20.
On the other end of the box office spectrum, a number of shows were struggling to fill 80% of their available seats, all recent arrivals: Here Lies Love was at 79% of capacity; Melissa Etheridge: My Window, 55%; Purlie Victorious, 59%; The Cottage, 75%; and The Shark is Broken, 63%.
Season to date, Broadway has grossed $597,787,703 with total attendance of 4,906,644 at 88% of capacity.
All figures courtesy of The Broadway League. For complete box office listings, visit the League’s website.