The strong (well, some of them) got stronger on Broadway last week even as the overall box office trended slightly downward, with 28 productions on the 36-show roster reporting receipt dips.
In all, the 36 shows grossed $33,921,069 for the week ending October 27, about 2 percent lower than the previous week’s 35-show roster. Total attendance was 285,396, off about 1% from the previous week.
A slew of recent arrivals had very strong weeks, in some cases despite opening night comps and press seats. Romeo + Juliet, which opened at Circle in the Square to strong reviews, pulled in $955,532 even with a totally comped October 24 opening night and various press nights.
Sunset Blvd. grossed $1,664,663 even with three heavily comped press performances at the St. James. With 97% of seats filled, the musical revival had its first full eight-performance week, and its highest grossing week since beginning Broadway previews on September 28.
Death Becomes Her began previews at the Lunt-Fontanne ahead of its November 21 opening night. The musical had some bad first-week luck, though, with one of the three leads, Megan Hilty, out sick for three performances (with one of the performances canceled altogether and the other two saved by understudy Kaleigh Cronin). Still, the musical took in $571,797 for three previews, filling 97% of seats for those shows.
Some other newcomers have had a little trouble getting out of the gate. Left On Tenth, the Julianna Margulies-Peter Gallagher rom-com at the James Earl Jones, scored $461,283 for its opening week (with comps – and ho-hum reviews – taking their bite). Attendance was at just 69% of capacity.
A Wonderful World: The Louis Armstrong Musical played eight previews at Studio 54, grossing just $592,274 and filling 75% of seats. Opening night is November 11.
Maybe Happy Ending, starring Darren Criss and Helen J Shen, played six previews at the Belasco, grossing $241,148 and filling 79% of seats.
Tammy Faye, the Elton John-Jake Shears musical played seven previews at the Palace, grossing $547,568 with attendance at 80% of capacity. Opening night is November 14.
Outgoing was Job, playing its final week at the Hayes, grossing $363,992, an uptick of $67,528, with 91% of seats occupied.
Productions filling 95% or more of their seats were Aladdin, Death Becomes Her, Hamilton, Hell’s Kitchen, McNeal (100%), Oh, Mary! (100%), Romeo + Juliet (101%), Stereophonic, Sunset Blvd., The Lion King, The Outsiders (102%), and Wicked.
Productions grossing at least $1 million for the week were Aladdin, Cabaret at the Kit Kat Club, Hamilton, Hell’s Kitchen, McNeal, MJ, Oh, Mary!, Sunset Blvd., The Great Gatsby, The Lion King, The Outsiders, and Wicked, the latter, likely feeling the buzz from the upcoming film adaptation and maybe a little from some pre-Halloween spirit, topping the chart once again with a stellar $2,217,313 gross.
Season to date, Broadway, in the 23rd week of the 2024-25 season, has grossed $718,532,193, up about 10% over last year at this time, with total attendance of 5,830,819, up about 9%.
All figures courtesy of The Broadway League. For complete box office listings, visit the League’s website.