The Phantom of the Opera, Andrew Lloyd Webber’s musical that closed its Broadway run on Sunday after 35 years, went out on a very high note: Box office receipts for the show’s final week hit a best-ever $3,739,934.
Playing, of course, to standing room only audiences at longtime venue the Majestic Theatre, Phantom commanded a hefty $287 average ticket price during its home stretch week (Sunday’s final performance was invitation-only and heavily comped).
Among the shows of a more recent vintage, Peter Pan Goes Wrong, the latest comedy from the Mischief theater company folks, took in $903,540, a startlingly strong figure for a new non-musical play. The combination of Mischief’s reputation (the troupe was behind the very popular The Play That Goes Wrong) and current guest star Neil Patrick Harris (he’s on board until April 30) proved irresistible to ticket-buyers, who paid an average $113.67 per ticket and filled 95% of seats at the Ethel Barrymore. Opening night is tomorrow.
The strong showings of both shows contributed to the Broadway total of $38,474,982 for the week ending April 16. Total attendance was 282,895. The total tally for the 34 productions held even from the previous week.
Two shows opened last week, with Fat Ham getting the more consistently positive reviews but filling fewer seats, percentage-wise, than Aaron Sorkin’s adaptation of Camelot. The former, a Pulitzer-winning comedy at the American Airlines Theatre, took in $309,831, with 76% of seats filled. Camelot filled 96% of seats at Lincoln Center’s Vivian Beaumont Theater, grossing $811,393.
A raft of other spring newcomers includes The Thanksgiving Play at the Hayes, opening April 20 (gross last week was $167,207, with a $43.73 average ticket); Prima Facie, London’s acclaimed solo show starring Jodie Comer, came very close to selling out its seven previews, grossing $889,666 at the Golden (opens April 23); Good Night, Oscar, the new comedy-drama starring Sean Hayes at the Belasco, filled 70% of seats for seven previews at the Belasco, grossing $603,556 (opening night is April 24); Summer, 1976, the new play starring Laura Linney and Jessica Hecht at the Samuel Friedman Theatre, took in $362,597 for seven previews, with an April 25 opening; and New York, New York, the new Kander & Ebb musical, filled 87% of seats at the St. James, grossing $1,018,014 with an $88.71 average ticket (opening April 26).
Speaking of Kander & Ebb, the revival of the duo’s Chicago is now, with Phantom‘s departure, the longest running show on Broadway, with 10,338 performances under its belt. The musical continues to pull audiences, with last week’s gross at the Ambassador Theatre at $683,480.
Season to date, Broadway has grossed $1,419,749,603, with total attendance of 10,949,864 at 89% of capacity.
All figures courtesy of The Broadway League. For complete box office listings, visit the League’s website.