Holiday shoppers were in a Broadway spirit last week, with total box office for the 26 shows up a couple percentage points from the previous week to $31,465,465, attendance holding steady at 225,585 and the average ticket price a strong $139.48.
Still, while shows such as Merrily We Roll Along, Sweeney Todd, The Lion King, Wicked, I Need That and newcomer Appropriate filled seats during the week ending Dec. 17, Broadway’s holiday season isn’t quite as joyous as last year, with total box office receipts down about 16% year over year. Attendance was off by 18% compared to last year at this time, in no small part due to fewer productions on the boards – 26 compared to 34 last December.
Though fewer in number than last year, Broadway shows individually were, overall, reporting decent figures. Seventeen of the 26 productions filled more than 90% of their seats, with Hamilton, Merrily We Roll Along, Moulin Rouge!, I Need That and Sweeney Todd selling out or coming within a hair’s breadth. Top earners for the week were The Lion King ($2.5M), Wicked ($2.3M), Merrily ($1.9M), Hamilton ($1.9M) and Sweeney Todd ($1.8M).
Appropriate, the final Broadway production of calendar year 2023, opened last night to raves and strong box office: The Branden Jacobs-Jenkins play, produced by Second Stage and starring Sarah Paulson, Corey Stoll and Michael Esper, took in $513,670 during its final week of previews, filling 99% of seats at the Helen Hayes Theater.
Some other recent arrivals aren’t seeing the same draw: Attendance at Harmony, the Barry Manilow-Bruce Sussman musical, was at just 58% of the Barrymore’s capacity, while How To Dance In Ohio was at 70% at the Belasco. The well-reviewed Spamalot filled about 77% of seats at the St. James (do younger generations no longer quote the classic Monty Python and the Holy Grail verbatim?), while the excellent Purlie Victorious was at just 67% of the Music Box’s capacity.
Season to date, Broadway has grossed $861,415,071, pretty much consistent with last year at this time, with total attendance at 6,938,314 also steady with last season.
All figures courtesy of The Broadway League. For complete box office listings, visit the League’s website.