[Broadway Grosses w/e 3/20/2022] Raising the curtain on the individual show grosses!
The year started with no grosses.
And when things were a little better than anyone expected, The League started releasing aggregated grosses.
Then when things were a little better than anyone expected, The League started releasing individual show grosses just to members.
Then, when things were even better than anyone expected (and when the leaks started), The League announced they would go back to releasing individual show grosses to the public.
Honestly, I was surprised. There were a lot of side bets going that The League would NEVER release grosses ever again.
So yesterday, we all got a first glimpse at how everyone was doing.
And guess what? IT WAS BETTER THAN ANYONE EXPECTED!!!
As soon as the grosses hit League Member inboxes, you could hear the iPhone *dings* of text messages all over Broadway.
“Did you see those Music Man #s??”
“Phantom is doing $1mm!”
“I guess going to one act was the right thing on Harry Potter!”
Everyone I spoke to was overjoyed with where we were last week. Because imagine where we’ll be six months from now.
And yes, the headline was $3.4mm at The Hugh Jackman, uh, I mean The Music Man. But I took so much more away from the grosses than that.
1. When there are shows people want to see, nothing will stop them from buying tickets.
Not price, not masks, not anything. Yes, stars matter, but Hamilton did $2.2. Six did $1.2mm. Whose starring in those? Make sure your show is unique, however you can, and you will sell tickets, even emerging from a pandemic.
2. The Pent Up Demand Is Real
Here’s something: Omicron may have helped. It made us push down the urge we all had to go to the theater AGAIN. And when you keep pushing something down, it pops back up even stronger than it was.
3. Don’t tell me Tourists Aren’t Coming To NYC.
Last week was Spring Break. That is one of the reasons grosses were so high. But hey, that means people were coming to NYC for Spring Break! And if you live/work in Times Square you know exactly what I’m talking about. And you were probably dodging tourists just like me. (And I’ll give you a stern talking to if you complained about it!). The tourists are coming. The tourists are coming. And I think the summer is going to be spectacular.
We’re not out of the pandemic woods yet. There were few shows running last week than in previous years. The tourists need to come back in much greater numbers to fill 40 theaters. And some shows were a bit softer than they should be at this point.
But these overall numbers prove, once again, that our comeback is coming back faster than anyone expected.
The grosses are below. And every week you’ll get them right here, along with a little commentary from me. Sign up here to make sure you get them in your inbox.
Check out the grosses for the week ending in March 20, 2022.
| Show Name | Gross | TotalAttn | Capacity | %Capacity | Avg. Paid Admission |
| ALADDIN | $1,201,219.15 | 13,386 | 13,816 | 96.89% | $89.74 |
| AMERICAN UTOPIA | $977,736.10 | 8,896 | 9,054 | 98.25% | $109.91 |
| BIRTHDAY CANDLES | $148,611.00 | 2,111 | 2,181 | 96.79% | $70.40 |
| CHICAGO | $587,788.32 | 6,687 | 8,640 | 77.40% | $87.90 |
| COME FROM AWAY | $620,294.30 | 7,061 | 8,368 | 84.38% | $87.85 |
| COMPANY | $889,139.99 | 7,833 | 8,368 | 93.61% | $113.51 |
| DEAR EVAN HANSEN | $814,752.25 | 6,870 | 7,872 | 87.27% | $118.60 |
| HADESTOWN | $1,104,678.10 | 7,428 | 7,344 | 101.14% | $148.72 |
| HAMILTON | $2,272,219.00 | 10,667 | 10,592 | 100.71% | $213.01 |
| HARRY POTTER AND THE CURSED CHILD | $1,704,152.10 | 12,031 | 12,976 | 92.72% | $141.65 |
| MJ THE MUSICAL | $1,314,240.70 | 10,270 | 11,096 | 92.56% | $127.97 |
| MOULIN ROUGE! THE MUSICAL | $1,381,323.45 | 9,705 | 10,400 | 93.32% | $142.33 |
| PARADISE SQUARE | $355,401.00 | 7,588 | 7,848 | 96.69% | $46.84 |
| PLAZA SUITE | $1,657,089.80 | 7,792 | 7,800 | 99.90% | $212.67 |
| SIX | $1,284,951.00 | 8,252 | 8,248 | 100.05% | $155.71 |
| TAKE ME OUT | $351,019.03 | 4,045 | 4,680 | 86.43% | $86.78 |
| THE BOOK OF MORMON | $1,080,338.06 | 8,442 | 8,528 | 98.99% | $127.97 |
| THE LION KING | $1,778,641.00 | 13,399 | 13,568 | 98.75% | $132.74 |
| THE MUSIC MAN | $3,451,723.68 | 12,185 | 12,200 | 99.88% | $283.28 |
| THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA | $959,191.06 | 10,019 | 12,840 | 78.03% | $95.74 |
| TINA – THE TINA TURNER MUSICAL | $778,221.50 | 6,471 | 11,824 | 54.73% | $120.26 |
| WICKED | $1,944,704.00 | 14,901 | 14,932 | 99.79% | $130.51 |
For more behind-the-scenes of the industry, follow me on Instagram: @kendavenportbway
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