Broadway Grosses w/e 7/23/2017: We’re at the tippity top.

If the Broadway season was Mt. Everest, we’d be at the summit.

It just can’t get much better than these July weeks.  And, actually, it never has been better than these July weeks.

Although we dropped around a tough $525k from last week, we’re still doing record business, with the season total up 20% over last year (which is a high benchmark to begin with).   And we’ve only got 30 shows on the boards. Imagine what we’d be doing if we were full.

Kinky Boots is kicking again with a $1.44mm gross, thanks to the unexpected box office juice provided by Brendon Urie (admit it – how many of you even knew Panic! at the Disco was a thing?).

But what has taken me, and I’m sure several Producers and certainly the theater owners, by surprise, is the strength of the plays during these heat wave weeks.  It’s typical for plays to close up shop in the summer, never mind open. But this summer has a bunch of plays doing decent business, including one that opened while most playgoers are in the Hamptons (1984).

And thus the curse of the summer play has been lifted, and I expect to see more plays opening up when school is out.

Being at the summit also means we have to come down.  And I’d expect we’ve got 1-2 more super solid weeks (probably not as good as these last two) and then we start what I call the September slide, as we drift downward towards the fall.

But until then, enjoy these grosses!

 Show Name   GrossGross  TotalAttn  %Capacity AvgPdAdm
1984 $396,758.08 5,908 76.13% $67.16
A BRONX TALE THE MUSICAL $727,891.15 7,617 91.20% $95.56
A DOLL’S HOUSE, PART 2 $646,909.50 6,150 99.19% $105.19
ALADDIN $1,839,957.00 5,130 97.34% $121.61
ANASTASIA $1,066,305.70 9,155 100.12% $116.47
BANDSTAND $577,662.83 6,782 82.07% $85.18
BEAUTIFUL $713,693.00 6,787 82.69% $105.16
CATS $786,774.50 9,085 82.59% $86.60
CHARLIE AND THE CHOCOLATE FACTORY $1,106,594.20 11,069 92.49% $99.97
CHICAGO $628,851.86 7,583 87.77% $82.93
COME FROM AWAY $1,286,300.00 8,528 101.91% $150.83
DEAR EVAN HANSEN $1,663,201.08 7,989 101.49% $208.19
GROUNDHOG DAY $694,455.05 7,960 81.03% $87.24
HAMILTON $3,033,266.00 10,756 101.78% $282.01
HELLO, DOLLY! $2,152,610.50 11,226 97.04% $191.75
INDECENT $482,574.80 7,187 83.73% $67.15
KINKY BOOTS $1,452,591.00 11,484 100.81% $126.49
MARVIN’S ROOM $216,869.90 3,888 66.21% $55.78
MISS SAIGON $685,166.00 8,241 69.84% $83.14
NATASHA, PIERRE & THE GREAT COMET OF 1812 $923,571.16 8,918 97.96% $103.56
ON YOUR FEET! $713,714.90 8,840 67.96% $80.74
SCHOOL OF ROCK $1,149,755.51 11,583 95.07% $99.26
THE BOOK OF MORMON $1,241,691.00 8,750 102.60% $141.91
THE LION KING $2,310,929.00 13,567 99.99% $170.33
THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA $1,143,127.90 12,635 98.40% $90.47
THE PLAY THAT GOES WRONG $362,701.50 5,504 80.56% $65.90
WAITRESS $787,855.00 7,797 93.27% $101.05
WAR PAINT $655,748.00 7,526 80.54% $87.13
WICKED $1,948,437.00 15,193 98.60% $128.25
TOTALS $31,395,963.12 262,838 90.01% $113.34
+/- THIS WEEK LAST SEASON +$4,813,808.68
PERCENTAGE +/- THIS WEEK LAST SEASON +18.11%

 

*Broadway Grosses courtesy of The Broadway League.

Podcasting

Ken created one of the first Broadway podcasts, recording over 250 episodes over 7 years. It features interviews with A-listers in the theater about how they “made it”, including 2 Pulitzer Prize Winners, 7 Academy Award Winners and 76 Tony Award winners. Notable guests include Pasek & Paul, Kenny Leon, Lynn Ahrens and more.

LEARN MORE