Broadway grosses fell from their Christmas highs last week, but still far above a typical week and more than 50 percent above the same week last season.
The grosses were propelled by the holidays as well as the planned closings of several shows, including Suffs, which ended its run Jan. 5 with its highest gross yet of $1.3 million. The musical, which won the 2024 Tony Awards for best book and best score and was co-produced by Hillary Clinton, opened at the Music Box Theatre on April 18, 2024.
Back to the Future also ended its run Jan. 5 after an 18-month run at the Winter Garden Theatre, with a gross of $1.9 million and an audience of more than 100 percent capacity. And holiday juggernaut Elf ended its run at the Marquis Theatre Jan. 4, bringing in $1.2 million over a shortened seven-performance week, and playing to 81 percent capacity, a drop after the Christmas season.
Wicked remained the top grossing show of the week, bringing in $3.3 million, its second highest gross of the year, after setting a record with its $5 million haul across nine shows the prior week. The Lion King was the next highest grossing in the industry, with $2.8 million, after bringing in $4.2 million over nine performances the prior week. Hamilton followed with $2.4 million brought in across eight performances, down more than $550,000 from the prior week.
Overall, the industry brought in more than $45 million last week, compared to close to $56 million in the prior week. The grosses were also impacted by five shows playing seven performances last week, which included New Year’s Day, rather than the typical eight or the expanded nine that select shows played across the Christmas week.
Still the $45 million industry gross is the third highest total for the industry of the season so far, coming in only behind Christmas week, the highest grossing week of the year, and the week surrounding Thanksgiving. Industry grosses are up 17 percent compared year-to-date compared to last season.
January and February are typically low-grossing months for the industry, prompting discounted ticketing programs, such as Broadway Week, but there are still two upcoming openings. The Pulitzer Prize-winning play English began previews at Roundabout’s Todd Haimes Theatre on Jan. 3, ahead of a Jan. 23 opening night, and new musical Redwood, starring Idina Menzel, is slated to start previews at the Nederlander Theatre Jan. 24, before opening Feb. 13.
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