If you're hearing cash register dings over the din of car horns and buskers over by Broadway's Barrymore Theatre, that's just because the starry revival of Othello鈥攍ed by Denzel Washington in the title role opposite Jake Gyllenhaal's Iago鈥攊s officially raking it in. The Kenny Leon-directed and Brian Anthony Moreland-produced production was the top grosser on Broadway last week in its first week of previews, which had seven performances instead of Broadway's usual eight. The second week of previews featured that eighth performance and helped the show see the highest-grossing week of any Broadway play in history, beating Harry Potter and the Cursed Child's record from 2023鈥攁nd theirs included the always high-grossing New Year's Eve performance! Othello brought in $2.82 million, beating out Harry Potter's holiday week record of $2.72 million.
Steep tickets prices are continuing to drive the show's incredible success. The average paid price actually went down last week compared to the week previous鈥攆rom $362 to $338鈥攂ut with that extra performance, that hardly mattered. The top ticket is still landing at $897, which means there are people on this earth who are shelling out nearly a thousand buckaroos to see this show. Broadway thanks them dearly, needless to say.
The show has dethroned fellow top grosser Wicked, which flying high on the wild success of its film adaptation, has been seeing a dramatic resurgence at the Gershwin Theatre box office for the stage source material. The show got a history-making new cast last week, with Lencia Kebede becoming the first Black actor to play Elphaba full-time on Broadway and Jenna Bainbridge the first disabled actor to play Nessarose on stage anywhere. That casting seems to have resonated with audiences, with the weekly take going up by more than $67,000 for a grand total of $2.44 million. It's good to see them, isn't it?
Othello and Wicked took the number one and two spots on the Main Stem last week, with the rest of the top five going to usual suspects Hamilton, The Lion King, and The Outsiders.
Overall, hits like Othello are helping us begin to see Broadway come out of its sleepy winter, with cumulative grosses rising by almost 5% compared to the week prior despite having one less show for audiences to choose from. Almost 92% of seats were filled across the 26 currently-running plays and musicals, with average ticket price holding steady at a healthy $119.81.
It's an interesting week and moment in the season because, though several productions are still in previews and working on building an audience, no currently running shows played partial weeks last week. That means this week's grosses data has shows on the most level playing field we've seen in some time. Of course, lots of spring shows are waiting in the wings to join the illustrious list of current runners, which will likely send Broadway's fortunes rising even higher. Based on last week's performance, it looks like we can expect an exciting spring and summer.
Take a look at the full report here.
The $1 Million Club (shows that earned $1 million or more at the box office):
- Othello ($2.82 million)
- Wicked ($2.46 million)
- Hamilton
- The Lion King
- The Outsiders
- Gypsy
- MJ The Musical
- Aladdin
- Death Becomes Her
- Cabaret
- The Great Gatsby
- Sunset Boulevard
(12 of 26 currently running productions)
The 90s Club (shows that played to 90% or higher of their seats filled over the entire week):
- The Outsiders (101.75%)
- Hamilton (100.59%)
- Wicked (100%)
- Othello (100%)
- Operation Mincemeat (100%)
- The Lion King
- & Juliet
- Hadestown
- Aladdin
- Oh, Mary!
- The Book of Mormon
- Death Becomes Her
- Maybe Happy Ending
- Purpose
- Buena Vista Social Club
- Moulin Rouge! The Musical
- Cabaret
- The Great Gatsby
(18 of 26 currently running productions)
