Star-led plays are officially dominating Broadway, as they have been for several weeks. Good Night, and Good Luck, co-written and starring George Clooney, appears to have taken the mantle as Broadway's consistent top grosser, bringing in $3.28 million last week. High ticket prices plus large theatres that normally only house musicals are proving to be a recipe for big returns. Othello, led by Denzel Washington and Jake Gyllenhaal, is smoking the competition in terms of average ticket price�$378.73 versus Good Night, and Good Luck's $298.83. But with 500 more seats at Good Night, and Good Luck's Winter Garden Theatre versus Othello's Ethel Barrymore, the former is likely to be the perennial winner.
While it didn't make the top five, Glengarry Glen Ross' strategy of above-title stars and a house larger than is typical for the intimate David Mamet play (the production is housed at the 1,306-seat Palace Theatre) is also bringing in impressive grosses, ranking sixth with $2.1 million last week. It looks like as long as we have these three productions running on the Main Stem, we can expect them to dominate the weekly grosses.
Othello, in particular, saw a steep increase at the box office after its opening night, bringing in over $600,000 more than the week prior following its March 23 opening. Also seeing a big increase was Cabaret, with theatregoers ostensibly running to catch the final performances of stars Adam Lambert and Auli'i Cravalho, who took their last bows in the revival March 29. The box office saw almost $200,000 more in sales, with an average ticket price of $178.34. This week, the production says willkommen to Orville Peck and Eva Noblezada, which might send that box office even higher—stay tuned.
Stranger Things: The First Shadow, a West End transfer of a new play inspired by Netflix's Stranger Things series, also made a strong start last week, playing its first two previews to a box office of $433,725. If that performance continues, that will put the show at well over $1 million and in striking distance of joining The $2 Million Club.
Overall, Broadway is solidly in spring high season, with cumulative grosses rising by more than 6% to $43.84 million since the week prior, with an average ticket price of $140.78 across the 36 currently running shows. And as has been true this entire season, seats are filled�95% of them, in fact. Last week, 311,399 tickets were sold on Broadway.
Just about 30% of that cumulative gross is from plays on Broadway�$13.03 million. That's not the usual story on a typically musical-driven Broadway, but it feels safe to say that this Broadway season is being dominated by plays. Does that mean we can expect more high-profile straight plays, especially ones starring Hollywood A-listers? Only time will tell.
Take a look at the full report here.
The $1 Million Club (shows that earned $1 million or more at the box office):
- Good Night, And Good Luck ($3.3 million)
- Othello ($3.16 million)
- Wicked ($2.56 million)
- Hamilton ($2.12 million)
- The Lion King ($2.11 million)
- Glengarry Glen Ross ($2.1 million)
- Cabaret
- The Outsiders
- Gypsy
- Aladdin
- MJ The Musical
- The Great Gatsby
- Death Becomes Her
- Moulin Rouge! The Musical
- Hell's Kitchen
- Harry Potter and the Cursed Child
- Oh, Mary!
- Sunset Boulevard
- The Picture of Dorian Gray
- & Juliet
(20 of 36 currently running productions)
The 90s Club (shows that played to 90% or higher of their seats filled over the entire week):
- The Outsiders (102.44%)
- Good Night, And Good Luck (101.57%)
- John Proctor is the Villain (100.96%)
- Hamilton (100.85%)
- The Picture of Dorian Gray (100.57%)
- Glengarry Glen Ross (100.53%)
- Hadestown (100.38%)
- Wicked (100%)
- Stranger Things: The First Shadow (100%)
- Othello (100%)
- Floyd Collins (100%)
- Cabaret
- Stephen Sondheim's Old Friends
- The Last Five Years
- Operation Mincemeat
- & Juliet
- The Great Gatsby
- Oh, Mary!
- The Lion King
- Buena Vista Social Club
- Maybe Happy Ending
- Aladdin
- Purpose
- Moulin Rouge! The Musical
- The Book of Mormon
- Death Becomes Her
- Harry Potter and the Cursed Child
- SIX: The Musical
- BOOP! The Musical
(29 of 36 currently running productions)
