In the week leading up to the Thanksgiving holiday, Broadway experienced a decrease in gross and attendance; the total Broadway box office had increased in both areas over the two previous weeks.
For the week ending Nov. 19, the 29 Broadway offerings grossed a total of $27,060113, a 7.2% decrease from the prior week. Attendance was down 3.1%, accounting for 228,423 admissions on the Main Stem. Capacity-wise, theatergoers filled 85.8% of seats — down 4.8% from the earlier week.
Of the 29 productions running, 22 reported a decrease when compared to the week before.
Ten productions grossed over $1 million: “& Juliet,” “Aladdin,” “Back to the Future,” “Hamilton,” “Harry Potter and the Cursed Child,” “MJ,” “Moulin Rouge!,” “The Lion King,” “Wicked” and “Merrily We Roll Along,” which broke another house record for eight performances at the Hudson Theatre, taking in $1,884,080. (“The Lion King” breached the $2 million mark.)
The top-three earners for the week were “The Lion King” ($2,044,902), “Merrily” ($1,884,080) and “Wicked” ($1,780,950).
Once again, “Merrily” posted the highest average paid admission of the week: $243.80. “Hamilton,” at $166.70, had the second-highest. “The Lion King” took the third spot, at $158.02. “Spamalot,” which opened on Nov. 16, saw the week’s lowest average paid admission, at $62.96.
“The Lion King” saw the largest dollar increase, taking in $54,008 more than the previous week.
Attendance-wise, 13 productions saw their seats filled to 90% or more: “& Juliet,” “Aladdin,” “Hadestown,” “Hamilton,” “Here Lies Love,” “I Need That,” “Jaja’s African Hair Braiding,” “Moulin Rouge!,” “Sweeney Todd,” “The Book of Mormon,” “The Lion King,” “Wicked” and “Merrily,” which played to 100% capacity.
Of note, “Jaja’s African Hair Braiding,” which closed on Nov. 19 at Manhattan Theatre Club’s Samuel J. Friedman Theatre, livestreamed its final week of performances. The tickets purchased for the livestream are not accounted for in the grosses report. (This follows a precedent set by the livestreams of both “Clyde’s” and “Between Riverside and Crazy.”)
In addition to “Jaja’s,” Broadway bid farewell to “Melissa Etheridge: My Window” and “The Shark Is Broken,” which also completed their limited runs on Nov. 19.
“My Window” took in $371,784, a $43,239 increase from the week prior. “The Shark Is Broken” earned $346,797 in its final week.
In its first slate of performances, the new musical “How to Dance in to Ohio” took in $315,339 across six previews, filling the Belasco Theatre to 79.3%.
This was the 26th week of the 2023-2024 season, marking the halfway point of the 52-week Broadway season. Compared to the same week in the 2022-2023 season, Broadway grossed 12.5% less this past week, with a 12.5% drop in admissions, but capacity-wise filled 3.1% more seats.
When looking at the season to date compared to this point in time last year, Broadway has seen 6,037,408 admissions to date: a 3.9% increase. Additionally, this season is ahead 0.3% in gross, having taken in a total $735,145,429 thus far.
