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A slate of four new productions and renewed interest in a couple of old ones pushed Broadway box office up by 20% last week, with total receipts for the 24 shows reaching $24,954,517 and attendance climbing 14% to 201,321 for the week ending September 18.
Among the newcomers: Death of a Salesman, 1776, Cost of Living and Tom Stoppard’s Leopoldstadt. Waving goodbye was Dear Evan Hansen and announcing its upcoming departure was The Phantom of the Opera.
First, Hansen. The musical closed September 18, selling out for its final week and grossing a big $1,251,593. A run that began November 14, 2016, ended after having played 1,678 performances. It won the Tony for Best Musical.
And while it was too soon to see much of the Phantom hubbub on the week’s chart — the musical announced its February 18 closing on Friday, bringing an imminent end to 35 years of music of the night — the production saw a noticeable uptick in receipts: $964,172, up $96,175 from the previous week. Nearly 90% of the Majestic’s seats were filled, a figure that no doubt will increase as the end nears. The production reportedly sold about $2 million in advance sales in the 24 hours after the closing was announced.
Also likely to see some upward momentum in coming weeks is Funny Girl, which dropped by about a half-million dollars with star Lea Michele out with Covid last week. Still, the newly buzzy revival grossed $1,136,518 notwithstanding the star’s absence, and filled 84% of seats.
The four new shows weren’t yet up to their full eight-performance schedules last week, but attendance figures might be telling. The Roundabout’s revolutionary revival of the musical 1776 — the entire cast identifies as female, transgender and/or nonbinary — filled an impressive 91% of seats at the subscription-heavy venue, grossing $182,231 for three previews. Opening night at the American Airlines Theatre is October 6.
Death of a Salesman, the heralded London production starring Wendell Pierce and Sharon D Clarke, had one preview at the Hudson, filling 98% of seats and grossing $93,114. Opening night is October 9.
Leopoldstadt had five previews at the Longacre, selling 76% of its tickets for a $556,493 gross. Its opening night is October 2.
Cost of Living, Martyna Majok’s 2018 Pulitzer Prize winner playing at the Friedman in a Manhattan Theatre Club production, had six previews, grossed $120,787 and filled nearly 80% of seats. Opening night is October 3.
Season to date, Broadway has grossed $474,777,678, with total attendance of 3,702,991 at about 87% of capacity.
The 24 productions reporting figures on Broadway last week were 1776, Aladdin, Beetlejuice, The Book of Mormon, Chicago, Come From Away, Cost of Living, Dear Evan Hansen, Death of a Salesman, Funny Girl, Hadestown, Hamilton, Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, Into the Woods, The Kite Runner, Leopoldstadt, The Lion King, The Music Man, MJ, Moulin Rouge!, The Phantom of the Opera, Six, A Strange Loop and Wicked.
All figures courtesy of the Broadway League.