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Some recent Broadway arrivals added both star power and box office receipts to the weekly grosses reports, with both Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street and Parade selling out (the latter despite some loudmouthed neo-Nazi protesters), and A Doll’s House starring Jessica Chastain and Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Bad Cinderella coming close.
The musical revival Parade, starring Ben Platt as Leo Frank and Micaela Diamond as wife Lucille Frank, played four preview performances last week – only one of which, the first, drew the antisemitic protesters – and was at standing room only, grossing $587,006 with an average ticket price of $143.24. The Alfred Uhry-Jason Robert Brown musical, directed by Michael Arden, opens at the Bernard B. Jacobs Theatre on March 16.
Sweeney Todd, the revival of the acclaimed Stephen Sondheim-Hugh Wheeler musical starring Josh Groban and Annaleigh Ashford at the Lunt-Fontanne, sold out its first preview, taking in $260,691 for the one performance, with a sturdy $174.03 average ticket. The revival, directed by Hamilton‘s Thomas Kail, has its opening night on March 26.
A Doll’s House, starring Jessica Chastain in a high-profile revival of the Ibsen classic adapted by Amy Herzog and directed by Jamie Lloyd, took in a hefty $811,261, filling 95% of seats at the Hudson, with an average ticket of $112.32. Opening night is March 9.
Bad Cinderella, the new ALW-David Zippel musical reimagining of the classic fairy tale (Linedy Genao and Carolee Carmello star), played to 93% of capacity at the Imperial, grossing $684,822 for seven previews. Average ticket was a reasonable $75.20. Opening night is March 23.
Another notable figure: Funny Girl was down $949,604 from the previous week, taking in $933,728 with about 84% of seats filled at the August Wilson. Why the drop? Stars Lea Michele and Ramin Karimloo were both on scheduled vacations. Costar Tovah Feldshuh was off for three performances.
In all, the 23 Broadway shows on the board for the week ending Feb. 26 took in a total of $25,832,430, a slight dip from the previous week, with total attendance of 201,951 actually up a bit. A lower average ticket price than the previous week no doubt impacted the total gross ($127.91 compared to $138.01 during the Presidents’ Day holiday week).
Season to date, Broadway has grossed $1,187,687,867, with total attendance of 9,162,970 holding steady at 88% of capacity.
All figures courtesy of The Broadway League. For the complete box office listings, visit the League’s website.