Broadway Grosses: Week Ending 10/27/24

[Rob]

Posted: 10/29/24 at 12:30pm

Click below to access all the Broadway grosses from all the shows for the week ending 10/27/2024 in BroadwayWorld's grosses section.

Also, you will find information on each show's historical grosses, cumulative grosses and other statistics on how each show stacked up this week and in the past.

Click Here to Visit the Broadway Grosses...

Up for the week by attendance (% of capacity) was: JOB (10.3%), YELLOW FACE (4.2%), HAMILTON (2.2%), MJ THE MUSICAL (1.5%), LEFT ON TENTH (1%), ALADDIN (0.4%), THE LION KING (0.4%),

Down for the week by attendance (% of capacity) was: THE NOTEBOOK (-15%), WATER FOR ELEPHANTS (-13.5%), SIX (-11.5%), TAMMY FAYE (-10%), BACK TO THE FUTURE: THE MUSICAL (-9%), A WONDERFUL WORLD: THE LOUIS ARMSTRONG MUSICAL (-8.7%), CHICAGO (-8.2%), CABARET AT THE KIT KAT CLUB (-7.1%), HARRY POTTER AND THE CURSED CHILD (-7.1%), OUR TOWN (-5.2%), HADESTOWN (-5.2%), MOULIN ROUGE! THE MUSICAL (-4.7%), THE GREAT GATSBY (-4.6%), THE ROOMMATE (-4.5%), ONCE UPON A MATTRESS (-2.8%), THE BOOK OF MORMON (-2.8%), & JULIET (-2.3%), HELL'S KITCHEN (-2%), SUFFS (-1.9%), ROMEO + JULIET (-1.7%), THE HILLS OF CALIFORNIA (-1.5%), MAYBE HAPPY ENDING (-1.5%), SUNSET BLVD. (-1.4%), STEREOPHONIC (-0.6%), WICKED (-0.3%), THE OUTSIDERS (-0.1%),

Click Here to Visit the BroadwayWorld Grosses...

[OhHiii]

Posted: 10/29/24 at 12:43pm

Holy crap that Sunset jump. Even having an additional 2 performances, that's quite impressive. All the buzz around opening clearly having an effect. Looking forward to seeing how it continues. The press hits have been one after the other, so it's definitely got momentum.

I still say Moulin Rouge is not long for this world with these numbers. It's not like a Hadestown that can drop in just an ok singer into Eurydice to draw in TikTok audiences. The music catalogue is dated as hell and the vocal tracks for Satine and Christian are hard. It may not close in the next few months, but it's not going to be a Broadway staple like other older shows. That is, unless they do something radical and close/re-open it with new music or something.

Wonderful World, Tammy Faye and Maybe Happy Ending are really on death's door already. From reviews from users on here, it doesn't seem as if any are good enough to galvanize word of mouth except Maybe Happy Ending and even then, the reviews are "charming" "such a sweet show" which, as we know is not a money-making word of mouth strategy. The only true word of mouth shows, the sentiment is "you have to see this" and none of these are getting that.

[TigerBait88]

Posted: 10/29/24 at 12:43pm

So confused by the capacity numbers for MAYBE HAPPY ENDING. The first few shows this past week seemed to sell out on Telecharge and at least one of those shows wasn’t on TKTS at all and one of them was taken off of there by two hours before showtime. For the rest of the week, only a handful of tix were showing up as available at all. Nowhere near the 20% being unsold that’s shown here.
 

Were they holding a ton for rush and those didn’t sell due to sight lines being a big deal for this show? What gives? 

Updated On: 10/29/24 at 12:43 PM

[OhHiii]

Posted: 10/29/24 at 12:52pm

TigerBait88 said: "So confused by the capacity numbers for MAYBE HAPPY ENDING. The first few shows this past week seemed to sell out on Telecharge and at least one of those shows wasn’t on TKTS at all and one of them was taken off of there by two hours before showtime, For the rest of the week, only a handful of tix were showing up as available at all. Nowhere near the 20% being unsold that’s shown here.


Were they holding a ton for rush and those didn’t sell due to sight lines being a big deal for this show? What gives?"

I feel like we were questioning something similar with Once Upon A One More Time last year. The map would be *empty* i mean EMPTY and then 24-36 hours before the show, the house looked completely different. And we all know that show was not packing 'em in...

[BETTY22]

Posted: 10/29/24 at 12:54pm

WOW - Sunset is a monster hit without NYT

[TigerBait88]

Posted: 10/29/24 at 1:06pm

OhHiii said: "TigerBait88 said: "So confused by the capacity numbers for MAYBE HAPPY ENDING. The first few shows this past week seemed to sell out on Telecharge and at least one of those shows wasn’t on TKTS at all and one of them was taken off of there by two hours before showtime, For the rest of the week, only a handful of tix were showing up as available at all. Nowhere near the 20% being unsold that’s shown here.


Were they holding a ton for rush and those didn’t sell due to sight lines being a big deal for this show? What gives?"

I feel like we were questioning something similar with Once Upon A One More Time last year. The map would be *empty* i mean EMPTY and then 24-36 hours before the show, the house looked completely different. And we all know that show was not packing 'em in..."

I’m not sure that’s what’s happening here though unless I’m mistaken by what you mean. When I looked last week at this week’s ticket maps, they seemed to be about 80% sold on the average and as days went by, the tickets seemed to sell in a normal trickle. I never saw any sort of last minute large dump of tickets (maybe like 6 or so a couple hours out once when I checked) and I was checking the map religiously to see how the show was doing. The availability also seemed to correlate with what was available at TKTS too so nothing seemed odd at the time. Also, I’d think we’d be hearing anecdotal evidence of 1/3 empty houses if this were true. This just doesn’t make any sense to me. 

[OhHiii]

Posted: 10/29/24 at 1:09pm

They're likely heavily papering, so they may have pulled those tickets farther in advance than typical to help fill the houses in previews. The thing is, once you paper like that, you're not going back.

[TigerBait88]

Posted: 10/29/24 at 1:15pm

OhHiii said: "They're likely heavily papering, so they may have pulled those tickets farther in advance than typical to help fill the houses in previews. The thing is, once you paper like that, you're not going back."

That seems to be the only explanation. Sigh, just want this show to make it until opening to see if a great night of reviews can give it the boost it needs. 

[GottaGetAGimmick420]

Posted: 10/29/24 at 1:22pm

TigerBait88 said: "OhHiii said: "They're likely heavily papering, so they may have pulled those tickets farther in advance than typical to help fill the houses in previews. The thing is, once you paper like that, you're not going back."

That seems to be the only explanation. Sigh, just want this show to make it until opening to see if a great night of reviews can give it the boost it needs."

I didn't realize MHE officially opened on November 12th... That's a long way to go. Maybe they should've kept their original dates? Or have those passed already?

[EDSOSLO858]

Posted: 10/29/24 at 1:27pm

GottaGetAGimmick420 said: "TigerBait88 said: "OhHiii said: "They're likely heavily papering, so they may have pulled those tickets farther in advance than typical to help fill the houses in previews. The thing is, once you paper like that, you're not going back."

That seems to be the only explanation. Sigh, just want this show to make it until opening to see if a great night of reviews can give it the boost it needs."

I didn't realize MHE officially opened on November 12th... That's a long way to go. Maybe they should've kept their original dates? Or have those passed already?"

Those dates have passed already (September 18 previews, October 17 opening). 

[Lot666]

Posted: 10/29/24 at 1:45pm

BETTY22 said: "WOW - Sunset is a monster hit without NYT"

And this news just warms my heart.

[witchoftheeast2]

Posted: 10/29/24 at 2:53pm

Is there cause for concern with Six? They haven't announced a new cast yet, their numbers keep dipping. Or is it fine because the show is relatively cheap to run and they've recouped?

[Call_me_jorge]

Posted: 10/29/24 at 2:54pm

I definitely think Six is on its way to New World Stages

[Sauja]

Posted: 10/29/24 at 3:17pm

I know you can't tell much from the first few previews, but that Death Becomes Her was at $571K in three performances even though Megan Hilty was out at least one night (possibly just one?)...that feels like a pretty great start.

 

And I too am very happy about the Sunset numbers. I love this production, and I'm thrilled that it seems the mixed reviews haven't sunk it.

[OhHiii]

Posted: 10/29/24 at 3:56pm

Call_me_jorge said: "I definitely think Six is on its way to New World Stages"

Or Stage 42 would be an excellent venue for it too.

[EDSOSLO858]

Posted: 10/29/24 at 4:04pm

Call_me_jorge said: "I definitely think Six is on its way to New World Stages"

I feel it's specifically destined for Stage 4 at New World, in the footsteps of its American brother musical ALTAR BOYZ!

And a McCollum production happens to be on that stage right now...

[JSquared2]

Posted: 10/29/24 at 4:32pm

witchoftheeast2 said: "Is there cause for concern with Six? They haven't announced a new cast yet, their numbers keep dipping. Or is it fine because the show is relatively cheap to run and they've recouped?"

 

The show costs next to nothing, and makes a profit every week, so it'll stay open until either the theatre owner or the producer has another "hot" show to put in.

 

[CoffeeBreak]

Posted: 10/29/24 at 7:27pm

with the reviews  and numbers for left on tenth is it closing early?

[ACL2006]

Posted: 10/29/24 at 9:16pm

A shame that 3 new musicals are already labeled as flops: A Wonderful World, Maybe Happy Ending, & Tammy Faye.

[TigerBait88]

Posted: 10/29/24 at 9:37pm

ACL2006 said: "A shame that 3 new musicals are already labeled as flops: A Wonderful World, Maybe Happy Ending, & Tammy Faye."

I think MHE still has a chance. The person who does the grosses analysis on r/Broadway agrees with me that MHE seems to be selling decently well but that they obviously papered heavily when advance tix before first preview weren’t selling at all. Word of mouth still continues to be good and a good review from the NYT could get this show to the spring. However, it’s got a long hard fight though in the meantime. 

[ColorTheHours048]

Posted: 10/29/24 at 11:47pm

To be a fly on the wall of the meeting where they decided to extend Hills of California. What in the world were they thinking?

[GottaGetAGimmick420]

Posted: 10/30/24 at 12:22am

TigerBait88 said: "ACL2006 said: "A shame that 3 new musicals are already labeled as flops: A Wonderful World, Maybe Happy Ending, & Tammy Faye."

I think MHE still has a chance. The person who does the grosses analysis on r/Broadway agrees with me that MHE seems to be selling decently well but that they obviously papered heavily when advance tix before first preview weren’t selling at all.Word of mouth still continues to be good and a good review from the NYT could get this show to the spring. However, it’sgot a long hard fight though in the meantime."

I thought it was confirmed that person is a college student — Ken Davenport did an article about him

[ErmengardeStopSniveling]

Posted: 10/30/24 at 1:08am

Is there any contemporary precedent for a new musical starting as low as Maybe Happy Ending going on to recoup & have a sustainable run? Even Gentleman's Guide — oft cited as “the little show that could” — started better, and that was 11 years ago.

There were also people here saying “surely it will do better in week 2 now that word of mouth & more advertising is happening.” Yet they were even lower this week.

(I’m aware that they only did six previews the past 2 weeks)

[Ensemble1726583963]

Posted: 10/30/24 at 1:47am

Wouldn't these numbers be expected by the MHE producers/investors though? I mean, when your average ticket price is so low and you're apparently papering like crazy, how could they be doing any better? I'm not saying this is a winning strategy or anything, just that given the (self-imposed) constraints, I don't think they're doing too badly. Obviously it can't continue beyond previews, but I don't think anything definitive can be gleaned just yet.

[Ravanne_1]

Posted: 10/30/24 at 3:59am

PaigeTurner2 said: "Wouldn't these numbers be expected bythe MHE producers/investors though? I mean, when your average ticket price is so low and you're apparently papering like crazy, how could they be doing any better? I'm not saying this is a winning strategy or anything, just that given the (self-imposed) constraints, I don't think they're doing too badly. Obviously it can't continue beyond previews, but I don't think anything definitive can begleaned just yet."

There is only so long that a show, even a pretty modest one like MHE, can survive by selling tickets at below operating cost prices. The biggest issue is that even with selling the cheapest tickets that they're not getting butts in the seats. There  are a lot of things working against MYE. It's a pretty out there concept for Broadway and it's a relatively small show with no huge names to market or the kind of spectacle that the average Broadway audience expects. I know that Darren Criss has a following, but he's not Eddie Redmayne is his ability to bring in an audience (and it's not reasonable to expect that he would be able to). Add in the factors like the twice-delayed opening and it's not a surprise that the show is in the situation that it is.

Previews are valuable in gaging interest and buzz about a show and outside of boards like this, there just isn't a whole lot of interest in MHE. The next two weeks before opening night are going to be critical. Unless they can start filling the theater without nearly giving tickets away, it's not going to survive. 

Updated On: 10/30/24 at 03:59 AM