Broadway Grosses: Week Ending 11/17/24

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.

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Up for the week by attendance (% of capacity) was: YELLOW FACE (6.7%), MAYBE HAPPY ENDING (4.9%), TAMMY FAYE (4.3%), HAMILTON (2.7%), OUR TOWN (2.5%), CABARET AT THE KIT KAT CLUB (1.6%),

Down for the week by attendance (% of capacity) was: BACK TO THE FUTURE: THE MUSICAL (-23.2%), CHICAGO (-14.4%), THE GREAT GATSBY (-8.9%), MJ THE MUSICAL (-8.4%), & JULIET (-8.2%), MOULIN ROUGE! THE MUSICAL (-7.2%), THE NOTEBOOK (-7.1%), HELL'S KITCHEN (-5.9%), WATER FOR ELEPHANTS (-4.9%), THE BOOK OF MORMON (-4.9%), THE LION KING (-4.2%), ELF (-4%), LEFT ON TENTH (-3.8%), HADESTOWN (-3.3%), SWEPT AWAY (-2.2%), SUNSET BLVD. (-2%), ALADDIN (-2%), DEATH BECOMES HER (-1.9%), SUFFS (-1.9%), THE ROOMMATE (-1.8%), THE HILLS OF CALIFORNIA (-1.5%), ONCE UPON A MATTRESS (-1.1%), SIX (-1%), THE OUTSIDERS (-0.6%), HARRY POTTER AND THE CURSED CHILD (-0.4%), A WONDERFUL WORLD: THE LOUIS ARMSTRONG MUSICAL (-0.2%), STEREOPHONIC (-0.1%),

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Tammy's uptick in attendance was due to its opening week- houses leading up to the opening were papered for critics and then of course the opening night itself. But the fact it only went up 4% in attendance is a terrible sign, on top of it grossing what I have to imagine is much less than half its weekly cost. I would be shocked if we don't get a closing announcement in the coming days, this just isn't even remotely sustainable, regardless of the deep pockets behind it.

MHE has a nice bounce that will likely encourage its producers to hold on, but it really needs to grow that substantially and very quickly. The holiday weeks could help, but it is really, really hard to emerge out of such a hole.

Attendance is recorded by tickets scanned upon entry.

MHE has a nice bounce that will likely encourage its producers to hold on, but it really needs to grow that substantially and very quickly. The holiday weeks could help, but it is really, really hard to emerge out of such a hole."

MHE did not have much of a bounce at all. 4.9% in attendance and a tiny adjustment in average ticket price. We would be looking for a closing date. The Shuberts won't go for those numbers.

Updated On: 11/19/24 at 01:38 PM

Just moved a trip from April to January to try and see Maybe Happy Ending before it closes but it seems closing will be announced soon. These numbers even after all the great reviews still indicate a big financial loss. I am so heartbroken. Don’t think I can afford a trip any sooner than first week of January…

I am so confused though, as others have suggested, the capacity number seems odd. MHE seemed to sell out at least three shows this week through several points of evidence. The capacity seems quite low then because the ticket maps and TKTS availability didn’t suggest 70% houses for the other half of the performances. Just…odd.

Updated On: 11/19/24 at 01:49 PM

MHE is on life support. The reviews are basically the ventilator, but these numbers just are not good for a brand new show that got strong reviews. They have not made back their operating costs since previews started and if numbers trend like this for the next week or so, I'll expect a closing announcement before the end of the year.

It wasn't a great week because a lot of shows are down, but when shows are regularly pulling in $1 million plus per week, they can stand the occasional weaker week. But it looks like all of the recently opened shows are just barely treading water. This is a really strange season and the new few weeks are going to be critical to see if any of them survive past the holidays.

Dkinny23 said: "Don't quote me, but I believe it's because they don't sell all of the seats in the theater. If you look at almost any future show, all of the extreme sides are greyed out for every single show, in addition to a few other seats that are directly behind poles. I don't think it's because those tickets have been bought. I think it's because of the sightlines.!"

The Belasco has a maximum capacity of 1,016 seats, but given the obstruction issues cause by the set they have blocked off sections as unsellable. The grosses table show a maximum capacity of 7,904 seats for the week, and when you divide that by the 8 performances, that ends up being 988 seats per performance as their maximum. I then look at the number of unsold seats to get a better sense of how the show is selling. There are currently (as of 11am when I last checked) 388 seats available for the 7pm show on Friday and 423 seats for 7pm on Saturday. No matter how you break it down, these are not good capacity numbers. Obviously, I do expect a good percentage of the seats to sell before showtime, but this is not a show that is selling out by any stretch of the imagination. Even with the regulars discounts being made available.

I just noticed Sunset beat Lion King, wow!

Closing notice for Tammy Faye is up. 12/8

Hold on until noms? They're fighting to make it to the first of the year.

I had mentioned yesterday that our total gross at the season's midway point was 12% higher than the same point in 2023-24... out of curiosity, I just did the math and our current total gross marks just over a 2.5% decrease from the first half of 2019-20. (It concluded the week ending November 24, 2019, before COVID cases were first reported in Wuhan and the pandemic started to escalate.)

37 shows were running last week, compared to 35 of them five years ago at this time.

Updated On: 11/20/24 at 02:57 PM

QueenAlice said: "A friend commented this week that rush for Maybe Happy Ending is in the balcony with an extremely obstructed view because of the set. He still loved the show, but I couldn't help but think - for a show that is struggling, wouldn't it be a better idea to offer better seats for rush? I feel like people who rush shows are some of the people who speak most passionately about it afterwards. They need all the good PR they can get..."

I would assume their plan is to use the cheaper tickets for rush (which end up being obstructed view) to allow people to actually purchase the more expensive and full price tickets. Also the people who end up getting rush, undoubtedly loving the show, will then want to splurge on a full price ticket for a much better view. I get your sentiment but believe this is their strategy for a reason.

I can speak on my own balcony rush ticket (center balcony row F seat 101). I actually didn't find it all that terrible. It definitely wasn't the best seat in the house and I felt very far away. I had to lean forward anytime they went to the front of the stage, but truthfully nothing all that important happens when they are up there and it's not all that often. The majority of what you want to see (the amazing set, transition scenes, and hologram screens) are all fully visible from the balcony. Obviously center balcony being better than the sides. I was bummed when I got balcony for rush and attempted to exchange it or even stand (which they didn't let me do) but by the end of the show I was actually quite pleased with my seat. That being said, I just bought seats for center mezzanine for next month (hopefully it stays open) to get a better, more direct view.