Broadway Grosses: Week Ending 9/22/19

[Rob]

Posted: 9/23/19 at 3:21pm

Click below to access all the Broadway grosses from all the shows for the week ending 9/22/2019 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 was: THE HEIGHT OF THE STORM (6.2%), THE LION KING (2.4%), TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD (0.4%),

Down for the week by attendance was: DERREN BROWN: SECRET (-30%), WAITRESS (-22.4%), THE SOUND INSIDE (-19.9%), BETRAYAL (-17.6%), WICKED (-15.5%), THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA (-13.3%), CHICAGO (-13.2%), ALADDIN (-9.6%), TOOTSIE (-6.6%), FROZEN (-6.1%), THE GREAT SOCIETY (-5.3%), OKLAHOMA! (-4.9%), DEAR EVAN HANSEN (-4.8%), MEAN GIRLS (-4.6%), FREESTYLE LOVE SUPREME (-3.1%), THE BOOK OF MORMON (-2.6%), SEA WALL/A LIFE (-2.5%), BEETLEJUICE (-2.3%), BEAUTIFUL (-1.9%), AIN'T TOO PROUD (-0.6%), HADESTOWN (-0.2%), SLAVE PLAY (-0.2%),

Click Here to Visit the BroadwayWorld Grosses...

Sponsored By: The Book of Mormon - The New York Times calls The Book of Mormon "the best musical of this century." The Washington Post says, "It is the kind of evening that restores your faith in musicals." And Entertainment Weekly says, "Grade A: the funniest musical of all time." Jimmy Fallon of The Tonight Show calls it "Genius. Brilliant. Phenomenal." The Book of Mormon, the nine-time Tony Award®-winning Best Musical.

[binau]

Posted: 9/23/19 at 3:25pm

Wow, Frozen. Is this their lowest week ever? 

[Mike Barrett]

Posted: 9/23/19 at 3:40pm

I really wonder what Frozen looks like a year from now, nearly a year after the 2nd film has released. Will it bring the show back into the mainstream or will people feel it’s now dated because of the sequel? Likely depends on how Frozen 2 does. I say we have 2 years max left though at the St James. Plenty of time to work Hercules or a Beauty And The Beast revival into that space :)

[JBroadway]

Posted: 9/23/19 at 3:44pm

Is there any particular reason that a select few of this week's shows had 6-figure declines? In particular, Waitress went down almost $300K, while shows like Frozen, Wicked, Aladdin, Betrayal and Tootsie also went down over $100,000. Presumably the kids had already gone back to school before this week, so that wouldn't explain it. Maybe it's just the beginning of lower fall pricing, but for some of these shows the price drop also came with a noticeable capacity drop. 

[ErmengardeStopSniveling]

Posted: 9/23/19 at 3:47pm

Broadway Week ended the 16th. So, the previous 2 weeks had had a lot of 2-for-1 tickets sold, thus lower grosses (and the beginning of the fall slump).

[ACL2006]

Posted: 9/23/19 at 3:49pm

Goodness, those grosses for LIGHTNING THIEF already! Doubt things improve for them as their advance looks pathetic.

[BritCrit]

Posted: 9/23/19 at 3:52pm

Mike Barrett said: "I really wonder what Frozen looks like a year from now, nearly a year after the 2nd film has released. Will it bring the show back into the mainstream or will people feel it’s now dated because of the sequel? Likely depends on how Frozen 2 does. I say we have 2 years max left though at the St James. Plenty of time to work Hercules or a Beauty And The Beast revival into that space :)


"

I think that The Princess Bride is more likely to get into the St James than Hercules, which would be better off an an MTI licensing production. I also think that the owners may want to have a non-Disney musical at the venue...

Frozen’s rapid fall must be really frustrating for Disney Theatrical, particularly given the excellent marketing for Frozen 2. The main promotional campaign for Frozen 2 will start in a few months, which could help a little, but I think that, even if Frozen 2 is the best animated sequel ever, the best it will probably do is keep Frozen afloat for a few more months, as the touring and licensed versions could benefit more. I think the St James will have something new by January 2021... 

[LxGstv]

Posted: 9/23/19 at 3:55pm

JBroadway said: "Is there any particular reason that a select few of this week's shows had 6-figure declines? In particular, Waitress went down almost $300K, while shows like Frozen, Wicked, Aladdin, Betrayal and Tootsie also went down over $100,000. Presumablythe kids hadalready gone back to school before this week, so that wouldn't explain it. Maybe it'sjust the beginning of lower fall pricing, but for some of these shows the price drop also came with a noticeable capacity drop."

Not sure about the other shows, but Waitress clearly got a nice bump from having Colleen Ballinger and Todrick Hall, this is the first week since they left... hence the drop...

[Pose2]

Posted: 9/23/19 at 4:02pm

ACL2006 said: "Goodness, those grosses for LIGHTNING THIEF already! Doubt things improve for them as their advance looks pathetic."

Yeah, seems like it's DOA. 

[BritCrit]

Posted: 9/23/19 at 4:03pm

ACL2006 said: "Goodness, those grosses for LIGHTNING THIEF already! Doubt things improve for them as their advance looks pathetic."

If nothing else, it was a smart idea to limit the run. The Be More Chill syndrome, (where a show aimed at millenials fails to translate its online fanbase to the Great  White Way) seems to be in full evidence here...

[ErmengardeStopSniveling]

Posted: 9/23/19 at 4:08pm

Lightning Thief is off to an awful start, but it's almost unheard of to announce a Broadway musical 34 days before the first preview. There's been no time to advertise it and saturate the market. Most sensible producers announce 2-5 months before the first preview.

Re: St. J ––– Jordan Roth will program whatever he wants in the St. James after Frozen closes. It's a prime musical house, and programming is all a game of tetris. So programming a Disney show is as likely as a Scott Rudin show or a Dodgers show or any other producer with money in place for a musical.

[itsjustmejonhotmailcom]

Posted: 9/23/19 at 4:20pm

ACL2006 said: "Goodness, those grosses for LIGHTNING THIEF already! Doubt things improve for them as their advance looks pathetic."

What is their advance?

[Sauja]

Posted: 9/23/19 at 4:22pm

qolbinau said: "Wow, Frozen. Is this their lowest week ever?"

Confirmed. It's next lowest grossing week was $926K. And that was the first week of previews with only 4 performances. The comedown on this show has been hard and fast. I'm very curious to see if Frozen 2 gives it a big bump. I know mid-September is slow, but it earned almost double this the same week last year.

[ACL2006]

Posted: 9/23/19 at 4:28pm

itsjustmejonhotmailcom said: "ACL2006 said: "Goodness, those grosses for LIGHTNING THIEF already! Doubt things improve for them as their advance looks pathetic."

What is their advance?"

 

Just skim through Telecharge and you'll see most dates have very low sales. Maybe 100 seats sold at best. There's little advertising for this show that most people, including theater people, don't know about. I'd still be surprised if it completed it's 16-week engagement.

 

[VotePeron]

Posted: 9/23/19 at 4:43pm

Sauja said: "qolbinau said: "Wow, Frozen. Is this their lowest week ever?"

Confirmed. It's next lowest grossing week was $926K. And that was the first week of previews with only 4 performances. The comedown on this show has been hard and fast. I'm very curious to see if Frozen 2 gives it a big bump. I know mid-September is slow, but it earned almost double this the same week last year."

For what it's worth, Frozen has been dwindling and in the conversation of "oh, that should be doing much better than it is" for over a year now.

[binau]

Posted: 9/23/19 at 4:51pm

Yes but a year ago today the grosses were literally double. If things continue this way, the conversation will quickly shift from "should be doing better" to this show is a flop and is going to close. The numbers this week are just not good enough to sustain a Disney show in my opinion. This could be the beginning of the end.

[WestEndGal]

Posted: 9/23/19 at 4:55pm

LxGstv said: "JBroadway said: "Is there any particular reason that a select few of this week's shows had 6-figure declines? In particular, Waitress went down almost $300K, while shows like Frozen, Wicked, Aladdin, Betrayal and Tootsie also went down over $100,000. Presumablythe kids hadalready gone back to school before this week, so that wouldn't explain it. Maybe it'sjust the beginning of lower fall pricing, but for some of these shows the price drop also came with a noticeable capacity drop."

Not sure about the other shows, but Waitress clearly got a nicebump from havingColleen Ballingerand Todrick Hall, this is the first week since they left... hence the drop..."

Yeah Waitress is back to pulling the low numbers is was doing before Colleen and Todrick’s 4 week. I thought Jordin Sparks as Jenna would give the show more of a boost tbh.

 

[itsjustmejonhotmailcom]

Posted: 9/23/19 at 4:58pm

ACL2006 said: "itsjustmejonhotmailcom said: "ACL2006 said: "Goodness, those grosses for LIGHTNING THIEF already! Doubt things improve for them as their advance looks pathetic."

What is their advance?"



Just skim through Telecharge and you'll see most dates have very low sales. Maybe 100 seats sold at best. There's little advertising for this show that most people, including theater people, don't know about. I'd still be surprised if it completed it's 16-week engagement.

I'm sure that's true and I'd bet they do have a low advance, but you can't get that from looking at Telecharge, especially by just looking at, say a couple of dozen performances. There are shows that look like they are selling well on Telecharge, but the average ticket price is low and they are holding seats off-sale, but in reality, they have a very small advance. 

 

[binau]

Posted: 9/23/19 at 5:23pm

Yes, but if the seats are available on telecharge then it means they are necessarily not sold and therefore you can make some conclusions about the advance. In other words, if your post is true (and I'm sure it is occasionally true because I have seen the same thing) it means you can't conclude an advance is strong, not that you can't conclude an advance is weak.

Updated On: 9/23/19 at 05:23 PM

[UncleCharlie]

Posted: 9/23/19 at 6:02pm

qolbinau said: "Yes but a year ago today the grosses were literally double. If things continue this way, the conversation will quickly shift from "should be doing better" to this show is a flop and is going to close. The numbers this weekare just not good enough to sustain a Disney show in my opinion. This could be the beginning of the end."

Yet another victim of global warming.

[Jarethan]

Posted: 9/23/19 at 6:03pm

Mike Barrett said: "I really wonder what Frozen looks like a year from now, nearly a year after the 2nd film has released. Will it bring the show back into the mainstream or will people feel it’s now dated because of the sequel? Likely depends on how Frozen 2 does. I say we have 2 years max left though at the St James. Plenty of time to work Hercules or a Beauty And The Beast revival into that space :)

Unless Frozen 2 is a MONSTER HIT and reinvigorates the box office incredibly (not likely IMO), I can't  imagine this show lasting beyond August 2020, and I really question whether it will make it that long.  The show is only opened for 18 months or so, and just hit its worst week yet.  It is inconceivable to me that it could another last 2 years, i.e., longer than it has run to date, unless Disney is willing to take big losses to keep it opened.Not  sure why they would do that, although there may be a reason.

 

[binau]

Posted: 9/23/19 at 6:04pm

Maybe they should stunt cast Greta Thunberg

[BWAY Baby2]

Posted: 9/23/19 at 6:59pm

JAGGED LITTLE PILL- and I agree- those initials keep  many of us in the dark.

[ggersten]

Posted: 9/23/19 at 7:18pm

Jarethan said: "Mike Barrett said: "I really wonder what Frozen looks like a year from now, nearly a year after the 2nd film has released. Will it bring the show back into the mainstream or will people feel it’s now dated because of the sequel? Likely depends on how Frozen 2 does. I say we have 2 years max left though at the St James. Plenty of time to work Hercules or a Beauty And The Beast revival into that space :)

Unless Frozen 2 is a MONSTER HIT and reinvigorates the box office incredibly (not likely IMO), I can't imagine this show lasting beyond August 2020, and I really question whether it will make it that long. The show is only opened for 18 months or so, and just hit its worst week yet. Itis inconceivable to me that it could another last 2 years, i.e., longer than it has run to date, unless Disney is willing to take big losses to keep it opened.Not sure why they would do that, although there may be a reason."

Here's The Little Mermaid's 20 months for reference....Little Mermaid Grosses

 

[msmp]

Posted: 9/23/19 at 7:21pm

WestEndGal said: "LxGstv said: "JBroadway said: "Is there any particular reason that a select few of this week's shows had 6-figure declines? In particular, Waitress went down almost $300K, while shows like Frozen, Wicked, Aladdin, Betrayal and Tootsie also went down over $100,000. Presumablythe kids hadalready gone back to school before this week, so that wouldn't explain it. Maybe it'sjust the beginning of lower fall pricing, but for some of these shows the price drop also came with a noticeable capacity drop."

Not sure about the other shows, but Waitress clearly got a nicebump from havingColleen Ballingerand Todrick Hall, this is the first week since they left... hence the drop..."

Yeah Waitress is back to pulling the low numbers is was doing before Colleen and Todrick’s 4 week. I thought Jordin Sparks as Jenna would give the show more of a boost tbh.

"

Admittedly I'm not local to NYC, but both times I've been there since Jordin was announced I saw virtually no advertising about her. But then this is the same marketing team that used the London cast for its billboard...