The 33 shows running on Broadway grossed $51,912,862 last week, the biggest seven-day period since the last week of 2019, when the box office earned $55,765,408.

“It’s very clear that buying patterns are different, but it’s equally clear that audiences are craving good work, and I think the challenge is to remind people that New York is actually a safe place to be and that theaters are safe places to be,” he said. Tom Kirdahy, a veteran producer behind the current starry revival of “The Piano Lesson” and the upcoming “New York, New York,” said audiences are steadily coming back and could be back to normal by spring. The data is a reminder that Broadway has not fully rebounded from the pandemic, which wiped out live theater for 18 months and dried up its lifeblood - tourism. A revival of the Pulitzer Prize-winning dark comedy “Between Riverside and Crazy” starring the rapper Common pulled in just $260,085.īox office numbers had been treacherous for new works even before the holidays - early closing notices were posted for shows like “Almost Famous,” “KPOP,” “A Strange Loop” and “Ain’t No Mo’.” The Broadway stalwart “The Phantom of the Opera” previously announced it would close in 2023 after 35 years. That announcement was met with a ticket spike. However, the usual bump was barely evident for “Topdog/Underdog,” with just $345,567 over eight shows, and “Ohio State Murders” pulling in just $311,893 to a half-empty theater over nine performances despite the presence of six-time Tony Award winner Audra McDonald. The top average ticket price went to “The Music Man” with $285.80, just about a dollar more than “The Lion King.”Īll shows bar one - “A Christmas Carol” - saw their numbers grow over the week ending Sunday. “The Music Man” was close behind with two high-wattage stars in Sutton Foster and Hugh Jackman - $3,971,531 over nine shows - followed by “Wicked” with $3,152,679.

Twenty-one of the 33 shows available broke the $1 million mark for the week ending Sunday, and “The Lion King” made history with the biggest haul ever - an astonishing $4,315,264 over nine performances for a 25-year-old show with no stars.

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