In an industry with lots of hand wringing about aging demographics, Broadway's revival of Romeo and Juliet is proving itself an outlier marketing to Gen-Z—and it appears to be working. The Sam Gold-directed revival, starring Kit Connor and Rachel Zegler, had the second-highest average ticket price last week, $181, bested only by juggernaut Hamilton's $189.
The show's overall gross is hampered somewhat by the Circle in the Square's relatively small capacity (794 seats), but in its three weeks on the board so far, the production has brought in less than a million just once—and only because the show played a single preview performance that week. We don't get demographic data on who is buying those tickets (the Broadway League releases cumulative stats on that representing all Broadway theatregoing annually), but it appears that targeting Gen-Z, both in terms of casting and marketing style, was a lucrative choice in this case.
Sunset Boulevard is also continuing its solid box-office performance, handily making The $1 Million Club for the second straight week even while not completely selling out the large St. James Theatre. Last week was its highest-grossing week yet at $1.3 million, with an average ticket price of $122. With opening night set for this weekend, we may see its numbers dip the next week or two as the production comps in members of the press, but if its current performance can translate to the full run, we may have another big hit on our hands.
What remains to be seen is if either production will make enough to make the much venerated top five—Romeo and Juliet ranked 14th overall and Sunset 9th. Weekly running costs differ from production to production, so being at the top of the list isn't necessarily required to make a production a big hit, but with both still in previews, we could well see rising ticket prices drive those overall grosses yet higher in the weeks to come if audience enthusiasm remains as high as it is now.
As for that top five, those were filled by mainstays Wicked, The Lion King, and Hamilton. This particular week, the final two slots went to Moulin Rouge! The Musical and The Outsiders, two of a shortlist of shows that tend to duke it out for the final spots.
Overall, the 32 currently running shows brought in $34 million, reflecting a 15% increase compared to the previous week. Holidays—both Indigenous Peoples' Day and Yom Kippur—likely helped that fairly steep climb, but then fortunes have been climbing on Broadway for several weeks now. We may be officially getting into fall-winter holiday season. With 90% of seats filled and a healthy cumulative average ticket price of $128, no Broadway producers should be complaining about that, even if it is becoming time to pull out the winter jackets.
Take a look at the full report here.
The $1 Million Club (shows that earned $1 million or more at the box office):
- Wicked ($2.49 million)
- The Lion King ($2.2 million)
- Hamilton
- Moulin Rouge! The Musical
- The Outsiders
- MJ The Musical
- Hell's Kitchen
- Aladdin
- Sunset Boulevard
- The Great Gatsby
- Harry Potter and the Cursed Child
- Oh, Mary!
- Cabaret
- Romeo and Juliet
(14 of 32 currently running productions)
The 90s Club (shows that played to 90% or higher of their seats filled over the entire week):
- Romeo and Juliet (103.17%)
- The Outsiders (102.44%)
- Moulin Rouge! The Musical (100.23%)
- McNeal (100%%)
- Oh, Mary! (100%)
- Wicked
- The Book of Mormon
- The Lion King
- Stereophonic
- Hamilton
- Hadestown
- Hell's Kitchen
- Aladdin
- & Juliet
- The Great Gatsby
- Sunset Boulevard
- Cabaret
- SIX: The Musical
- Suffs
(19 of 32 currently running productions)
