The new revival of Stephen Sondheim and George Furth's Merrily We Roll Along is continuing to be Broadway's latest hot ticket, breaking the Hudson Theatre's house record for a second straight week and bringing in $1.5 million. That put the show firmly in the top five highest grossers of the week, just underneath fellow high-grossing Sondheim revival Sweeney Todd. The revival, which features a starry cast including Daniel Radcliffe, Jonathan Groff, and Lindsay Mendez, was the fourth highest-grossing show of the week with only seven previews. When the production starts playing a more traditional eight-show weekly schedule (which starts next week), it could well move even higher up the chart.
As is often the way, healthy ticket price and sales are creating a soaring box office for Merrily. The production pulled Broadway's top average ticket price last week—$217.63—partially thanks to its $499 top ticket price, currently Broadway's highest. And the musical filled all of its seats at the Hudson—6,762 of them over seven performances, to be exact.
We found out late last week that Some Like It Hot will be vacating the Shubert at the end of the year, but that doesn't mean audiences aren't interested in seeing the Marc Shaiman-Scott Wittman musical. The Best Musical Tony nominee's grosses raised more than 11% last week, bringing in $758,399.89—and that was mostly before anyone even knew the show was closing. If the show can keep that trajectory going, could we see it stick around a little longer? Only time will tell.
Speaking of upward trends, the recently opened Purlie Victorious has been on a similar trajectory over its four weeks on the boards. Last week saw a healthy increase of nearly 40%, but, of course, producers will be looking to see that continue. With reviews out and press comps on the decline, it feels likely we will see that in the coming weeks.
Take a look at the full report here.
The $1 Million Club (shows that earned $1 million or more at the box office):
- The Lion King
- Hamilton
- Sweeney Todd
- Merrily We Roll Along
- Wicked
- MJ The Musical
- Aladdin
- Moulin Rouge! The Musical
- Back to the Future
(9 of 26 currently running productions)
The 90s Club (shows that played to 90% or higher of their seats filled over the entire week):
- Merrily We Roll Along (100%)
- Hamilton
- The Lion King
- Sweeney Todd
- Moulin Rouge! The Musical
- The Book of Mormon
- Jaja’s African Hair Braiding
- Aladdin
(8 of 26 currently running productions)
