A recent surge of Broadway newcomers has attracted a significant audience, with popular shows like An Enemy of the People, The Notebook, and The Who’s Tommy playing to full houses. An Enemy of the People, a revival of the Ibsen play starring Jeremy Strong, Michael Imperioli, and Victoria Pedretti, emerged as the top earner, grossing $1,109,137 and selling out the Circle in the Square theatre. The show is set to officially open on March 18. Similarly, The Notebook, a musical adaptation of the beloved book and film, garnered strong numbers at the Schoenfeld, bringing in $769,387 in ticket sales. Opening night for The Notebook is scheduled for March 14. The Who’s Tommy also saw packed houses during its preview performances at the Nederlander, raking in $345,129. The show is slated to open on March 28.
Other Notable Shows
Water For Elephants, after seven successful previews at the Imperial, grossed $723,077 and nearly filled 93% of its seats. The show is set to officially open on March 21. Doubt: A Parable, the well-received revival featuring Amy Ryan and Liev Schreiber, brought in $465,133 in ticket sales, with 92% attendance capacity. Sweeney Todd, starring Aaron Tveit and Sutton Foster, reached its best numbers in recent weeks with a healthy $1,312,391 in revenue, filling 95% of seats at the Lunt-Fontanne. Hadestown continued its upward trend at the Walter Kerr, grossing $1,107,953. However, the top earner of the week was Wicked, which brought in an impressive $1,836,268.
Overall Box Office Performance
For the week ending March 10, a total of 24 Broadway productions generated $24,545,774 in revenue, marking a 5% increase from the previous week. Despite the uptick, the figures were still down by about 14% compared to the same period last year. The total attendance for the week stood at 204,915, representing 91% of total capacity. While this marked a 3% improvement from the previous week, it was down by 11% from the previous season. The season-to-date box office revenue for Broadway stands at $1,191,502,256, with a total attendance of 9,492,511 patrons.
While Broadway newcomers have been drawing significant audiences and generating substantial revenue, the overall box office performance continues to face challenges compared to previous seasons. It will be interesting to see how these new shows fare in the coming weeks and whether they can sustain the momentum to contribute to Broadway’s overall success.