For years, Jukebox musicals have been taking The Great White Way by storm in popularity, gross revenue, and ticket sales. There are three jukebox musicals currently on Broadway: Beautiful: The Carole King Musical, Jersey Boys, and On Your Feet!. Although all three productions have seen varying highs and lows across the ticket market, On Your Feet! continues to dominate in the genre with gross sales as well as resale ticket prices.
Jersey Boys, inspired by the story of Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons, just celebrated its 10th year on Broadway and has been riding on its popularity for years. Tickets for Jersey Boys are averaging $176.26 on the secondary market, a significantly lower average than the other Jukebox musicals, according to data provided by ticket aggregator TiqIQ. Jersey Boys hasn't done much better on the gross side, and has had its ups and downs for the past few months. Last week the show grossed $668,825, which is about $92,000 less than the week prior.
Capacity rates often influence how long a production stays on Broadway, and dropping capacity can be cause for concern. Last week, Jersey Boys had a capacity under 75%, a markedly low number for the production. With 10 years under their belt, this tuner needs to find new ways to attract a fanbase, or else they too will suffer the same fate that Mamma Mia! did in September of last year.
Beautiful: The Carole King Musical, inspired by the true story of Carole King and her musical journey, has been on Broadway for just over two years now, and has done relatively well in the past year. The first year it was on Broadway it mostly slid by, but in the past few months has seen a dramatic increase in sales and in capacity. Last week the tuner grossed just under the million-dollar mark, and had an increase in capacity from the 80% range to the mid 90% range. Tickets for Beautiful currently average $205, indicating that the tuner will likely stay put for the foreseeable future.
On Your Feet!, a production inspired by the music and story of Gloria and Emilio Estefan, has been a constant success since its open. Last week the tuner grossed over $1.14 million dollars and has stayed around that number since its launch. During the week of January 10, the tuner saw a decrease from 96.4% capacity to 75.4% capacity, marking the largest dip since it opened. For the week of January 17, On Your Feet! had a strong capacity again at 80.3%, and the show is still grossing over the million dollar mark. Although the drop in capacity may be concerning, On Your Feet! tickets are still the priciest on the resale market for Jukebox musicals, as the production currently averages $267.32.
With three competitive Jukebox musicals on Broadway and MoTown The Musical coming back this summer for a limited run, the competition will be high to stay afloat on the Great White Way. For Broadway lovers looking to check out these musicals in the Big Apple, cheap hotels can be found on Hipmunk.com, where lodging in New York City starts for as low as $50/night.
