Several Broadway shows experienced an explosive year-end week ahead of 2024, with a couple of them breaking box-office records, as reported by Playbill.
These momentous grosses coincided with the majority of Broadway productions playing for a total of nine performances in 2023's last week, instead of the normal eight.
NEW YORK - MARCH 19: A exterior view of the Palace Theatre at the opening night of "West Side Story" on Broadway at the Palace Theatre on March 19, 2009 in New York City.
Top Grosses in Broadway's Last Week Ahead of 2024
Atop the record-breaking bunch stands Disney's worldwide sensation "The Lion King," earning a gigantic $4,316,629 over its nine shows, with the viewer coughing out an average admission fee of around $286.61 at the Minskoff Theater.
This performance also takes the crown as the largest box-office take in a singular week across Broadway's long-standing history. The production, which celebrates its 27th year on Broadway, is also the previous wielder of the record with its $4.315 million take in 2022's last week.
Trailing close behind this monumental performance was the Stephen Schwartz and Winnie Holzman production of "Wicked," which also broke the $4 million milestone, specifically fetching $4,003,233 at the Gershwin Theater with an average ticket price of $231.01 throughout nine performances.
Enjoying its third-place standing is another of Disney's IPs, "Aladdin," which stormed past New Amsterdam Theatre's in-house record with its total earning of $2,979,728 across nine shows. Based on the original animated movie, the musical itself is now in its 10th year on Broadway.
Breaking away from musical productions, Broadway theatrical plays have also brought in the big bucks during the historic last week of 2023.
Standing out from this bunch is the Tony Award for Best Play winner "Harry Potter and the Cursed Child," which collected a total of $2,718,488 at the Lyric Theater in only eight collective shows.
In addition, this particular box-office performance breaks the ticket sales record for a non-musical play.
Finishing last in the top five is another of the melodic productions, "MJ the Musical," shattering the previous house record at the Neil Simon Theater with its single-week gross of $2,613,841 across nine performances.
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Record-Breaking Grosses of Other Broadway Productions
"Hamilton," "Sweeney Todd," and "Back to the Future" are all included in the $2 million group with their respective single-week take of $2,404,967, $2,261,279, and $2,109,424, with the bookends achieving that in eight performances and "Sweeney Todd" achieving its collective sale in just seven shows.
Other notable house-record-breaking runs are from the productions of "& Juliet," breaking Stephen Sondheim Theater's record with its $1,784,051 across nine shows; "SIX the Musical," breaking Lena Horne Theatre's record as it took in $1,659,004 across nine shows; and "Gutenberg! The Musical!", raking in a single-week gross of $1,280,597 across nine shows and shattering the James Earl Jones Theatre record.
Also needing mention is the "Chicago" production's box-office performance that raked in $1,452,009 at the Ambassador Theatre across its nine shows, the single best week in terms of grosses for the musical IP in its 27 years on Broadway.
On that same note, final week performances of "Some Like It Hot" and Danny DeVito-headlined "I Need That" also broke each of its respective single-week gross records of $1,398,818 and $905,467, across eight shows.
All in all, these 27 still-running productions collectively brought in a whopping $45,413,789, which is up a staggering 35.65% from the preceding week's take. Also worth mentioning is the increase in attendance, increasing as much as 13.52% in the last week of 2023.
Related Article: Broadway Demographic Report on the 2023 Season Reveals Lower Grosses, But the Audience Are Younger and More Diverse
