Broadway Grosses w/e 12/24/2017: Christmas Comes Early.

Wait a minute.  Wait a minute.  The best week of the year is supposed to be the week after Christmas, not the week before.

 

Someone forgot to tell w/e 12/24 this old axiom because the run-up to Christmas week this year proved to be historically big.

 

And guess . . . just guess which show made history.

 

That’s right . . . a certain hip-hop founding father.

 

Hamilton did $3.8mm at the Rodgers.  $3.8mm in one week!   There isn’t a show in town that wouldn’t take that gross for an entire month!

 

What’s fascinating about this new house record is that the show is 2.5 years old by now . . . proving that the right hype combined with the right pricing strategy can pay off long after opening buzz and your original Tony-winning cast has left town (That’s also why The Lion King did almost $2.7mm last week).

 

This profitable combination will no doubt further extend the life of musicals in the coming years . . . which will only further the real estate crunch Producers face.

 

What’s unique about this week is that many of the shows on the list posted their impressive figures on only 7 performances instead of the usual 8. (Shows do 7 performances in this week with the benefit of then being able to do 9 the following week, with less of a penalty).

 

You know what else this week tells me?

 

My prediction of a $4mm week . . . is going to come sooner than I even thought.

 

Here are the Broadway grosses from last week:

 

Show Name  GrossGross TotalAttn %Capacity AvgPdAdm
A BRONX TALE THE MUSICAL $708,597.15 6,430 87.99% $110.20
ALADDIN $1,867,971.00 13,462 97.44% $138.76
ANASTASIA $1,232,248.00 9,088 99.39% $135.59
BEAUTIFUL $601,084.66 5,224 72.74% $115.06
CATS $1,033,958.00 9,298 84.53% $111.20
CHARLIE AND THE CHOCOLATE FACTORY $1,068,406.00 9,500 90.72% $112.46
CHICAGO $556,343.54 5,954 78.76% $93.44
COME FROM AWAY $1,269,564.34 7,454 101.80% $170.32
DEAR EVAN HANSEN $1,862,541.66 7,994 101.55% $232.99
FARINELLI AND THE KING $812,128.84 7,193 97.77% $112.91
HAMILTON $3,797,844.00 10,757 101.79% $353.06
HELLO, DOLLY! $2,295,082.16 11,532 99.69% $199.02
HOME FOR THE HOLIDAYS $77,787.15 2,243 22.83% $34.68
JOHN LITHGOW: STORIES BY HEART $117,414.80 1,981 89.23% $59.27
JUNK $352,024.00 5,503 64.96% $63.97
KINKY BOOTS $762,530.75 7,390 74.14% $103.18
LATIN HISTORY FOR MORONS $426,713.00 4,791 68.17% $89.07
METEOR SHOWER $812,760.00 5,382 99.34% $151.01
MISS SAIGON $640,809.27 7,454 72.19% $85.97
ONCE ON THIS ISLAND $594,625.96 4,985 102.32% $119.28
SCHOOL OF ROCK $1,058,888.77 9,802 80.45% $108.03
SPONGEBOB SQUAREPANTS $930,882.60 10,920 84.78% $85.25
SPRINGSTEEN ON BROADWAY $2,411,185.00 4,740 100.00% $508.69
THE BAND’S VISIT $1,144,873.90 7,273 100.00% $157.41
THE BOOK OF MORMON $1,264,284.00 7,561 101.33% $167.21
THE CHILDREN $199,124.80 3,943 75.83% $50.50
THE LION KING $2,682,893.00 13,551 99.87% $197.98
THE PARISIAN WOMAN $520,421.00 5,534 70.80% $94.04
THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA $1,175,913.90 10,989 97.81% $107.01
THE PLAY THAT GOES WRONG $446,336.25 4,935 72.23% $90.44
WAITRESS $850,369.80 6,798 92.93% $125.09
WICKED $2,220,606.00 15,312 99.38% $145.02
TOTALS $35,796,213.30 244,973 86.96% $138.38
+/- THIS WEEK LAST SEASON +$5,382,501.95      
PERCENTAGE +/- THIS WEEK LAST SEASON +17.7%  

 

*Broadway Grosses courtesy of The Broadway League.

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