Broadway continued its downward trend during these dog days of summer leading up to the fall season, with last week’s total grosses of $25,343,599 down about 10% from the previous week.
The drop no doubt reflects at least some impact from the summer edition of Kids’ Night on Broadway in which 19 of the roster’s 24 shows offered a free performance to children with an accompanying, full-paying adult. Note that family favorites The Lion King and Aladdin took the biggest hits, with the former down $203,453 to a still impressive $1,904,177 and the latter dropping $176,876 to a still strong $1,178,408.
Also figuring into the overall drop was the slimmer-by-one number of shows – gone was The Wiz, a big earner.
Total attendance for the week ending August 25 was 211,342, 6% lower than the previous week and off 1% from the same time last year. About 91% of all available seats were filled, compared to 92% the previous week.
Some of the more notable numbers:
- Oh, Mary! (which most understandably did not offer free tickets to the kiddies), Stereophonic and The Outsiders continued powering through the hot days, each selling out for the week. Once Upon A Mattress, Wicked and Hadestown came close, with 99% of their seats filled;
- Cabaret At The Kit Kat Club also remains on point, taking a hefty $1,459,506 for the week, with 98% of seats at the August Wilson occupied. Look to see jumps in receipts over the next few weeks as Eddie Redmayne and Gayle Rankin enter their final days of performance – both depart the show on September 14. Redmayne has played the role of the Emcee since the revival opened on the West End in 2021 and transferred to Broadway this past April;
- On the lower end of the attendance game were Water For Elephants (76% of capacity), The Notebook (75%), and Harry Potter And The Cursed Child (76%).
Season to date, Broadway, in the 14th week of the 2024-25 season, has grossed $453,418,819 up 6% over last year at this time, with total attendance of 3,601,394 up about 4%.
All figures courtesy of The Broadway League. For complete box office listings, visit the League’s website.