My Fair Lady Saw an Increase in Ticket Sales, While Hamilton Saw a Decrease in Ticket Sales, and the Tony Nominees are Gearing Up For the Awards Next Weekend.
My Fair Lady Soars, Hamilton Slows
In the week ending May 27, 2018, the Broadway box office demonstrated a series of ups and downs, resulting in a small net positive from the week before. The biggest increase was seen by Springsteen on Broadway, merely because the Boss played five performances, up from four. As a result, the weekly box office went up by $475,408, bringing it to a weekly gross of $2,406,853, or 100.9% of its gross potential.
The next biggest increase was seen by Bartlett Sher’s revival of My Fair Lady, starring Lauren Ambrose, which saw an increase of $203,848 to reach a weekly gross of $1,217,242, or 87.2% of its gross potential. With a top ticket price of $323, the average paid admission was $142.33, and the audience was filled up to 100.0% of its capacity on average.
Other Box Office Increases
Other large increases were seen by School of Rock, which went up by $140,914 to reach a weekly gross of $902,629, or 62.5% of its gross potential, SpongeBob SquarePants, which went up by $139,346 to reach a weekly gross of $869,671, or 61.3% of its gross potential, Aladdin, which went up by $119,085 to reach a weekly gross of $1,487,128, or 96.8% of gross potential, Frozen, which went up by $114,408 to reach a weekly gross of $1,810,851, or 98.7% of gross potential, and Mean Girls, which went up by $76,775 to reach a weekly gross of $1,565,924, or 106.6% of gross potential.
Meanwhile, the biggest decrease was seen by Hamilton, which went down by $133,014 to reach a weekly gross of $2,987,818, or 109.1% of gross potential.
Tony Nominees Gear Up for the Awards Ceremony Next Week
The four nominees for the 2018 Tony Award for Best Musical all saw an increase in ticket sales this past week. Three of the four nominees – SpongeBob SquarePants, Mean Girls, and Frozen – were mentioned previously, and the fourth – The Band’s Visit – went up by $29,651 to reach a weekly gross of $897,280, or 87.6% of gross potential. It seems that SpongeBob SquarePants has held the least interest, but that that interest is increasing with the greatest acceleration, and that Mean Girls and Frozen are both performing well due to their brand power. As for The Band’s Visit, this show has long held critics in awe, and audience interest has been relatively strong – still, a Tony win would send that interest up into the stratosphere. As for the Best Play nominees, The Children, Farinelli and the King, Junk, and Latin History for Morons have all closed already, but the most likely contender, Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, is still running at excellent grosses. This past week, the show went up by $34,451 to reach a weekly gross of $2,027,519, or 102.0% of its gross potential. The awards will take place next Sunday, June 10, 2018.
