Broadway Show Ticket Sales Analysis w/e 8/02/2015

A Steady Week With A Slight Upturn

In the week ending August 2, 2015, Broadway is still going strong with summer ticket sales. Overall, the entire industry of 28 currently running shows saw a relatively minor increase of $736,227 from the week before. The biggest increase was seen by mega-hit The Lion King, which brought in $215,787 from the week before, bringing it to a total weekly gross of $2,624,288.

Remarkably, this huge number represents just 98.47% of the production’s gross potential in the massive Minskoff Theatre, whereas this and other shows have at times broken the 100% mark, or even the 110% mark of gross potential. With a top ticket price of $225.00, the average paid admission was the impressive $173.37.

16 Of 28 Shows See Box Office Increase

The only other show that came close in terms of average ticket price is The Book of Mormon, which brought in $1,474,355 last week, representing 107.10% of its gross potential in the comparably smaller Eugene O’Neill Theatre. With a top ticket price of the extremely inflated $475.00 per premium ticket, the average paid admission trailed just behind that of The Lion King at $168.48.

The highest percentage of gross potential was reached by new hit musical Hamilton, which hasn’t even opened yet but is bringing in 111.67% of its gross potential. Overall, of the 28 shows running, 16 showed an increase from the week before, and 8 saw a decrease. The greatest decrease was seen by Kinky Boots at the relatively minor dip of $60,641.

“Hamilton” Well On Its Way To Top Musical Of The Season

Hamilton the Musical opens in 2 days, but it brought in the highest gross potential of any show this past week while still in previews. This is the first week that they played eight performances, as opposed to two weeks of seven performances each. In this way, the show reached not only its maximum weekly gross so far at $1,490,816, but also the highest percentage of its gross potential, out of any week yet.

Their audience capacity was filled up to an average of 100.5% across the eight performances, and the top ticket price has thus far held steady at $275.00. It remains to be seen whether the producers will choose to adopt a dynamic pricing strategy, whereby they raise the premium ticket prices and fluctuate the ticket pricing based on predicted demand, sometimes even across individual performances.

Public Theatre Is Birthplace To Another Big Hit

The reviews will come out this week, but the show has already earned raves and great buzz from its recent Off-Broadway run at the Public Theatre, which was also the birthplace of the 2015 Tony Award-winning best musical, Fun Home. At this point, it seems clear that Hamilton will be well remembered one year from now in time for the 2016 Tony Awards consideration.

With a year’s appetite filled for this culturally imaginative, alternative political bio-drama, the show will surely be a contender for the Best Musical award, as well as many others. Still, an entire year remains for other shows to come out of the woodwork in contention for that great honor.