Broadway Show Ticket Sales Analysis w/e 9/06/2015

Broadway Back On The Upswing

As September is finally upon us, Broadway is gearing up for the fall season, and the box office figures are showing an increased interest in the indoor activity. In the week ending September 6, 2015, the entire Broadway industry saw a collective increase of $499,271, which is the accumulation of the 24 that were running this past week.

In the coming weeks, the fall shows will begin starting previews, but for now the shows that have been running since last season are themselves starting to pick up steam. The biggest increase this past week was seen by Kinky Boots, which went up by $175,260 to reach the weekly gross of $975,465. Over two years after winning the Tony Award for best musical (followed by A Gentleman’s Guide to Love and Murder in 2014 and Fun Home in 2015), Kinky Boots is still going strong.

"Hamilton" Is The New Musical To Take Broadway By Storm

The next biggest increase in sales was seen by Hamilton, the newest musical to take Broadway by storm. With an increase of $148,142 from the week before, Hamilton brought in a weekly gross of $1,697,070, making it the second-highest-grossing show on Broadway this past week. It even beat out Wicked, trailing only behind The Lion King.

Another show from a previous season, Beautiful: The Carole King Musical, saw an increase of $129,200, which brought it to the weekly gross of $1,031,198. The biggest decrease was seen by The Lion King, which went down by $93,758, a number that barely made a dent in its impressive weekly gross of $1,741,459. Still in its first two months of performances, Hamilton is becoming a bona fide bestseller on Broadway.

“Hamilton” Continues To Climb Up The Charts

This past week, it brought in a weekly gross of $1,697,070, which is by far the highest number it has brought in thus far. This represents an impressive 127.13% of its gross potential. As the top ticket price has remained constant at $275.00 since the beginning of the run, it’s difficult to imagine where these extra dollars keep coming from.

However, audience members are becoming more and more desperate to see this show, which made a huge splash Off-Broadway at the Public Theater before transferring to the Richard Rodgers Theatre on Broadway. With book, music, and lyrics by Lin-Manuel Miranda, and also starring Miranda in the title role, this is definitely the work of an impresario.

Celebrating A Diverse Cast

Furthermore, it is innovative not only in terms of content but also stylistically, innovating on the concept of a biographical musical by bringing in a diverse array of characters to portray the founding fathers, while also incorporating musical styles from hip hop and rap to traditional Broadway musical styles. The average paid admission was also at a high this past week, rising to the number $158.52.

With a total of 10,568 seats to sell across the eight performances, the figures somehow report that Hamilton sold a total of 10,706, or 101.3% of its audience capacity. Therefore, this musical is defying not only expectations, but also the bounds of what would previously have been thought possible for a show on Broadway.