Broadway Journal

HISTORIC ‘HAMILTON’ RAISES TOP TICKET TO RECORD $1,150

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A Hamilton ticket for Dec. 26

EXCLUSIVE: Don’t be shocked if Hamilton reports extra-huge holiday numbers. Tickets this week are going for a record $1,150.

With the increase, Hamilton is the first on Broadway to sell seats for four figures, before fees, that don’t benefit a charity or political campaign.

As of Sunday afternoon, a few $1,150 tickets were still available through December 30. (The show is dark on New Year’s Eve and Jan. 1.) They are the only ones remaining this year for Lin-Manuel Miranda’s Broadway musical about the founding fathers, besides those via resellers and a $10 lottery. The price is up 15 percent from last Christmas, when top tickets fetched a then-record $998. (Hello, Dolly! later matched $998 for the first row for some performances.) Shows typically raise prices for the holidays, when tourists pack the city.

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‘HAMILTON,’ ‘EVAN HANSEN’ POST RECORDS IN BROADWAY’S BESTSELLING THANKSGIVING; SPRINGSTEEN EXTENDS

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Noah Galvin in Dear Evan Hansen/Nathan Johnson

Broadway can be thankful for big-spending tourists, as grosses soared 11 percent from a year earlier in its bestselling Thanksgiving week ever.

Among the musicals posting weekly records were Hamilton, Hello, Dolly! with Bette Midler, Dear Evan Hansen, Come From Away and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. Broadway in all sold $39 million, with an average seat of $147.50.

Hamilton took in $3.5 million, a 4 percent jump from the week ending on Jan 1, 2017. It was the highest-grossing seven days for any Broadway musical. Evan Hansen rose 16 percent from the week before to $2 million, even as Noah Galvin replaced Tony Award-winner Ben Platt in the lead. The average Evan Hansen ticket was $244, not too far behind Hamilton, at $321 .Continue Reading

SCHUMER & THURMAN LEAD BROADWAY PLAY RESURGENCE

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The girl with the lower back tattoo can put butts in seats.

In its first full week of previews, Steve Martin’s Meteor Shower, starring Amy Schumer, grossed a cool $1 million, according to stats released by the Broadway League. It’s a sellout with an average ticket of $161, which is 21 percent higher than the average for Larry David’s 2015 comedy Fish in the Dark at this point in its run. (Meteor Shower also stars Keegan-Michael Key and Laura Benanti.)

The Parisian Woman, Beau Willimon’s political drama starring Uma Thurman, did an impressive $580,000 over five previews, with an average of $122.

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PUBLIC’S ‘HAMILTON’ RICHES COULD TOP $10 MILLION A YEAR

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The Public Theater

EXCLUSIVE: The Public Theater could earn upwards of $10 million a year for helping to develop Hamilton: An American Musical. But don’t expect it to do anything flashy with the cash.

The plan for now is to plow money back into the institution — rather than bankrolling new shows on Broadway or making Public Theater tickets free year-round a la Shakespeare in the Park.

First up, according to two people familiar with the situation: an ambitious renovation to  consolidate rehearsal space across the street, at 440 Lafayette, which will primarily replace facilities it rents around the city. And it’s setting aside reserves for capital expenses, operations and programming.

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‘BAND’S VISIT’ IS BIG SELLER IN WEEK ONE

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Katrina Lenk & Tony Shalhoub/Ahron Foster

The $8 million-plus to bring The Band’s Visit to Broadway looks like money well spent, based on its first full week of previews.

The David Yazbek and Itamar Moses musical set in a sleepy Israeli town grossed $769,000 — 84 percent of its potential. Attendance was 100 percent of capacity. The average ticket, at $105, was just 12 percent below the average of Dear Evan Hansen in its first week a year earlier, according to Broadway League data.

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TICKETS AVERAGE $497 FOR SPRINGSTEEN’S TRIP DOWN THUNDER ROAD

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Only Bruce Springsteen can overshadow Hamilton and Hello, Dolly!

After just five performances, Springsteen’s mostly solo show at the Walter Kerr Theatre grossed $2.3 million, with an average ticket of $496.72 — surely a Broadway record. Hamilton has long sported the highest average, which was $272 last week, according to the Broadway League, and has been as dear as $310.

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BMI WORKSHOP ACCEPTS APPLICATIONS FOR NEW CLASS

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PRESS RELEASE: THE BMI Lehman Engel Musical Theatre Workshop, whose alumni include Robert Lopez and Kristen Anderson-Lopez (Frozen) and Tom Kitt and Brian Yorkey (Next to Normal), is accepting applications through the end of day on Friday, August 4, for its first-year composer and lyricist class.

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‘EVAN HANSEN’ SOARS, MIDLER-FREE ‘DOLLY’ PLUNGES AMID JULY 4 BOX OFFICE MUDDLE

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Ben Platt/Matthew Murphy

It was a tough seven days on Broadway — except for Dear Evan Hansen and a few perennial tourist draws.

With July 4 falling on a Tuesday and many locals away, Hello, Dolly!, A Bronx Tale, War Paint and Beautiful all had their worst sales of the year, according to data from the Broadway League.

Groundhog Day and Waitress, now starring Betsy Wolfe, were near their post-opening lows, and Indecent, which was scheduled to close June 25 and instead extended to August 6, was at just over a third of its gross potential, at $334,000.Continue Reading

‘INDECENT’ & ‘SWEAT’ SURGE ON CLOSING NOTICES

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Adina Verson and Katrina Lenk in Indecent/Carol Rosegg

There’s nothing like a closing notice to get playgoers’ attention. Sustaining that isn’t easy.

Indecent grosses soared 60 percent to $606,000 last week, according to data from the Broadway League. It was by far the best week for Paula Vogel’s historical drama — about the controversial 1923 Broadway production of God of Vengeance — since it began previews in April.

Indecent had announced a Sunday, June 25, closing, but late on Thursday, June 22, lead producer Daryl Roth said she was inspired by the sales surge to rescind her decision and run it until August 6.  Restarting a box office, with no advance sales, is challenging. A quick check of Telecharge suggests wide availability for this week.Continue Reading

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