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 .
The Band’s Visit soared 30 percent to $1.3 million, with sales for the David Yazbek-Itamar Moses musical nearly as strong as the reviews. The average seat was $158.
Springsteen on Broadway appeared to buck the industry trend of higher prices for the holidays, holding steady at $2.4 million over five performances, with an average seat of $505. Should the Boss ever perform eight times a week on Broadway at current prices, he’d trounce Hamilton‘s record gross.
Instead of closing on Feb. 3 as originally planned, producers of the hit concert said they’ll add new performances from Feb. 28 to June 30. The show won’t accept additional registration for Ticketmaster’s Verified Fan, which aims to reduce participation by resellers. “Fans who previously registered and were verified but placed on Standby and did not receive a code, and fans who received a code but were unsuccessful in purchasing tickets will be contacted by Ticketmaster with further information about the added shows.” A digital lottery will continue.
Broadway wasn’t all about high prices. The poorly reviewed Christmas show Home For the Holidays sold just $49,000 over seven performances, with an average ticket price of under $14.
