During the first week of its adjusted performance schedule, which includes a Thursday matinée instead of a Wednesday evening show, “A Beautiful Noise” saw a significant uptick at the box office. The Neil Diamond bio-musical grossed $1,008,021, up 13%, and played to 81% capacity, up 12%. While a representative for the production declined to release individual performance grosses for last week, they told Broadway News that compared to the average Wednesday evening performance in July or August, the Thursday matinée was up by 130%.
For context, “A Beautiful Noise” had the lowest attendance of any show last week, playing to houses that were just 69% full. This week marked the show’s first time above the $1 million mark since May 21, 2023, when it grossed $1,089,838 and played to 83% capacity.
Overall, for the week ending Sept. 10., the 21 currently running productions grossed $21,334,228, down a staggering 18% from the previous week. Capacity was down by 2% to 89%. This marks the 16th week of the 2023-2024 Broadway season.
By comparison, during this same post-holiday week last year, the box office suffered a similar drop of nearly 19% as children returned to school. Capacity across all shows during that week was at 90%.
The top-three highest-grossing productions were “The Lion King,” which grossed $1,850,459, “Hamilton,” which earned $1,746,638, and “Sweeney Todd,” which brought in $1,593,122.
Only seven other productions broke the $1 million mark: “A Beautiful Noise,” “Aladdin,” “Back to the Future,” “Harry Potter and the Cursed Child,” “MJ,” “Moulin Rouge!” and “Wicked.”
On the attendance front, 11 productions played to 90% capacity or greater, including “Aladdin,” “Back to the Future,” “Hadestown,” “Hamilton,” “MJ”, “Moulin Rouge!,” “Six,” “Sweeney Todd,” “The Book of Mormon,” “The Lion King” and “Wicked.”
Four productions failed to hit the 80% mark, including “Purlie Victorious,” “Some Like It Hot,” “The Cottage” and “The Shark Is Broken.”
“Purlie Victorious,” which began previews on Sept. 7, posted the lowest gross of the week and also had the lowest attendance. Through six previews, the play earned $227,928 and played to 61% capacity.
“Here Lies Love” had its lowest-grossing week since previews. The new musical earned $604,271, a 16% decrease, and played to 80% capacity, down 7%.
Several family-friendly shows also saw a decrease at the box office as kids returned to school. “Aladdin” suffered a 10% slide, “Harry Potter and the Cursed Child” was down 20%, “The Lion King” dipped 11% and “Wicked” fell by 12%.
New York City’s Broadway Week, a discount program offering 2-for-1 tickets, began on Sept. 4 and runs through Sept. 17.
“Purlie Victorious” began previews at the Music Box Theatre on Sept. 7.
