During the second week of the 2024-2025 season, Broadway’s box office took an all-around tumble, with gross, attendance and capacity decreasing from the week prior. The 35 productions playing during the week ending June 2 earned a total $33,662,845, down 4.6% from the week ending May 26, which encompassed Memorial Day weekend. Attendance dipped a slight 2.4%, with 280,253 admissions tallied across Broadway. Available seats in theaters were filled to 86.1%, down 5.3 percentage points from the week prior.
While Broadway saw a week-over-week decrease, the current week’s figures all prove an increase from the comparable week during last season. The $33.7 million ducats marks an 8.1% increase from the same week during the 2023-2024 season, and the 280,000 attendances represents a jump of 6.5%. Capacity is up 2.4 percentage points from this week last year.
Twenty-five productions saw a drop in gross. “Merrily We Roll Along,” in a week during which star Daniel Radcliffe had scheduled absences for more than half of the week’s performances, saw the week’s largest dip—$464,004—bringing in a total of $1,148,603. Lincoln Center Theater’s revival of “Uncle Vanya” (down $268,341 to $734,380) as well as “MJ” (down $260,944 to $1,239,241) had the second- and third-largest drops, respectively. On the other end of the spectrum, “Cabaret” saw the largest box office increase, jumping $142,498 to a total earning of $1,864,257.
Three 2024 Tony Award-nominated shows enjoyed the highest-grossing weeks of their runs. “Hell’s Kitchen” earned $1,560,251, “Stereophonic” took in $824,835 and “The Outsiders” grossed $1,024,250.
“Ben Platt: Live at the Palace” was the only new title added to the Main Stem’s slate of shows. The concert residency, which is the first production to play the Palace Theatre following its five-year-long renovation, posted a box office take of $650,306 across six performances.
With a total gross of $2,084,039, “The Lion King” was the week’s top-earning show, and the only production to earn in excess of $2 million. “Wicked,” grossing $1,981,260, was a close second, while “Hamilton” ($1,881,810) was the third-highest earner. The revival of “Home” took in $116,448 for eight previews, and was the only show to earn less than $200,000.
Beyond the top-three earners and the aforementioned “Cabaret,” “Hell’s Kitchen,” “Merrily,” “MJ” and “Outsiders,” five additional shows grossed over $1 million: “Aladdin” ($1,311,450), “An Enemy of the People” ($1,045,496), “Harry Potter and the Cursed Child” ($1,079,055), “The Great Gatsby” ($1,103,463) and “The Wiz” ($1,379,791).
Atendance-wise, 29 shows welcomed fewer admissions compared to the previous week. “Uncle Vanya” had the most significant drop, losing 1,781 admissions for a total attendance of 6,214. “Back to the Future”’s attendance fell 1,685 to an attendance figure of 9,604.
Overall, Broadway posted an average paid admission of $120.12. “Cabaret” had the week’s highest individual average paid admission: $219.56. “Hamilton” ($181.38) had the second-highest admission, and “The Lion King” ($166.68) the third. “Home” posted the lowest average paid admission of the week: $26.51.
“A Beautiful Noise,” which enters its final month of Main Stem performances, had a unique distinction this week. The Neil Diamond bio-musical posted the week’s fourth-highest average paid admission ($154.41), while simultaneously marking the week’s lowest capacity figure. The musical filled 56.4% of seats at the Broadhurst Theatre.
On the other end of the capacity spectrum, 17 shows surpassed 90% filled seats. “Aladdin,” “Appropriate,” “Cabaret,” “Hadestown,” “Hamilton,” “Mother Play,” “Moulin Rouge!,” Stereophonic,” “Suffs,” “The Book of Mormon,” “The Lion King,” “The Wiz” and “Wicked” all filled seats within the 90th percentile. “Merrily” filled every seat of the Hudson Theatre. Standing-room attendees brought “An Enemy of the People,” “Hell’s Kitchen” and “The Outsiders” to a capacity greater than 100%.
While it’s only two weeks into the 2024-2025 season, Broadway is already showing a strong momentum compared to this time last year. Season to date, Broadway has grossed $68,958,251, up 7.4% from last season. Attendance is ahead by 5.2%, with a total attendance figure of 567,499 to date. Seats in theaters have been filled to 88.7% capacity, up 3 percentage points.
