Broadway had its highest-grossing week on record last week amid premium prices and holiday demand.
Overall, Broadway brought in $50.3 million, besting last year’s record of $49.7 million. Several Broadway shows set all-time box office records, with “Hamilton” bringing in the highest gross ever recorded for a Broadway show in a regular week, at $3.85 million, and “Chicago” raking in $1.26 million, the most the show has made in its 21 years on Broadway,
These records come as several Broadway shows played a nine-show week and had increased premium ticket prices around the holidays. The higher prices contributed to the higher box office tally, as the week saw lower overall attendance and had one fewer show, with 32 plays and musicals, compared to this week last year.
With $3.85 million grossed across eight performances, “Hamilton” broke its own all-time record for the fourth time, after previously breaking the record in the week ended Dec. 24 with $3,797,844. Notably, the “Hamilton” gross was the highest of all Broadway shows last week, including those with nine performances.
The average paid admission to “Hamilton” last week was $358.46, which was the top average admission price on Broadway save for “Springsteen on Broadway,” which saw average paid admission of $508.60 for its five-show week.
With nine shows, “Waitress” set a new house record for the Brooks Atkinson Theatre, in the musical’’s best week ever, bringing in $1.45 million, while “Once on This Island” set a house record for a musical at Circle in the Square Theatre, with $827,889.
Across nine shows, “The Band’s Visit” grossed $1.56 million, which is the highest gross for a nine-show week at the Ethel Barrymore Theatre.
Overall, Broadway grossed $1.64 billion in 2017, with average attendance topping the past three years, at 13.74 million. The year contained 53 weeks, rather than the typical 52 weeks, which makes a direct comparison to 2016, which brought in $1.37 billion, difficult.
In 2012, the most recent year with 53 weeks, Broadway brought in $1.2 billion.
