A lion roars on Broadway as box office environment hauls reveal winners

NEW YORK (AP) — It was feast or famine at the Broadway box business as 2022 wound down, with eye-popping revenue for well known reveals — like a staggering new Broadway record for “The Lion King” — not lifting all strugglers.

20-one of the 33 shows offered broke the $1 million mark for the 7 days ending Sunday, and “The Lion King” made record with the largest haul ever — an astonishing $4,315,264 above 9 performances for a 25-calendar year-old display with no stars.

“The Audio Man” was shut at the rear of with two large-wattage stars in Sutton Foster and Hugh Jackman — $3,971,531 around nine displays — adopted by “Wicked” with $3,152,679. The prime common ticket rate went to “The Tunes Man” with $285.80, just about a greenback additional than “The Lion King.”

All shows bar one — “A Xmas Carol” — saw their figures improve around the week ending Sunday. On the other hand, the regular bump was scarcely apparent for “Topdog/Underdog,” with just $345,567 in excess of eight demonstrates, and “Ohio State Murders” pulling in just $311,893 to a 50 percent-empty theater about nine performances despite the presence of six-time Tony Award winner Audra McDonald. A revival of the Pulitzer Prize-successful dim comedy “Between Riverside and Crazy” starring the rapper Popular pulled in just $260,085.

Box business numbers experienced been treacherous for new is effective even prior to the vacations — early closing notices had been posted for demonstrates like “Almost Famous,” “KPOP,” “A Peculiar Loop” and “Ain’t No Mo’.” The Broadway stalwart “The Phantom of the Opera” earlier declared it would close in 2023 following 35 yrs. That announcement was achieved with a ticket spike.

The information is a reminder that Broadway has not thoroughly rebounded from the pandemic, which wiped out live theater for 18 months and dried up its lifeblood — tourism.

Tom Kirdahy, a veteran producer driving the recent starry revival of “The Piano Lesson” and the future “New York, New York,” stated audiences are steadily coming back again and could be back again to normal by spring.

“It’s incredibly distinct that obtaining styles are unique, but it is equally distinct that audiences are craving superior operate, and I assume the obstacle is to remind men and women that New York is basically a protected location to be and that theaters are secure sites to be,” he explained.

The 33 shows jogging on Broadway grossed $51,912,862 last week, the biggest seven-working day period because the past 7 days of 2019, when the box workplace attained $55,765,408. The holiday break interval is particularly rough on performers and crew customers who are ordinarily requested to staff further performances.

Whilst January and February are amongst the bitterest months on Broadway, several producers have been popping champagne immediately after the newest figures. The 26-yr-outdated revival of the musical “Chicago” attained its most important weekly overall with $1,299,404 and “The Piano Lesson” starring Samuel L. Jackson, John David Washington and Danielle Brooks grew to become the maximum-grossing August Wilson play on Broadway in record last 7 days.

The Lea Michele-led revival of “Funny Girl” established a new box office record at the August Wilson Theatre with $2,405,901. And the new musical “& Juliet” broke the box office environment history at the Stephen Sondheim Theatre, grossing $1,639,788 for 9 performances. “Harry Potter and the Cursed Child” broke the home file at the Lyric Theatre, grossing $2,671,191 for its 8-efficiency week.