New York City’s winter weather took another bite out of Broadway business last week, with canceled performances and blizzard-averse potential audiences sending receipts for the 27 productions plummeting 17% from the previous week.
With Monday evening performances canceled and piles of snow keeping pedestrians and drivers at bay, total grosses fell to $26,036,589 for the week ending March 1, down from $32M the previous week. Attendance dropped 8% to 221,567.
Broadway’s average ticket price also took a cold shot to the chin, dropping to $117.51 from the previous week’s $130.38.
Especially hard hit were productions that have Monday evening performances on their schedules, with the February 23 shows canceled due to the February 22 blizzard. With seven performances – as opposed to the usual eight – the still-strong Harry Potter and the Cursed Child was down $411,508 to $2,159,398; Six: The Musical was down $256,190 to $440,849; and The Great Gatsby, down $473,715 to $673,576.
In all, 24 of the 27 productions reported significant box office drops for the week. The three shows that bucked the trend were Chess, which saw the return of star Lea Michele after a weeklong vacation, the grosses climbing $381,595 to $1,166,962; Hadestown, which saw the final week of principal cast members including Jack Wolfe as Orpheus, up $160,566 to $1,303,532; and Every Brilliant Thing starring Daniel Radcliffe, which despite losing the Monday performance was up to $980,815, a jump of $676,388 over the previous week when the just-starting play had two previews.
Every Brilliant Thing, which opens March 12 at the Hudson, sold 98% of seats during the snowy week.
Chicago, with Whitney Leavitt of Hulu’s The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives in the role of Roxie Hart still pulling ’em in, dropped a relatively modest $59,706 to $1,181,277. About 98% of seats at the Ambassador Theatre were filled for the seven performances.
Sell-outs for the week were Hadestown, Hamilton, Harry Potter and the Cursed Child and Just in Time. Like Chicago and Every Brilliant Thing, the musical revival of Ragtime sold 98% of available seats. Moulin Rouge!, Stranger Things: The First Shadow, The Lion King, The Outsiders and Wicked all sold at least 90% of seats.
Other shows weren’t quite so weather-proof: & Juliet went from the previous week’s 95% of capacity to 85%, Aladdin from 97% to 87%, and Buena Vista Social Club from 96% to 85%. Similar drops were reported by Death Becomes Her, Maybe Happy Ending, MJ, Oh, Mary!, Operation Mincemeat, Six, The Book of Mormon, The Great Gatsby and Two Strangers (Carry A Cake Across New York).
Top five earners for the week were Harry Potter and the Cursed Child ($2,159,398); Hamilton ($1,756,444); Just in Time ($1,484,852); The Lion King ($1,326,036); and Wicked ($1,307,242).
Season to date, Broadway, in the 40th week of the 2025-26 season, has grossed $1,451,715,100, up about 7% over last year at this time, with total attendance of 10,879,802 up 3%.
All figures courtesy of The Broadway League. For more box office information visit the League’s website.