Broadway had a very merry Christmas – with one big exception – as any number of shows gained big at the box office last week, breaking house records and in one case – Wicked – soaring past the $5 million mark to achieve the highest grossing week ever in Broadway history.
But that exception was a doozy: The hit revival of Gypsy starring Audra McDonald canceled seven of eight performances during the highly lucrative holiday week ending December 29. While most shows posted big box office increases and terrific attendance, Gypsy was down $1,286,919 from the previous week, grossing $280,095 for the single uncanceled performance (which was standing room only).
The holiday week would have been the first full week of post-preview performances for Gypsy.
In an Instagram post, McDonald, prior to the cancellations, addressed the show’s blue Christmas: “Hi friends! You know that nasty cold that’s going around right now? Maybe some of you have it? Sore throat, cough, etc? No fun right? Well that little bugger is racing through the Broadway community right now too including here at Gypsy and including yours truly 🙃. So I’m hoping all of you that are coming to shows this holiday week and next can give a little grace to us folks up onstage and backstage as well. Whether it be understanding a little crack or two in a song, or a sneeze or cough while we’re up there. Maybe not the most perfectly sung notes or spoken lines OR if you come to the theater to find out that one of our glorious understudies or swings are on. We are all doing our absolute best to give you the show you deserve while taking care of ourselves at the same time. So that’s all. See you on the boards…and take your vitamins!”
Unfortunately, the Gypsy cast was unable to go on, sneezes or no. Seven consecutive performances between Monday, December 23 and Saturday, December 28 were canceled. Since the show had only recently opened on December 19, there was no time for understudies to get properly up to speed. Performances resumed on Sunday, December 29.
The pill must have been particularly hard to swallow for Gypsy considering the increased ticket-buying going on elsewhere. In all, Broadway’s 33 shows grossed a total $55,822,374, up 26% over the previous week and 23% over last year at this time when the box office week included both Christmas Day and New Year’s Eve (this year the week included Christmas Eve and Christmas Day)
Total attendance last week was 306,180, a hefty 19% greater than last year at this time. This year’s figure for Christmas week was up just a tad over the previous week, but the big gain was in average ticket price, with holiday theater-goers spending an average $182.32 for the price of admission. That’s a boost of $35.48 over the previous week. In all, 97% of Broadway’s seats were occupied last week.
Contributing to the strong numbers were the seven productions adding a ninth holiday week performance to the typically eight-performance week. The shows playing nine-performance schedules were & Juliet (grossing $1,715,481), Aladdin ($2,806,677), MJ ($2,601,593), The Book of Mormon ($1,803,112), The Great Gatsby ($2,618,359) and, the week’s top earners, The Lion King ($4,203,121) and Wicked ($5,037,392).
Wicked’s $5M+ figure breaks Broadway’s previous highest-grossing week record ($4.3 million) set by The Lion King back on January 1, 2003.
Among the other, if less historic, record-setters were Chicago, the long-running Kander & Ebb musical revival, grossing $1,366,286, the production’s highest eight-performance gross ever, topping a $1.1M take from last March (the revival opened in 1996). The Outsiders had its best week ever at the Bernard B. Jacobs Theatre, breaking the house record for the tenth time for the eight-performance week with a gross of $2,015,452. The Great Gatsby‘s $2,618,359 broke the Broadway Theatre’s box office record for a nine-performance week, easily besting the $1,873,246 set by Rodgers & Hammerstein’s Cinderella back in 2015. And the Tony Award-winning musical Six had its best week of 2024 with a gross of $1,367,523, performing to SRO audiences at the Lena Horne Theatre.
Some other notable numbers:
- Swept Away closed out its too-short run on December 29, filling 99% of seats at the Longacre Theatre – a figure that should have been commonplace for this fine Avett Brothers musical. The show’s final weekly gross was a strong $717,624;
- Both Cult of Love and Eureka Day had planned seven-performance weeks, with the former grossing $402,062 and the latter taking $276,281;
- Productions grossing $2 million or more for the week were Aladdin, Back To The Future, Elf, Hamilton, Harry Potter And The Cursed Child, MJ, The Great Gatsby, The Outsiders and, of course, The Lion King and Wicked;
- Sell-Outs for the week were & Juliet, Back To The Future, Gypsy (one performance), Hadestown, Hamilton, MJ, the unstoppable Oh, Mary!, Romeo + Juliet, Six, Stereophonic, Suffs, The Book of Mormon, The Outsiders and Wicked;
- Coming close to filling all seats, at 98% or 99% of capacity, were Aladdin, All In: Comedy About Love, Cabaret at the Kit Kat Club, Chicago, Death Becomes Her, Harry Potter And The Cursed Child, Hell’s Kitchen, Maybe Happy Ending, Moulin Rouge!, Sunset Blvd., Swept Away, The Great Gatsby, and The Lion King.
Among the more recent arrivals, All In: Comedy About Love, written by Simon Rich and starring, among others, John Mulaney, grossed a mighty $1,460,086, and Maybe Happy Ending, the wonderful musical that got off to a slow box office start but is proving itself to be the sleeper of the season, took in a delirious $1,019,324.
Season to date, Broadway, in the 32nd week of the 2024-25 season, has grossed $1,092,471,320, up about 16% over last year at this time, with total attendance of 8,580,652 also up 16%.
All figures courtesy of The Broadway League. For complete box office listings, visit the League’s website.