Other Desert Cities, the starry Broadway revival of Jon Robin Baitz’s Tony Award-winning play featuring Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Ed Harris, Allison Janney, Joe Keery and Lily Rabe, grossed a smashing $1,879,441 in its first week of previews. All seven performances at the Hudson were sold out for the week ending October 4.
The $1.8M gross puts Other Desert Cities, directed by John Benjamin Hickey, at #2 on this week’s Broadway grosses chart, second only to Hamilton‘s $2,704,838 (enjoying a boost with the return of Christopher Jackson to the cast). Other Desert Cities‘ average ticket price of $275.66 edged out usual front-runner Hamilton ($251.78) as the week’s costliest seat. (Average paid admission for all 28 shows was $122.51.)
Those two shows were the week’s only sell-outs, though Chicago, Hadestown, Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, Just in Time, MJ, Paranormal Activity, Schmigadoon!, and School Girls; Or, The African Mean Girls Play all came close with attendance at 95% of capacity or more.
Overall it was a fairly strong week on Broadway, with all but five of the 28 productions reporting box office gains over the previous week. Most of the five bucking the upward trend showed only minor slips, with the exceptions of Oh, Mary!, which was down $241,332 to a still-healthy $1,216,930, and The Lion King, which had a cancelled Saturday matinee and accordingly dropped $202,402 from the previous week to $1,498,471.
In addition to Other Desert Cities, two productions were new to the roster: Billy Crystal’s solo show 860, which filled 83% of seats at the Imperial for five previews and a take of $854,574; and non-prof The Imaginary Invalid, starring Bill Irwin, doing 92% for seven previews at the Haimes for a gross of $352,824. Opening night for 860 is October 21, and October 22 for Invalid.
Going strong was recent non-prof arrival School Girls; Or, The African Mean Girls Play, filling 96% of seats at the Friedman and grossing $351,072.
Chicago, with Reece Weaver as Roxie, continued its strong run with 98% of seats at the Ambassador filled and a gross of $1,030,366. Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, with Tom Felton as Draco, was an impressive 96% and $1,671,543.
On the lower end of the spectrum, Six and Stranger Things: The First Shadow were each at about 68% of capacity, with grosses of $562,105 and $571,076, respectively. Two Strangers (Carry a Cake Across New York) was at 65% and $503,692. All three productions have posted closing dates: November 29 for Two Strangers, and January 3, 2027, for both Six and Stranger Things.
Rounding out the Top Five Earners for the week, after Hamilton, Other Desert Cities and Harry Potter, were MJ, $1,588,467; and The Lion King.
In all, the 28 Broadway productions grossed $27,735,569 for the week ending October 4, a jump of 15% over the previous week but down 12% over last year at this time. Total attendance was 226,390, up 8% from the previous week and down 3% year-to-year.
In the 19th week of the 2026-27 season, Broadway has grossed $593,216,158 season-to-date, down about 7% from last year at this time, with total attendance of 4,906,881 down 2% year-to-year.
All figures courtesy of The Broadway League. For more box office information visit the League’s website.