Broadway Box Office: ‘Sunset Blvd.’ Keeps Rising, As New Musicals Try to Build Momentum
Sunset Blvd. again hit its highest grossing week yet at the St. James Theatre, bringing in $1.9 million, up $50,000 from the prior week, and playing to 95 percent capacity.
This marks the fourth consecutive week the musical has built upon its grosses, since opening Oct. 20. And, as was the case last week, the backlash against Nicole Scherzinger for commenting on what appeared to be a pro-Trump social media post by comedian Russell Brand seems to be minimal.
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The grosses tally makes Sunset Blvd. the second highest grossing production in the industry last week, behind only Wicked, which brought in $2.4 million. The Lion King, which is typically in the second highest spot, saw its grosses tumble about $160,000 to reach just under $1.8 million.
Other new musicals are being closely watched to see if they can increase their grosses tally and stay running on Broadway longer term. Among those, new musical Maybe Happy Ending, starring Darren Criss and Helen J. Shen, increased its grosses total by just over $160,000 compared to last week, bringing in $458,827 and playing to 89 percent capacity. The musical opened at the Belasco Theatre Nov. 12 to unanimous raves, but will still need to see more of a jump in grosses to maintain its staying power.
Tammy Faye, the new musical with a score by Elton John, opened at the Palace Theatre Nov. 14 to mixed reviews, with capacity last week at 63 percent and grosses of just above $370,000 impacted by a seven-show week and opening night. Both numbers will need to increase to defray the running costs of a large musical. A Wonderful World: The Louis Armstrong Musical opened at Studio 54 on Nov. 11 to mixed reviews, but saw a $50,000 increase in grosses to reach just above $660,000.
Additionally, long-runner Harry Potter and the Cursed Child brought in just above $900,000 in its first seven performances with a shortened run time (the play now clocks in under three hours). The show typically plays eight performances per week (with the play bringing in just over $1 million the prior week), meaning it may be too soon to tell whether the shorter format will bring in more audience members. Capacity at the Lyric Theatre was largely unchanged between both weeks, at around 89 percent.
Overall, industry grosses were down close to 4 percent from the prior week, as productions and crowds gear up for the holidays, and as the new shows opened, with largely comped opening nights and press performances in the preceding days.
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