Broadway Sees 27% Box Office Surge on Presidents Day; 'The Notebook' Rakes in $1M

The Presidents Day weekend was like a little Christmas present for Broadway, with grosses from 23 productions registering a massive 27% increase over the previous week, reaching $26,946,864.

Over 94% of available seats were filled during the week ending 18 February, total attendance was 201,227, up marginally 7% on the previous week (the big jump in receipts was due to expensive tickets: Average ticket price for the week was) $133.91, up a full $20 from last week).

Of the 23 productions, 20 filled at least 90% of their seats, with The Notebook being particularly impressive among recent arrivals. In previews at the Schönfeld, the musical based on the Nicholas Sparks bestseller played to standing-room-only crowds, and grossed a whopping $1,013,563 for only seven shows. Opening night is March 14.

The three productions that fell below the 90% capacity mark were A Beautiful Noise (65%), Days of Wine and Roses (54%) and Spamalot (87%). It may be a cold winter as the arrival of spring is beginning to gain attention.

Sweeney Todd featured permanent replacements Aaron Tveit and Sutton Foster in its first week, which grew to $219,531 ($1,479,716) from the previous week. Tweet and Foster will remain on the show until May 5, with The New York Times recently suggesting that the revival may not continue after their departure; Although there is no official word).

Appropriate, Starring Sarah Paulson and Corey Stoll, three performances were canceled due to COVID within the company, grossing only $568,150 in a five-performance week, but all seats for those shows were filled.

Doubt: A Parable, Amy Ryan played her first week after replacing the ill Tyne Daly, filling 92% of the seats at Todd Haymes’, earning $489,078 for seven previews. Opening night is March 7.
Worth noting is that long-running Chicago grossed $1,018,556, which is more than its previous Presidents Day weekend best of 2023 of $896,828. Another long-running film, The Lion King, was the week’s top-grossing film with $2,004,314.

So far in the season, Broadway has grossed $1,117,470,529 with a total attendance of 8,883,846.
All numbers are provided by the Broadway League. Check out the league website for a complete listing of box office receipts.

The Notebook" on Broadway sells out its first three previews as business slows down overall.

Winter had a chilling effect on Broadway last week, with most shows reporting at least some declines at the box office and total receipts falling about 10% from the previous week.

Overall, the box office gross of 24 productions for the week ending February 11 was $21,192,251, with an attendance of 187,573, down about 12% from the previous week.
Only a half-dozen shows bucked the downward trend, notably Sweeney Todd, which welcomed Aaron Tveit and Sutton Foster on February 9 as permanent replacements for Josh Groban and Annaleigh Ashford (the understudy filling in since the original Were)
Departed on 14 January). Grosses for the Sondheim revival increased from $402,763 to a total of $1,260,185.

Joining the roster was The Notebook, which was just a few seats away from selling out its first three previews at the Schoenfeld Theatre. This production, with music by Ingrid Michaelson and a book by Becca Brunstetter, grossed $364,678 for three performances, with an average ticket price of $122.17.

How to Dance in Ohio is off the board, with tickets sold out in the final week of performances, with last-chancers raising ticket sales to $797,305, an increase of $168,596 from the previous week.
Another show going into recession was Hadestown, which was gaining new momentum as it approached its fifth anniversary in April, featuring replacement cast members Jordan Fisher, Ani DiFranco, and Lola Tung. Last week’s receipts were $55,514 more than the previous week, reaching $791,577 with 97% of Walter Kerr’s seats filled.

Broadway Box Office Update: "Sweeney Todd" Slips, "Gutenberg!" Ends Strong

Last week, most other plays’ increases more than made up for Sweeney Todd’s post-Groban dip, which kept the Broadway box office relatively stable. In the week ending January 28, the 25 productions brought in a total of $24,615,726 in revenue, up almost 4% from the week before.

Attendance increased nearly 5% to 217,847.
The box office of The Sweeney, which recently saw the departures of original stars Josh Groban and Annaleigh Ashford, was on the decline for the second consecutive week, down nearly $19,000 to $776,081. Attendance at Lunt-Fontanne was 90% of capacity, but the low average ticket price – $81.97 – kept total receipts modest. The trend is likely to slow or stop with the arrival of star replacements Aaron Tveitt and Sutton Foster on February 9.

In its final week of limited time, Gutenberg! Musical! James Earl Jones set a house record at the theater by taking in $1,462,227 and playing to a standing-room-only audience.

Producers announced yesterday that the musical starring Josh Gad and Andrew Rannells has recouped their $6.75 million investment.

Also topping the $1 million mark for the week were Juliet, $1,058,739; Aladdin, $1,120,150; Back to the Future, $1,036,005; Hamilton $1,725,790; Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, $1,145,407; Merrily We Roll Along, $1,598,882; MJ, $1,349,620; Moulin Rouge!, $1,120,097; The Lion King, $1,701,309; and rogue $1,634,334.
Broadway has made $1,045,837,739 so far this season, with 8,281,765 people attending in total.
All figures courtesy of The Broadway League.