Broadway Grosses Analysis: The Holiday Boost Continues as Ticket Prices Soar

Broadway brought in more than $31 million last week, playing to nearly 90% full houses at an average paid admission of $140.

Leading that high average ticket price continues to be the starry revival of Merrily We Roll Along. Its average of $250 (thanks to a top ticket price of $650), is far and away the highest on Broadway, beating runner-up The Lion King's average ticket price by around $50. Celebrities and Sondheim are proving to be a powerful combo, with both the Daniel Radcliffe-, Jonathan Groff-, and Lindsay Mendez-led revival of Merrily We Roll Along and Josh Groban- and Annaleigh Ashford-led Sweeney Todd now reliable mainstays in the weekly top five highest grossers.

Leading the pack as usual is The Lion King with $2.5 million, followed by Wicked and Hamilton with $2.3 and $2 million, respectively. Wicked, at the high capacity Gershwin Theatre, also continues to reliably top the list of most attended—15,304 people saw the Wizard of Oz prequel musical last week, beating runner-up Aladdin by more than 2,000. In fact, all of Broadway is pretty well attended, with 17 shows playing to 90%-or-higher capacities.

It should be noted that last week's grosses were 15% lower than the same December week in 2022, though that can be attributed to there being eight fewer shows playing this December compared to last December.