Broadway Box Office Up As ‘Hamilton’ Scores With Audiences – And The White House

Hamilton not only lived up to the hype for President Barack Obama (that’s per a White House spokesman) but at the box office too, filling the Nederlander treasury with a stately gross of $1.3 million for seven previews. With an average paid admission of $138.94 and total attendance of 9,273 at the Richard Rodgers Theatre – including the seats filled by Obama and family Saturday afternoon – Lin-Manuel Miranda’s buzzy hip-hop bio of Alexander Hamilton was SRO at 100.3% attendance.

With most shows holding steady or up slightly over the previous week, Broadway was a generally happy place, big exception being the critically panned Amazing Grace at the Nederlander Theatre, with a weak $46.43 average ticket and a $322K gross for four previews and four performances reflecting a sluggish 29.32% of its $1,097,840 potential. Total attendance was 6,933, about 75% of available seats.

Better news for Fun Home, enjoying the best week of its run so far with $818K, 102.9% of its $795K potential, a happy average ticket of $133.61 and 103% attendance of 6,120 at the indie Circle in the Square.

The Street’s top average ticket price again went to Disney’s The Lion King ($173.51, for a total gross of $2.6 million), with The Book Of Mormon close behind at $168.31 ($1.7 million). Other SROs: Aladdin, Matilda, Mamma Mia! and, in its final week, On The Twentieth Century.

Total grosses for Week 8 of the Broadway season were $29.6 million for 29 shows, up 1% from the week before, according to figures released by the trade group Broadway League. Total receipts for the season to date were $220.4 million, down 1.7% from the previous season, with attendance down about 4%.