‘Dear Evan Hansen’ Looks Up In A Down Week For Broadway Box Office

The eclipse came a little early to Broadway, with box offices around town growing dim in a laconic week as crowds thinned. Most shows saw ticket sales drop from the previous week: Disney’s Aladdin, at the Mouse’s New Amsterdam, fell $142.5K – still coming up with 95 percent of its $1.7 million gross potential. Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, which has been doing well despite downbeat reviews, fell $134K at the Nederlander Organization’s Lunt-Fontanne, ringing up $880.7K in sales, or 63 percent of potential.

An exception to the trend was Dear Evan Hansen, still blockbuster strong at the Shubert Organization’s Music Box. A $52.3K uptick brought the show back into the Top 5 with $1.71 million in sales, 24.5 percent above potential and the second-highest average ticket price – $215.10 – after Hamilton.

The 5 top-grossing shows were:

• Hamilton ($2.97 million at the Nederlander Organization’s Richard Rodgers; $276.16 average ticket)

• Hello, Dolly! ($2.20 million at the Shubert; $188.51)

• The Lion King ($2.15 million at the Nederlanders’ Minskoff; $158.29)

• Wicked ($1.79 million at the Nederlanders’ Gershwin; $126.51)

• Dear Evan Hansen ($1.71 million at the Shuberts’ Music Box; $215.10)

Michael Moore’s The Terms of My Surrender hasn’t set off fireworks at the Shuberts’ Belasco; the autobiographical show was up a bit to $410.5K, 54 percent of potential, with an average price of $64.85. War Paint, at the Nederlander, also has failed to take off, selling $540K in tickets, 43 percent of potential, with the average price of $73.58. Andrew Lloyd Webber’s School of Rock, at the Shuberts’ Winter Garden, was off $134.7K, to $904K, at $94.59 average price per ticket. You could have seen the terrific new cast of A Doll’s House, Part 2 for just $53.15 a pop at the Shuberts’ Golden, where it’s limping along at 27 percent of potential ($192K) despite great notices. The undervalued biotuner On Your Feet! closed at the Nederlanders’ Marquis, with a final surge that sent it off into the touring ether with a $153K boost to $1.2 million.

Week 13 of the 2017-18 Broadway season rang up sales of $28.7 million across 30 shows — a $1.6 million, or 5 percent, drop from Week 12. Average ticket price was $116.06, down from $116.38 a week earlier.