Broadway Box Office Dips; ‘Once On This Island’ Revival Nears SRO

UPDATE Monday evening: Corrects figures for five top-grossing plays, below.

EARLIER: Ticket sales on Broadway fell slightly last week, while business remained solid heading into the holiday peak period.

The first revival of the musical Once on This Island, running at the independently owned Circle in the Square, was off to a good start, filling 98% of the theater’s 696 seats for eight previews prior to its December 3 opening, at an average price of $79.24. Amy Schumer continued to draw top-paying customers to Steve Martin’s comedy Meteor Shower, at another intimate venue, the Shubert Organization’s Booth Theatre, where the average ticket was $162.91 and the gross topped $1 million. The show opens November 29.

The SpongeBob SquarePants musical, in previews at the Nederlander Organization’s Palace Theatre, looks like it will need critical support; the show sold $575,200 worth of tickets across seven previews, at an average price of $61.23. It opens December 4.

The five top-grossing shows were:

• Hamilton ($2.83 million at the Nederlanders’ Richard Rodgers; $263.31 average ticket)

• Springsteen on Broadway ($2.40 million at Jujamcyn Theatres’ Walter Kerr; five performances; $506.66)

• Hello, Dolly! ($2.32 million at the Shubert; $206.96)

• The Lion King ($1.76 million at the Nederlanders’ Minskoff for 7 paid performances; $148.05)

• Dear Evan Hansen ($1.68 million at the Shuberts’ Music Box; $212.26)

The five top-grossing plays were:

• Meteor Shower ($1 million at the Shuberts’ Booth; eight previews; $169.91 average ticket)

• The Parisian Woman ($832.84K at the Ambassador Theatre Group’s Hudson; five previews; $115.29)

• M. Butterfly ($564.70K at the Shuberts’ Cort; $91.15)

• Junk ($547.55K at Lincoln Center Theater’s Vivian Beaumont; $87.72)

• Latin History For Morons ($467K at the Roundabout’s Studio 54; $82.35)

Ticket sales for Week 26 of the 2017-18 Broadway season totaled $31.15 million across 31 shows, down $1.33 million (4%) from Week 25. Average price per ticket for all shows was down to $125.77, from $129.49.