Broadway Box Office Takes Another Tumble; ‘Hamilton’ Dips Below $3M

Broadway last week had that flu that’s been raging around the country. How else to account for a 10% free-fall in ticket sales from the previous week? Even Hamilton dipped (not enough to improve your chances of scoring a ticket, but still…). The musico-historico-blockbustero was off nearly $300K from the week before, coming in under the $3 million mark for the first time since mid-December. (Blame – or, better, credit – those weeks when Ham‘s student matinees are given over to subsidized $60 seats across the board.)

Other shows taking big hits were Waitress, down $452K at the Nederlander Organization’s Brooks Atkinson; Anastasia, down $125K to $810K at the Shubert Organization’s Broadhurst; Hello, Dolly! down $160K to $1 million at the Shubert; School of Rock, off $152.3K to $570K at the Shuberts’ Broadway; SpongeBob SquarePants, down $160K at the Nederlanders’ Palace; The Book of Mormon, at Jujamcyn Theatres’ O’Neill, down $185K to $995K n a 7-performance schedule; The Lion King, at the Nederlanders’ Minskoff, off $132K to $1.67 million; and Wicked, at the Nederlanders’ Gershwin, down $127.6K to $1.37 million.

Non-musicals were flat, with Mark Rylance in Farinelli and the King continuing to dominate and John Leguizamo’s Latin History for Morons a solid No. 2.

Next week holds no promise for improvement, as Bruce Springsteen takes a flyer until February 28

The five top-grossing musicals:

• Hamilton ($2.79 million at the Nederlander Organization’s Richard Rodgers; $259.81 average ticket)

• Springsteen on Broadway ($2.4 million for five performances at Jujamcyn’s Walter Kerr; $508.21)

• The Lion King ($1.67 million at the Nederlanders’ Minskoff; $125.08)

• Dear Evan Hansen ($1.66 million at the Shubert Organization’s Music Box; $209.10)

• Wicked ($1.37 million at the Nederlanders’ Gershwin; $92.13)

The five top-grossing plays:

• Farinelli and the King ($800K at the Shubert Organization’s Belasco; $104.05)

• Latin History for Morons ($521.8K for 7 performances at the Roundabout Theatre Company’s Studio 54; $88.84)

• John Lithgow: Stories By Heart ($405K at the Roundabout Theatre Company’s American Airlines; $82.01)

• The Parisian Woman ($400K at the Ambassador Theatre Group’s Hudson; $73.25)

• The Play That Goes Wrong ($295.9K at the Shuberts’ Lyceum; $64.85)

Total receipts for 26 shows were $24.87 million in Week 37 of the 2017-18 Broadway season, according to figures from the trade group Broadway League, down 10% from $27.5 million in Week 36. Average ticket price across all shows was $118.37, down from $124.12 the week before.