Broadway Box Office Up 16% To $31M; Michael Jackson Musical ‘MJ’ Begins Previews

Broadway box office rebounded last week from the previous week’s post-Thanksgiving dive, with the fattened roster of 32 shows taking in a total of $30,533,809 for the week ending Dec. 12. The figure represents a boost of about 16% from the previous week.

Total attendance was up a commensurate 14% to 240,602, with an average ticket price of $127 roughly in keeping with previous weeks.

The increase also reflects the return of David Byrne’s American Utopia following a previous week of cancellations (non-Covid-related illness), as well as the post-shutdown return of Dear Evan Hansen and the arrival on Dec. 6 of MJ, the Michael Jackson musical, now in previews.

Though Mrs. Doubtfire canceled the Dec. 11 performance due to Covid, the production’s additional cancelations for some of this week’s performances, as well as the cancelations of several performances of Freestyle Love Supreme, won’t register on the box office chart until next week’s tallies.

The season-to-date box office (since Aug. 4) for all Broadway shows is $287,912,967, with attendance of 2,291,990 at 84% of capacity. Average ticket price for the season is $126.

Productions on Broadway during the week ending Dec. 12 were: Ain’t Too Proud; Aladdin; The Book of Mormon; Caroline, or Change; Chicago; Clyde’s; Come From Away; Company; David Byrne’s American Utopia; Dear Evan Hansen; Diana, The Musical; Flying Over Sunset; Freestyle Love Supreme; Girl From the North Country; Hadestown; Hamilton; Harry Potter and the Cursed Child; Jagged Little Pill; The Lehman Trilogy; The Lion King; MJ; Moulin Rouge! The Musical!; Mrs. Doubtfire; The Phantom of the Opera; Six; Slave Play; Thoughts of a Colored Man; Tina; To Kill a Mockingbird; Trouble In Mind; Waitress; and Wicked.

All figures courtesy of the trade group Broadway League. The League is releasing only combined weekly box office figures this season – in contrast to its traditional practice of providing show-by-show figures.