‘Jagged Little Pill’ Swallows $1.1M In First Full Week; Broadway’s Total Box Office At $35M

Jagged Little Pill, the Alanis Morissette musical that’s not about Alanis Morissette, joined the Million Dollar Club in its first full week on the Broadway grosses chart, taking in $1,107,845 for eight previews for the week ending Nov. 10.

The Jagged take no doubt helped Broadway’s overall total, which jumped about 14% from last week to $35,399,366. In all, Broadway’s 35 productions drew 291,419 ticket-buyers, an 8% over the previous week.

Based on the themes of Morissette’s 1995 album, Jagged tells the story of a suburban family dealing with some turbulence in their lives, rather than being an Morissette bio-musical like Tina, also doing big biz. Jagged filled about 95% of seats at the Broadhurst, and earned about 89% of box office potential (expect that figure to rise when last week’s average ticket price of $129 to rise).

As for Tina – The Tina Turner Musical, critics crowned a new toast of the town in Adrienne Warren, who plays and sings (and sings) the title character. The show opened Nov. 7, so the week included two press performances and a heavily comped opening night, reflected  in a 9% drop to $1,332,425. Expect that to rise next week, along with last week’s average ticket price of $112.

Also notable Hadestown, not for selling out (that’s par for the weekly course at the Walter Kerr) but for being the week that investors recouped their initial investment of $11.5M. Adding to the till was last week’s $1,461,216, a whopping 134% of its box office potential (translated: the show likely had lots of folks paying for premium tickets or standing room).

Also in this season of previews and press seats, The Inheritance grossed $738,918 at the Barrymore, about 65% of its potential. The Olivier-winning play opens Nov. 17. Word of mouth and reviews will tell the tale on this one.

Closing out its run at the Hayes, Linda Vista saw a $56K rise over its penultimate week, grossing $308,368, a little over half its potential.

Coming as Linda Vista was going (just in time for the holidays)was A Christmas Carol, with Campbell Scott, Andrea Martin and LaChanze. The Dickens classic, as interpreted by Jack Thorne, played just three previews at the Lyceum, taking $106,450. Nov. 20 is opening night.

The week’s sell-outs (or virtually, at 98% of capacity or more) were American Utopia, Come From Away, Dear Evan Hansen, Hadestown, Hamilton, Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, Moulin Rouge!, The Book of Mormon, Tina, To Kill a Mockingbird and Wicked.

Season to date, Broadway has grossed $780,083,572, down about 7% year to year. Total attendance to date is 6,489,478, holding steady with last season at this time.

All figures courtesy of the trade group Broadway League.