As pop-u-lar as ever, Wicked musical breaks Broadway record
Based on the book by Gregory Maguire, the Wizard Of Oz prequel, Wicked, has been breaking box office records for about a month now. But what most people outside the New York tri-state area don’t know is that Wicked is also a stage play. Thanks to all the hoopla surrounding the movie, that little adaptation at the Gershwin Theatre in New York City recently enjoyed the most lucrative week in Broadway history. Per The Hollywood Reporter, the Wicked stage musical brought in $5 million last week from nine performances, $2 million more than the week prior. Of course, it doesn’t hurt that the average ticket price is nearly $300. For comparison, other shows did quite well, too, including The Lion King ($4.2 million), Aladdin ($2.81 million), and Hamilton, which only did eight shows but still grossed $2.93 million.
The holiday rush is typically a boom time for Broadway, and this year was no exception, with grosses up almost 23% from this week last year. All that is good news for Broadway, which has struggled to regain its footing following COVID lockdowns. However, while the 2022–2023 seasons saw admissions fall 16.8% compared to the final pre-pandemic season, the 2023–2024 season was 16% up from last year. It sounds like everything is coming up roses—except, ironically, for Gypsy, which canceled eight shows due to illness.
What can we say? The people really want to see Boq live and in the flesh.