Broadway box office surged last week as some big name stars arrived – and in one case, returned – to New York stages: Keanu Reeves and Alex Winter sold out their first preview of Waiting For Godot, and original Hamilton cast member Leslie Odom, Jr., back for a special run as Aaron Burr, saw the weekly gross for that musical jump by $1,629,427 to a whopping $3,779,453.
Odom rejoined the show on September 9 and will continue to November 26. The average ticket rate for Hamilton last week was $352.36, up from $200.62 the previous week.
For its first preview at the Hudson, Godot took in $367,206, with Broadway’s highest average ticket rate – $377.01 – for the week. Opening night is September 28.
In all, 22 of Broadway’s 28 shows posted increases last week following the previous week’s sluggish Labor Day holiday. Total gross for the week ending September 14 was $30,128,088, a boost of about 20% over the previous week and 18% over this time last year. Total paid attendance was 240,283, up 12% over the previous week and 9% year-to-year.
Also new to the chart was Punch, James Graham’s anthem West End play that began previews at the Samuel J. Friedman and opens on 9/29. For its first seven previews, the play grossed $228,612, with attendance at 87% of the Friedman’s capacity.
Opening tonight, Art, the revival of Yasmina Reza’s play starring Bobby Cannavale, James Corden and Neil Patrick Harris, played 8 previews last week at the beat Box, filling 99.8% of seats and grossing $1,354,401 (with some performances heavily comped with critics).
Some other notable numbers: Wicked and The Lion King were among the week’s leading earners, with the former grossing $2,003,313 and the latter at $1,692,809. Other productions in last week’s Million Dollar Club were Aladdin, $1,096,850; Buena Vista Social Club, $1,134,117; Death Becomes Her, $1,362,050; Just In Time, $1,287,171; Mamma Mia!, $1,576,268; Maybe Happy Ending, $1,216,108; MJ, $1,176,242; Moulin Rouge!, $1,041,832; Oh, Mary!, $1,149,493; and The Outsiders, $1,000,244.
At the lower end of the spectrum, Jeff Ross: Take a Banana for the Ride filled only 38% of seats at the Nederlander, grossing $209,247.
Season to date, Broadway, in the 16th week of the 2025-26 season, has grossed $546,586,481, up about 8% over last year at this time, with total attendance of 4,297,963 up 6%.
All figures courtesy of The Broadway League. For more box office information visit the League’s website.
About the Author
