Oh, Mary!, a sleeper hit if ever there was one, and The Outsiders, a musical so widespread that greater than 200 individuals purchased tickets final week figuring out they wouldn’t get an precise seat, are persevering with what can solely be described as blazing scorching summers.
Consider Oh, Mary!, author/actor Cole Escola’s campy, hysterically humorous interval play (flawlessly directed by Sam Pinkleton) about an alcoholic, off-the-rails Mary Todd Lincoln (that might be Escola) and her doomed, sneaky homosexual president husband (James Scully). It was a success final yr Off Broadway, however that actually doesn’t at all times translate to Broadway success.
But this time, it did. Oh, Mary! has been promoting out for weeks, and has been pulling in additional than $1 million per week since July 21. Last week (the week ending August 4) Oh, Mary!, a smallish play with a forged of 5 and a set that, whereas engaging and purposeful, isn’t precisely elaborate (effectively, till it’s), grossed $1,048,173. That’s greater than huge Broadway musicals like & Juliet, Chicago, Hadestown, Six, Suffs, The Notebook and Water For Elephants, virtually equal to Back to the Future and Moulin Rouge. Cabaret on the Kit Kat Club, ensconced at a wildly custom-renovated August Wilson Theatre and maybe essentially the most anticipated musical of the 2024 spring season, took in $1,508,933, simply $460,760 greater than Oh, Mary!, a not-insubstantial sum by any means, however one that also places the loopy First Lady inside shouting distance of these loopy Weimar nightclubbers.
Ticket value? Oh, Mary! had a median ticket of $146.39. That’s greater than the typical purchaser shelled out to be dazzled by huge Broadway musicals like & Juliet, Aladdin, Back to the Future, Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, Hell’s Kitchen, M.J., Moulin Rouge, Six, Suffs, The Book of Mormon, The Great Gatsby, The Wiz, Water For Elephants and Wicked.
In quick, Oh, Mary! is a full-fledged, indeniable phenomenon, as beguiling to bean counters as laughing seat sitters. It’s a marvel.
And then there’s The Outsiders, a musical primarily based on S.E. Hinton’s 1967 younger grownup novel that got here to New York final March fairly cocky from a well-liked engagement at San Diego’s La Jolla Playhouse and loads of pre-arrival press. Even after seeing it at Broadway’s Bernard Jacobs Theatre earlier than opening evening, I wasn’t satisfied the profitable forged and well-performed present might pull collectively sufficient disparate audiences to develop into a success. Do children nonetheless learn Hinton? Would Boomers who did purchase tickets all these years later? Would the ’80s children lovestruck by the pretty-boy forged of the 1983 movie rush to New York to see the faces of strangers?
Well, if they didn’t, any individual did. The Outsiders is recurrently promoting out and setting home data on the Jacobs, and it’s not simply promoting accessible seats. With attendance final week at 102.5% of capability, my math means that greater than 200 ticket patrons had been simply wonderful standing within the again to get a look at star Brody Grant and his castmates. The musical grossed $1,488,298 final week.
The success of these two productions displays a usually bountiful summer time for Broadway. For the week ending August 4, the 26 exhibits took in a mixed $30,523,164, about 2% higher than final yr at this time. Total attendance of 239,326 held regular with final week however was up 4% year-by-year. In all, 95% of accessible Broadway seats had been stuffed final week.
Besides Oh, Mary! and The Outsiders, exhibits that bought out, or got here very shut, final week had been Hadestown; Hamilton (99%); Hell’s Kitchen; Moulin Rouge! (98%); Once Upon a Mattress, the charming Encores! switch that opens on the Hudson on August 12; Stereophonic; The Book of Mormon (98%); The Lion King (99%); and Wicked (98%).
Also of notice, Job, Max Wolf Friedlich’s thriller on the Helen Hayes Theater, opened July 30, taking in a modest $267,283 for the week, a determine absolutely impacted by press previews and opening evening comps. Whether the sturdy opinions can draw warmth will come clear within the subsequent few weeks.
Season thus far, Broadway, within the eleventh week of the 2024-25 season, has grossed $369,174,509, up 6% over final yr at this time, with complete attendance of 2,922,096 up about 3%.
All figures courtesy of The Broadway League. For full box office listings, go to the League’s website.
Content Source: deadline.com