Broadway ticket sales held steady last week as the newish season eases into the post-Tony summer weeks, with Chess posting strong figures during its final week and Celebrity Autobiography doing the opposite during its last bow.
Chess, starring Lea Michele, Aaron Tveit and Nicholas Christopher had previously announced its early close (coinciding with Michele’s planned departure), and saw a bump of $426,869 to $1,793,002 in the week leading up to the June 21 close. That’s its highest gross since the December holidays. The musical was a virtual sell-out with 99.5% of seats filled at the Imperial.
Also departing was Celebrity Autobiography, the specialty show with a rotating cast of stars reading the memoirs of other celebrities to comic effect. The show did not catch on with audiences: It’s final week after opening last month saw only 22% of seats occupied at the Shubert, for a gross of $41,773. That figure marks a $39,491 drop from the previous week, with an average ticket price of just $21.02 (the Broadway average last week was $126.49).
In all, Broadway’s 38 productions – one fewer than the previous week – grossed $38,949,543, a drop of just 1% from the previous week but 10% from last season at this time. Attendance was 307,921, up 2% from the previous week but down 6% year-to-year.
Also closing on June 21 was The Balusters, seeing a sizable bump of $81,395 (to $351,588) in its final seven-performance week.
Death of a Salesman also had a pre-scheduled seven-performance week, doing its usual SRO business for a hefty gross of $1,927,110. That figure made it the third highest-grossing show for the week behind top earner Hamilton ($2,213,196) and #2 The Lion King ($1,999,620).
The Lost Boys continued to gain traction following its attention-getting performance on the Tony Awards broadcast: For a gross of $1,447,124, the vampire musical was at 94% of capacity at the Palace, up from the previous week’s 89%.
In addition to Chess, Salesman and Hamilton, productions that sold out (or came very close) were Every Brilliant Thing starring Mariska Hargitay, grossing $1,188,551 and at 99.3% of capacity; Giant, $1,468,590, 99.4%; Oh, Mary!, $1,533,555, 99.7%; Ragtime, $1,474,315, sell-out; and The Rocky Horror Show, $1,158,340, 99.2%.
Occupying the 90%+ (but below sell-out) turf were Aladdin, $1,127,988; Buena Vista Social Club, $741,202; Cats: The Jellicle Ball, $919,073; Hadestown, $850,540; Joe Turner’s Come and Gone, $1,056,615; MJ, $1,603,790; Proof, $729,663; Schmigadoon!, $1,184,564; and The Outsiders, $1,038,688.
Taking by far the biggest tumble of the week – but for understandable reason – was The Book of Mormon, grossing $850,569. That’s a drop of $1,387,800 from the previous week when the long-running musical did extraordinary business during its “Magical Mormon Mystery Week” that featured special 15th anniversary performances from original cast members Josh Gad, Andrew Rannells, Rory O’Malley and Nikki M. James. Even without the OGs, Mormon sold 94% of seats at the Eugene O’Neill.
Two Strangers (Carry a Cake Across New York) has seen a slight boost since its charming performance on the Tonys, grossing $617,351 and selling 79% of available tickets, up from 73% from the previous week.
In the 4th week of the 2026-27 season, Broadway has grossed $153,049,339, down about 12% from last year at this time, with total attendance of 1,248,551 down 4%.
All figures courtesy of The Broadway League. For more box office information visit the League’s website.
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