How Broadway achieved its newest record-breaking season
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Molly Driscoll Staff writer
The White Way was truly great this season, as Broadway experienced another record-breaking time for both theater attendance and ticket grosses.聽
The amount of people who attended shows 鈥� more than 13 million 鈥� increased 1.6 percent from the season before, while the revenue for theaters increased 0.6 percent from the season before.
Industry observers are attributing the new records in part to the massive success of the Broadway musical 鈥淗amilton,鈥� the show about the Founding Father that has become a cultural phenomenon, as well as big performers like Disney鈥檚 鈥淭he Lion King,鈥� the long-running musical adaptation of the hit animated film.聽
As these statistics were achieved, however, ticket prices also went down for the first time ever recorded by the Broadway League, according to that organization. 鈥淧remium ticket sales for hot shows are pumping overall grosses, [but] discounts at slower-selling productions are keeping the combined rise in check,鈥� wrote of this change.
And the highest-grossing shows were ones that have either been around for several years or are based on already-established properties. 鈥淭he Lion King,鈥� which opened almost 20 years ago; 鈥淲icked,鈥� which opened about 13 years ago; 鈥淎laddin,鈥� which opened in 2014 but is based on the successful 1992 Disney animated movie of the same name; and 鈥淭he Book of Mormon,鈥� which opened about five years ago, were the highest-grossing shows of the year.聽
If producers knew what went into a breakout hit show, everyone would make one, but 鈥淢ormon鈥� is no doubt the dream for many 鈥� the original show (though one that came with the names of 鈥淪outh Park鈥� creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone, who co-wrote the script, music, and lyrics) that becomes a long-running box office mainstay.聽
In addition, one form of theater is still a small portion of the Broadway box office. According to , 13 percent of the Broadway revenue for the season was for plays.聽
鈥淚 continue to be really worried about the plays,鈥� Victoria Bailey, executive director of the Theater Development Fund (which is in charge of the TKTS stands where Broadway tickets can be bought), told the NYT. 鈥淲hen people are going to the theater, either as a tourist or for a celebratory event, they tend to go to musicals, and so I think it鈥檚 even harder for plays to make a go of it. In the short run, we鈥檙e holding even, but what is five years from now going to look like?鈥�
