Here are the ten shows playing the fullest houses:
1. Motown: The Musical: 103.6%
2. The Book of Mormon: 102.6%
3. Lucky Guy: 100.2%
4. The Lion King: 99.6%
5. I’ll Eat You Last: A Chat with Sue Mengers: 98.8%
6. Matilda: 98.7%
7. Wicked: 97.4%
8. Kinky Boots: 95%
9. Newsies: 92.9%
10. Pippin: 92.4%
7 of these 10 are represented on the top-grossing list, albeit not in the same order. The three shows on the above list that were not top grossers (Matilda, Pippin, and I’ll Eat You Last) were still playing previews last week (although for Matilda it was only half the week), a time when producers are still trying to build an audience and often offer discounted and comp tickets to create word of mouth. The major outlier is I’ll East You Last, which plays the tiny Booth Theatre (777 seats) and charged an average of $122.49 a ticket last week because, Bette Midler. All things considered, it seems pretty clear that it is better to sell a ticket for some amount of money than allow that seat to go empty and make nothing. That is where discounted tickets come in.
As of the writing of this article, there were 22 Broadway discounts available on TheaterMania.com, including most of the shows not on the top ten above–and a couple that are. So if you don’t want to stand through a sold-out performance, remember there are plenty of deals to be had that involve a comfortable plush chair on Broadway.
252,058 people attended a Broadway show last week. The average paid admission was $87.11. In total, Broadway grossed $23,143,555. If you act fast, you can be one of them—and on a shoestring—next week.