Oh, Mary!, a sleeper hit if ever there was one, and The Outsiders, a musical so well-liked that greater than 200 folks purchased tickets final week understanding they wouldn’t get an precise seat, are persevering with what can solely be described as blazing sizzling summers.
Contemplate 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 will be Escola) and her doomed, sneaky homosexual president husband (James Scully). It was a success final yr Off Broadway, however that actually doesn’t all the time translate to Broadway success.
However 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. Final week (the week ending August 4) Oh, Mary!, a smallish play with a solid of 5 and a set that, whereas enticing and practical, 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 Pocket book and Water For Elephants, virtually equal to Again to the Future and Moulin Rouge. Cabaret on the Package Kat Membership, 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 Girl inside shouting distance of these loopy Weimar nightclubbers.
Ticket value? Oh, Mary! had a mean ticket of $146.39. That’s greater than the typical purchaser shelled out to be dazzled by huge Broadway musicals like & Juliet, Aladdin, Again to the Future, Harry Potter and the Cursed Youngster, Hell’s Kitchen, M.J., Moulin Rouge, Six, Suffs, The Ebook of Mormon, The Nice Gatsby, The Wiz, Water For Elephants and Depraved.
Briefly, Oh, Mary! is a full-fledged, indeniable phenomenon, as beguiling to bean counters as laughing seat sitters. It’s a marvel.
After which 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 night time, I wasn’t satisfied the successful solid and well-performed present may pull collectively sufficient disparate audiences to grow to be a success. Do youngsters nonetheless learn Hinton? Would Boomers who did purchase tickets all these years later? Would the ’80s youngsters lovestruck by the pretty-boy solid of the 1983 movie rush to New York to see the faces of strangers?
Nicely, if they didn’t, anyone did. The Outsiders is usually promoting out and setting home information 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 consumers have been simply nice 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 season for Broadway. For the week ending August 4, the 26 exhibits took in a mixed $30,523,164, about 2% higher than final yr right now. Whole attendance of 239,326 held regular with final week however was up 4% year-by-year. In all, 95% of obtainable Broadway seats have been crammed final week.
Moreover Oh, Mary! and The Outsiders, exhibits that bought out, or got here very shut, final week have been Hadestown; Hamilton (99%); Hell’s Kitchen; Moulin Rouge! (98%); As soon as Upon a Mattress, the charming Encores! switch that opens on the Hudson on August 12; Stereophonic; The Ebook of Mormon (98%); The Lion King (99%); and Depraved (98%).
Additionally of word, 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 night time comps. Whether or not the robust opinions can draw warmth will come clear within the subsequent few weeks.
Season up to now, Broadway, within the eleventh week of the 2024-25 season, has grossed $369,174,509, up 6% over final yr right now, with complete attendance of 2,922,096 up about 3%.
All figures courtesy of The Broadway League. For full field workplace listings, go to the League’s web site.
