Welcome to That’s Gross!, a weekly analysis of one aspect of the Broadway Grosses. As always, the numbers below are provided by the The Broadway League.
“PS everyone be sure to check out the Broadway grosses tomorrow…. Just sayin,” tweeted Newsies star Jeremy Jordan at 9:45pm on April 15.
What Jordan was really “just sayin” is that Newsies–at the end of its fifth week of performances–had finally made more than one-million dollars in a single week, taking in $1,024,517 in ticket sales at an average ticket price of $106.08.
Jordan’s enthusiasm remains adorable, but is crossing over the million-dollar mark really the best way to measure a show’s popularity? After all, Evita did the same in its first week of performances (ending 3/18), raking in $1,167,685, to be exact. Comparing numbers to numbers, Evita should be making the headlines, no?
Well, not exactly. See, Evita is playing at the Marquis, which is a significantly bigger house than Newsies’ Nederlander, so there’s potential to make more money from the get-go. Evita’s doing well, without a doubt. But Newsies has an edge.
How do we know? Well, let’s look at the percentage of seats filled for both shows. Evita is sitting pretty at 97.2% this week, but hot damn will you look at that – Newsies just hit 101.0%!
How can a show pass 100%, you may wonder? Standing room. Newsies sells a few standing room tickets for $30 on nights the show’s sold out. Which from the way the numbers read, was just about every night at Newsies last week.
Here’s the other interesting thing: of the four shows to cross the 100% capacity line this week, Newsies has the second-highest number on the list (behind The Book of Mormon at 102.6%) – and it’s the only new musical this season. The Lion King and Wicked both follow, at 100% even. Behind them – two new plays: Death of a Salesman (99.7%) and (surprisingly) One Man, Two Guvnors (98.8%). Rounding out the Top 10? Jersey Boys (98.8%), Evita (97.2%), Rock of Ages (96.0%), and Once (95.5%).
So Evita collects more money each week, but Newsies fills more of its house. Sounds like the King of New York is more popular than the First Lady of Argentina, wouldn’t you say?
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Woo! Carrying the banner!