Good Night, and Good Luck, the play about Edward R. Murrow written by George Clooney and Grant Heslov adapted from their 2005 film, grossed $3,784,200 last week at Broadway‘s 1,537-seat Winter Garden Theatre, breaking its own previous $3.3 million record as the highest grossing non-musical play in Broadway history.
With ticket prices also on the upswing – average cost last week for a seat to see Clooney in his Broadway debut was $303.40, with premium seats hitting $825 – the play, which stars the ER actor as Murrow and was directed by David Cromer, is taking in more money than any play in the Winter Garden’s hundred-plus years.
The previous record-setter was the 2022 musical revival of The Music Man starring Hugh Jackman, which set the Winter Garden’s house record in March of that year with a $3.5 million regular eight-performance weekly gross (that revival still holds the house record for a special nine-performance week with $3.9 million).
Average ticket prices for The Music Man during its big $3.5 million week were about $20 lower than the Clooney play ($283 on average to see Jackman and Sutton Foster) and the highest premium price for the musical was just shy of $700, or about $100 lower than the top seats at Good Night, and Good Luck.
The new house record of $3.78M was notched in the first full week of performances after Good Night, and Good Luck‘s opened on April 3 to generally positive reviews. The play’s previous $3.3M high point came during its previews.
Even with the $303 average ticket, Good Night, and Good Luck wasn’t the most expensive seat on Broadway last week – that would be, once again, Othello starring Denzel Washington and Jake Gyllenhaal. Average ticket for that show was $375, with premium seats topping out at $897. Filling 99.7% of seats at the 1,043-seat Ethel Barrymore, Othello grossed $3,120,321 for the week ending April 13.
A raft of other recent arrivals were a bit hit-and-miss last week, at least compared to the starry productions raking in $3M-plus. Smash opened at the Imperial to mixed reviews, grossing $917,728 for four previews and four regular performances, filling 94% of available seats with a modest average ticket of $86.64.
Some others:
- Stephen Sondheim’s Old Friends, the musical revue starring Bernadette Peters and Lea Salonga, was at 73% of capacity at the Friedman, a big drop from the previous week when the show sold out. The dip is no doubt due to Salonga missing a couple weekend shows due to illness. In all, Old Friends grossed $419,165 for seven performances, down $103,917 from the previous week;
- John Proctor Is The Villain, in its final week of previews before it opened yesterday to very strong reviews, was standing room only at the 772-seat Booth, with average tickets going for about $65 for a $404,807 gross;
- Floyd Collins at Lincoln Center’s Vivian Beaumont was at 74% of capacity, grossing $487,254. Opening night is April 21;
- Stranger Things: The First Shadow filled 92% of seats at the 1,594-seat Marquis, grossing $838,087 for just five previews. Opening night is April 22;
- Pirates! The Penzance Musical, the non-prof Roundabout Theatre Company’s production of Rupert Holmes’ new adaptation of the Gilbert & Sullivan classic starring Ramin Karimloo, Jinkx Monsoon, David Hyde Pierce and Nicholas Barasch, was at 96% of capacity at the Haimes, grossing $417,964 for seven previews. Opens April 24;
- Just In Time, with Jonathan Groff as Bobby Darin selling out Circle in the Square for a seven-preview take of $808,299. Opening night is April 26;
- Dead Outlaw sold out its first preview at the Longacre, taking in $106,438 for the single performance. Opening night is April 27;
- Real Women Have Curves: The Musical is in previews at the James Earl Jones, hitting just 75% of capacity for a $364,348 gross. Opening night is April 27.
The Last Five Years, starring Adrienne Warren and Nick Jonas, did strong business despite mixed reviews, filling 95% of seats at the Hudson for a gross of $822,754. The Picture Of Dorian Gray starring Sarah Snook was a sell out at the Music Box, grossing $1,379,812, with an average ticket price of $172.54 and premium seats topping out at $497.
Stalwarts The Lion King and Wicked grossed $2,089,903 and $2,462,861, respectively.
In all, the 40 shows currently running on Broadway – that’s four more than last year at this time – took in $44,162,127 for the week ending April 13, a big 24% better than last year. Attendance was 328,926, up about 13% year over year. Average across-the-board ticket price of $134.26 was about $12 more expensive than last year.
Season to date, Broadway, in the 47th week of the 2024-25 season, has grossed $1,616,633,085, up about 19% over last year at this time, with total attendance of 12,609,889 up 17%.
All figures courtesy of The Broadway League. For complete box office visit the League’s website.
