The final batch of Broadway’s spring 2026 arrivals opened last week, and while press previews and opening-night comps took their toll on some of the week’s grosses, a clearer picture of the season’s stronger newcomers began to emerge. The Rocky Horror Show was among the pack’s leaders, and Beaches was, well, not.
The Rocky Horror Show starring Luke Evans opened to strong reviews on April 23 at Studio 54, filling 99.6% of seats and grossing $813,707. Looks like non-prof Roundabout has a hit on its hands.
Two openers were at 90% of capacity for the week: Manhattan Theatre Club’s The Balusters at the Friedman opened to good notices and a $268,997 gross for the subscription-based non-prof; the play has been extended for two weeks through June 7. The Lost Boys also did well with critics — or most of them, anyway — and sold 90% of available seats at the Palace for a gross of $897,362 (that figure is down $61,175 from the previous week, reflecting the heavily comped performances; attendance actually was up).
Schmigadoon! opened April 20 at the Nederlander, with paid attendance at about 85% of capacity and a weekly gross of $621,609. Joe Turner’s Come and Gone opened at the Barrymore to excellent reviews, with the opening week’s gross of $580,113 down $249,006 due to one fewer performance and lots of comps. Expect to get a better sense of both shows’ audience appeal in next week’s chart.
The critically lambasted Beaches musical opened April 22 at the Majestic, filling only 65% of seats for the week and grossing an unsustainable $476,871. Only real hope for a summer run at this point lies with next week’s Tony nominations.
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Some other numbers for the week ending April 26:
- Cats: The Jellicle Ball had its best week yet at the Broadhurst, grossing a hefty $1,010,779.
- Dog Day Afternoon continued its strong run at the August Wilson with a $1,034,680 gross.
- Fallen Angels, another excellent Roundabout entry, was at 96% of capacity at the Todd Haimes, grossing $598,456, a jump of $165,291 from the previous week, no doubt at least partially due to critical praise.
- Also in the 95%-of-capacity attendance range were Giant, $1,197,363; Hadestown, $848,980;
Just in Time, starring Jeremy Jordan, $880,111; Operation Mincemeat, $756,303; Proof, $976,808; and The Lion King, $1,886,387.
Moulin Rouge! had another big week at the Hirschfeld, grossing $1,638,650, further proof if any was needed of star Megan Thee Stallion’s box office appeal. All the more reason for producers to be as disappointed as Megan’s fans in the star’s decision to leave the show two weeks earlier than expected. Still no reason give for the abrupt departure; she’ll play her final performance this Friday, May 1.
Sell-outs for the week, in addition to Rocky Horror, were Chicago, Every Brilliant Thing, Harry Potter and the Cursed Child and Ragtime. Stranger Things: The First Shadow grossed $1,003,369 but hovered around the 76% capacity mark, indicating that the glow from the TV series’ finale is beginning to dim a bit.
In all, the 40 Broadway productions grossed $40,365,196, a small increase of about 3% over the previous week, but down a substantial 21% from last year at this time when ticket prices soared with the arrival of starry productions like Good Night, And Good Luck, Othello, Glengarry Glen Ross and The Picture of Dorian Gray. The average paid admission last week was $120.47, down $21.91 from last year at this time.
Total attendance last week was 335,070, up 2% from the previous week but down 6% year-to-year.
In the 48th week of the 2025-26 season, Broadway had grossed $1,754,297,657, up about 5% over last year at this time, with total attendance of 13,281,196 up 2%.
All figures courtesy of The Broadway League. For more box office information visit the League’s website.