‘Funny Girl,’ Starring Lea Michele, Sets A New Broadway Box Office Record.

In the run-up to the lucrative holiday weeks, the Lea Michele-led Funny Girl set a box office record at Broadway’s August Wilson Theatre.

Last week’s revival grossed just over $2 million from eight performances, setting a new high for the production. Michele joined the revival in September, following the departure of Beanie Feldstein, in a move seen as a boost to the show’s then-dwindling ratings.

Funny Girl has seen that boost since Michele joined the production on September 6, with the musical bringing in more than $1.6 million per week, and recently closer to $2 million, after more modest returns in the spring and a drop to less than $1 million over the summer.

Mean Girls, which played the August Wilson Theatre from March 2018 until its closure, previously set the theater’s house record in 2018 with a gross of $1.99 million.

Funny Girl set a new box office record by playing to 96 percent of its capacity and commanding an average ticket price of $213.28, the second highest of all shows for the week. Only The Music Man had a higher average ticket price, at $267.99, helping the show maintain its position as the week’s highest-grossing show, bringing in $3.25 million.

Another notable standout in the week ended Dec. 18 was Ain’t No Mo’, which saw its grosses triple to $499,303 from $164,592 the previous week and play to a 93 percent capacity. The surge occurred as creator Jordan E. Cooper waged a campaign to keep the show from being cancelled, receiving support along the way from Will Smith and Jada Pinkett Smith, Tyler Perry, Shonda Rhimes, Gabrielle Union, Dwyane Wade, Queen Latifah, and Sara Ramirez, who all purchased out performances. After being told that it would close on December 18, the show has now been extended until December 23.

Grosses for the standard top performers on Broadway remain high, with The Lion King earning $2.4 million, Wicked earning $2.2 million, and Hamilton earning $2.3 million. Phantom continues to draw attention after extending its closure to April after a 35-year run.

However, many Broadway newcomers continue to struggle, with shows like Topdog/Underdog, a Pulitzer Prize-winning play starring Corey Hawkins and Yahya Abdul-Mateen II, grossing $257,217 last week and playing to a 52 percent capacity, as has been the trend for several weeks. Almost Famous, which just announced a Jan. 8 closing date, played to a 68 percent capacity and grossed $703,714, a $61,000 decrease from the previous week.

These earnings are still a welcome relief from last December, when an outbreak of omicron cases among cast and crew members forced the cancellation of dozens of performances across the industry and resulted in the permanent closure of some shows. Coming up, the weeks surrounding Christmas and New Year’s Eve frequently bring in the highest grosses of the season for productions.

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