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yesterday

Broadway Kicks Off 2026 With $52 Million Week as Sell-Outs Keep Houses Near Capacity

Despite a pullback from the prior week’s holiday highs, the season is running roughly 10% ahead of last year on stronger attendance.

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Lest anyone think that Julie Taymor's popular production of The Lion King got off without injury, it turns out many of the dancers in that show sustained injuries just by coming to work and performing their moves every day—though this is a problem plaguing many Broadway productions. The actors who play the giraffes tend to have wrist issues from clutching their stilts. Likewise, the actresses who play the cheetah sometimes have back problems. And it has been suggested that the elaborate, and heavy masks and headpieces can exacerbate cervical and upper-thoracic strain in cast members.

Overview

  • For the week ending Jan. 4, 33 shows sold 313,513 tickets for $52,037,125 at an average $165.98, filling 97.72% of seats with attendance up 2.79% week over week as some 24 productions were sell-outs or near sell-outs.
  • The top grossers were Hamilton ($3,332,754), Wicked ($3,286,525), Harry Potter and the Cursed Child ($3,270,718), The Lion King ($3,145,899) and Mamma Mia! ($2,594,204).
  • Mamma Mia! notched its best week of the engagement at the Winter Garden with $2.595 million over nine performances, and The Lion King set a new eight-performance house record at the Minskoff with $3.146 million.
  • Season to date through Week 32, grosses total $1,199,642,229, about 10% above last year, with 8,844,829 in attendance, up 3%, according to The Broadway League.
  • Early-January shifts included final performances for Beetlejuice (Jan. 3) and Waiting for Godot (Jan. 4), while Bug logged $446,806 across eight previews at 96% capacity ahead of a Jan. 8 opening.