2014 Hailed as Broadway’s Most Lucrative Year Ever

Following the recent announcement that Broadway saw its most lucrative year ever in 2014, this week on the Simon Morris blog I wonder; what does this say about the Great White Way?

The Centre of the Musical Theatre World

From the time he first gained the ability to say the word ‘Broadway’ out loud, a young Simon Morris dreamed of going to see a production in the most famous theatre district the world has ever seen.

Broadway is the centre of the musical theatre world. Think of a major musical theatre production. It’ll have played on Broadway at some point. Indeed, many of the shows that you love the most i.e. Wicked were first brought to the attention of the world because they were brought to the Broadway stage.

Broadway Rakes in $1.362 Billion in 2014

Now it appears as though more people than ever feel the way I did as a young boy, as according to the Guardian 2014 was the highest grossing year in Broadway history. Broadway League data suggests that productions raked in box office takings of $1.362 billion in 2014, a rise of 14% from the year before.

Meanwhile, 13.3 million people attended shows on the Great White Way last year, an increase of 13% from 2013. Extra data goes on to show that Broadway racked up its most lucrative seven days ever in the week of New Year. NYC’s most noted theatre district amassed $42.8 million that week alone with 37 shows running at 94% of theatres’ total capacity. In other words, 346,913 people made the effort to attend a show on Broadway over this seven day period.

Audiences Seem More Enthusiastic About Long-Running Favourites

The executive director or Broadway League, Charlotte St Martin, commented on the release of the figures. She noted that the box office takings increase “demonstrates that our producers are giving audiences a variety of plays and musicals to please many tastes… In addition to long-running favourites, audiences are enthusiastic about the new shows too.”

Yet audiences seemed far more enthusiastic about the long-running favourites than any of the newer shows that have recently graced the Broadway stage. That same week saw perennial favourite Wicked recorded the highest grossing eight-performance week in Broadway history, raking in $2,740,642. Meanwhile The Lion King reaped $2,514,994 and The Book of Mormon earned $2,224,280.

The Ultimate Tourist Attraction

In other words, Broadway’s record breaking performance throughout the course of 2014 was supported by its fan favourites. This suggests that the Great White Way is transforming into a tourist attraction more known for its classic productions, than for its ability to light up the world of musical theatre by introducing new ground-breaking shows to a mass audience.