Broadway Grosses: Records Fall in Holiday Week; Wicked Tops $2.125 Million

If only every week could be bookended by Christmas and New Year’s! As 2009 came to a close, box office records shattered across Broadway in theaters both small (the Booth, which raked in $550,409 for nine performances of Next to Normal) and large (the Gershwin, where Wicked set a new house record of $2,125, 740, plus record-breaking weeks for Billy Elliot at the Imperial and West Side Story at the Palace). In all, 11 shows topped $1 million, including newcomer A Little Night Music and soon to depart Shrek. Cheers!

Here is a look at who was on top and who was not for the week ending January 3:

FRONTRUNNERS (By Gross)
1. Wicked ($2,125,740)
2. The Lion King ($1,740,130)
3. Billy Elliot ($1,663,895)
4. West Side Story ($1,485,158)
5. Jersey Boys ($1,440,456)

UNDERDOGS (By Gross)
5. Wishful Drinking ($314,422)*
4. Superior Donuts ($303,165)
3. The 39 Steps ($295,317)
2. In the Next Room or The Vibrator Play ($253,434)
1. Present Laughter ($88,615)**

FRONTRUNNERS (By Capacity)
1. A Little Night Music (101.06%)
2. Jersey Boys (100.87%)
3. The Lion King (100.01%)
4. Wicked (100%)
5. Billy Elliot (99.74%)

UNDERDOGS (By Capacity)
5. Race (74.89%)
4. Wishful Drinking (74.66%)*
3. Finian’s Rainbow (74.35%)
2. In the Next Room or The Vibrator Play (66.80%)
1. Superior Donuts (60.27%)

*Number based on seven regular performances.
**Number based on four preview performances.
Data provided by the Broadway League.