Broadway Grosses: How to Succeed Heats Up; War Horse Starts Strong

Broadway continues to roll out the red carpet for the spring season’s stage offerings, and the frontrunners' list reflects a hunger for new shows to see. The latest success story is Lincoln Center’s play War Horse, which began performances this week and sold to 99.88% capacity, edging out Good People (99.69%) for the highest-capacity straight play and cracking that category's top five. The season’s new musicals are still setting the gold standard for the spring months, with sales for the still-in-previews How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying jumping $220,000 from the previous week and, along with The Book of Mormon, enjoying sales of over 100% capacity.

Here is a look at who was on top and who was not for the week ending March 20:

FRONTRUNNERS (By Gross)
1. Wicked ($1,670,779)
2. The Lion King ($1,612,549)
3. Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark ($1,405,868)*
4. Jersey Boys ($1,064,222)
5. Mary Poppins ($1,057,164)

UNDERDOGS (By Gross)
5. La Cage aux Folles ($367,191)
4. The Importance of Being Earnest ($351,302)
3. Ghetto Klown ($312,078)**
2. The Motherf**ker with the Hat ($271,872)**
1. Lombardi ($263,436)

FRONTRUNNERS (By Capacity)
1. The Book of Mormon (101.76%)*
2. How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying ($100.42%)***
3. The Lion King (100.04%)
4. Wicked (100%)
5. War Horse (99.88%)*

UNDERDOGS (By Capacity)
5. Rain: A Tribute to The Beatles (70.92%)
4. American Idiot (64.36%)
3. Lombardi (64.26%)
2. La Cage aux Folles (62.50%)
1. Million Dollar Quartet (55.51%)

*Number based on seven preview performances.
**Number based on six preview performances.
***Number based on eight preview performances.
Data provided by the Broadway League.