Broadway Grosses: In Spite of Snow, White Christmas Remains Hot

A winter storm made transportation iffy around NYC over weekend, but box office numbers held steady at the top musicals, particularly one that features onstage snow, White Christmas, which pulled in a whopping $1,588,859 in nine performances at the Marquis Theatre. The Seagull saw an increase of more than $60,000 in grosses during its final week at the Walter Kerr, and Shrek the Musical jumped more than $300,000 in the week after its opening to $845,606, though it didn’t make the top five. The Broadway revival of Speed-the-Plow suffered after the sudden departure of star Jeremy Piven, joining the underdogs list at 50.63% of capacity.

Here is a look at who was on top and who was not for the week ending December 21:

FRONTRUNNERS By Gross
1. White Christmas $1,588,859*
2. Wicked $1,499,186
3. Billy Elliot $1,207,766
4. The Lion King $1,112,488
5. Jersey Boys $1,073,697

UNDERDOGS By Gross
5. Dividing the Estate $279,275
4. August: Osage County $265,384
3. Slava’s Snowshow $265,207
2. 13 $262,235
1. The 39 Steps $186,126

FRONTRUNNERS By Capacity
1. Wicked 100%
2. South Pacific 99.08%
3. Jersey Boys 98.78%
4. White Christmas 98.27%*
3. Billy Elliot 97.69%

UNDERDOGS By Capacity
5. 13 51.36%
4. The 39 Steps 51.33%
3. Speed-the-Plow 50.63%
2. August: Osage County 48.46%
1. Gypsy 44.69%

*Number based on nine regular performances.
Data provided by the Broadway League.