George Clooney and Denzel Washington power Broadway to prepandemic heights

New York: Broadway's box office has finally surpassed its prepandemic peak, fueled by three starry dramas and one green witch.

The Broadway League, a trade organization representing producers and theater owners, released data Tuesday showing that grosses for the current theater season, which ends later this month, have now reached $1.801 billion. That's higher than the $1.793 billion grossed at the same point in the record-setting 2018-2019 season, which was the last full season before the coronavirus pandemic shut down Broadway in March 2020.

There are caveats. This season is not quite over. The numbers are not adjusted for inflation. Attendance is still down about 3% from its prepandemic peak. And, because the costs of producing shows on Broadway have skyrocketed, the financial failure rate is up and profitability is down.

Still, the box-office news is encouraging to the industry.

"This is a really important benchmark," Jason Laks, the Broadway League's president, said in an interview. "We're creating jobs, and artists' work is being seen."

"It shows that people are responding to our productions," he added. "But our goal is not to make it 2019 again. Our goal is to keep growing, to bring more diverse audiences, and to keep our industry thriving and sustainable. We're really looking for sustainable growth."

Broadway, which looms large as an economic engine and an artistic apex, was hit hard by the pandemic. Its 41 theaters were closed for about a year and a half, and cost inflation, hybrid work, and disruptions to tourism and to entertainment habits have made rebounding a challenge.

The season about to end has been a strong one. There have been 76 productions onstage, including 42 that were eligible for Tony Awards because they opened since last May. Screen stars flocked to Broadway -- George Clooney, Robert Downey Jr., Denzel Washington and Jake Gyllenhaal among them. And, for the first time in years, over the course of the season there have been shows in every Broadway house; 40 shows are now running.

Broadway's offerings this season are particularly varied, running the gamut from the out-there (two musicals about corpses, "Dead Outlaw" and "Operation Mincemeat") to the big-brand (Netflix is producing a special-effects-rich prequel to "Stranger Things").

But two distinct economic factors have fueled this season's grosses. While Broadway has historically been powered by musicals, which tend to be of greatest appeal to the tourists who make up the bulk of the audience, plays have claimed the leading role this season. And though "Wicked" opened more than two decades ago, there has been an upsurge of interest in the ever-popular musical.

Both developments are, in part, Hollywood related.

Three plays featuring film, television and comedy stars -- "Good Night, and Good Luck," starring Clooney; "Othello," starring Washington and Gyllenhaal; and "Glengarry Glen Ross," starring Kieran Culkin, Bill Burr and Bob Odenkirk -- are accounting for more than 20% of Broadway's weekly box office this spring, even though they make up just 7% of the shows.

They are doing that without a ton of critical support, and none of them was nominated for best play or best play revival. But each has just become profitable -- a rare feat on Broadway. "Glengarry Glen Ross" has recouped its capitalization costs of up to $7.5 million; "Othello," up to $9 million; and "Good Night, and Good Luck," $9.5 million.

"Good Night, and Good Luck," a stage adaptation of a 2005 film about the confrontation between television journalist Edward R. Murrow and anti-communist Sen. Joseph McCarthy, had already been racking up eye-popping numbers, thanks to the popularity of Clooney and the timeliness of its theme about the importance of an independent press. During the week that ended May 4, it took in $4 million -- a record high for a play, and more than twice what "The Lion King" took in that week.

"Othello" is also having an amazing run. The revival is in a much smaller theater (1,043 seats, compared with 1,537 for "Good Night, and Good Luck"), where high demand for limited supply has driven ticket prices up; many seats are priced at $921, and the play had an average ticket price of $387 last week.

"Glengarry Glen Ross" is grossing more than $2 million a week thanks to the popularity of the title and the appeal of its three stars.

But those three shows are not the only triumphs in this season of plays. "Oh, Mary!", an original comedy with a little-known star, was the first show of the season to become profitable, and is still thriving. A revival of "Romeo + Juliet," starring Kit Connor and Rachel Zegler, had a profitable run last winter, as did "All In: Comedy About Love," which featured well-known actors reading humorous stories by Simon Rich. And both Sarah Snook's tour-de-force one-woman version of "The Picture of Dorian Gray," which is now running, and last fall's "McNeal," which starred Downey, flourished at the box office, playing to consistently sold-out houses.

Another standout of the season has been "Wicked." The musical, an imaginary back story for the Wicked Witch of the West, is one of three -- "Wicked," "The Lion King" and "Hamilton" -- that have dominated the Broadway box office in recent years. But "Wicked," which plays at the largest Broadway house, has soared this season, thanks to the popularity, and the huge marketing budget, for its two-part film adaptation; the first film was released last November, and the second is scheduled for next November. The "Wicked" stage musical was, easily, the top-grossing show on Broadway this season, and over Christmas week, with nine performances, it set a record, taking in about $5 million.

The industry still faces serious challenges. Although the average ticket price on Broadway this season has been $129, and about one-third of shows had an average below $100, the best seats at the hottest shows remain quite expensive. Suburbanites have been slow to return, and Trump administration policies on immigration and tariffs are now threatening international tourism, which makes up about one-fifth of the Broadway audience.

Most troubling: Capitalization costs have risen so much that almost every new musical to open since the pandemic has lost money; none has broken through like "Hamilton," "The Book of Mormon" and earlier megahits. Among this season's 14 new musicals, four ("A Wonderful World: The Louis Armstrong Musical," "Tammy Faye," "Swept Away" and "Redwood") have already closed or announced closings.

"There are still some really strong concerns and challenges we have about our business that I don't want to be overshadowed with these gross numbers," Laks said. "Rising costs are still affecting every facet of production. You still have increased capitalization costs and weekly running costs, and productions have a shorter window than ever to get on their feet, find an audience and determine their future."