The Pulse · No. 06 · Week ending November 1, 2026
Halloween took $17 off every seat on Broadway. The street grossed $29.6M across 33 shows, 13% below the week before, and revenue per available seat fell to $103.10 from $120.23. The 32 shows running both weeks took 14% less: the average paid ticket fell 10%, attendance 5%, and 24 of the 32 took less on both. The damage was price first, and price is what recoups a show.
Also this week in Unpacked: one show or a slate — what spreading money across productions changes, and what it can't.
The week
Total gross
$29.6M
WoW −13% (−14% same-show)
YoY −13%
Attendance
251,700
same-show WoW −5%
YoY −9% (−4% per show)
Avg. paid ticket
$117.49
from $129.18 (−10% same-show)
YoY −4% (−11% like for like)
Capacity · 33 shows
87.8%
same-show −5.4 pts WoW
85.1% this week last year
Per available seat
$103.10
= $117.49 × 87.8% · from $120.23
$103.89 this week last year
Season to date · week 23
$726.0M
YoY −8.0% (attendance −3.2%)
709 playing weeks vs 718
The 32 shows running both weeks grossed 14% less than the week before; 28 of them took a lower average, and 24 were lower on both price and people. Taking Harry Potter out changes nothing: the 29 others at the same performance count still fell 14%. The softening is broad, and it is led by the ticket.
The number
Average paid ticket · week ending 11/1/26
28 of 32 running shows took a lower average. $129 became $117.
Other Desert Cities
$301
Much Ado
$238
Hamilton
$218
Oh, Mary!
$185
860
$153
Broadway average
$117
Chicago
$114
Hadestown
$109
Wicked
$84
Downstate
$52
Cream: above the street average. Red: the average. Muted: below. A selection of the week's 33 shows around the average; Much Ado is one preview on an $875 top.
The board
Every show on the week's table. Vs. street is the show's week-over-week change against the same-show street change (−14%), in points: a show at −14% moved with the market, not against it. Per seat is gross ÷ every seat the show could have sold.
| Show | Gross | WoW | Vs. street | Per seat |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| The street · 33 shows | $29.57M | −13% | — | $103 |
| Other Desert Cities † | $2.35M | +4% | +18 | $301 |
| Hamilton | $2.32M | −8% | +6 | $219 |
| Harry Potter | $1.63M | −18% | −4 | $126 |
| MJ | $1.62M | −7% | +7 | $146 |
| The Lion King | $1.57M | −16% | −2 | $116 |
| 860 | $1.35M | +12% | +26 | $151 |
| Oh, Mary! | $1.31M | −14% | 0 | $183 |
| A Few Good Men † | $1.28M | −7% | +7 | $145 |
| The Lost Boys † | $1.11M | −14% | 0 | $91 |
| Paranormal Activity † | $1.09M | +2% | +16 | $116 |
| Wicked | $1.06M | −15% | −1 | $74 |
| The Rocky Horror Show | $970K | +9% | +23 | $122 |
| Aladdin | $883K | −17% | −3 | $64 |
| The Great Gatsby | $860K | −23% | −9 | $72 |
| Chicago | $787K | −23% | −9 | $91 |
| Schmigadoon! | $760K | −27% | −13 | $82 |
| Hadestown | $759K | −22% | −8 | $103 |
| The Book of Mormon | $726K | −21% | −7 | $85 |
| Buena Vista Social Club † | $679K | −24% | −10 | $81 |
| Maybe Happy Ending † | $616K | −18% | −4 | $79 |
| & Juliet | $610K | −35% | −21 | $74 |
| The Outsiders | $606K | −34% | −20 | $74 |
| Stranger Things | $569K | −11% | +3 | $55 |
| Operation Mincemeat † | $550K | −32% | −18 | $87 |
| Wanted | $509K | −18% | −4 | $61 |
| Just in Time † | $481K | −30% | −16 | $87 |
| SIX | $444K | −29% | −16 | $54 |
| Two Strangers † | $397K | −33% | −19 | $47 |
| School Girls | $373K | −9% | +5 | $73 |
| The Imaginary Invalid | $363K | −13% | 0 | $62 |
| Much Ado About Nothing (1 preview) | $358K | new | — | $238 |
| The Fantasticks | $305K | +20% | +34 | $75 |
| Downstate | $275K | +4% | +18 | $46 |
† OFFSCRIPT is a producer or investor. Gross in millions to two decimals, in thousands to the thousand; changes computed from the unrounded figures. New: no prior week (Much Ado About Nothing played its first preview).
The read for investors
01
The bottom of the table emptied first.
Split the 32 running shows at last week's $129.18 average: the seven above it gave up 5.7% of their gross and 2.1 points of capacity (99.4% to 97.3%). The 25 below gave up 18.8% and 6.4 points (91.1% to 84.7%), and 15 of the 25 lost five points or more. Soft weeks do not discount a table evenly; they empty it from the bottom.
02
Per seat, this Halloween week earned what last year's did. The gap is seats.
$103.10 per available seat against $103.89 a year ago — on 12% fewer seats on sale (286,821 vs 326,128) and houses 2.7 points fuller. The street shrank the shelf rather than the price of what is on it; the gross gave up the difference.
03
Like for like, the ticket is down 11%, not 4%.
The street's average is down 3.8% on last year. The 20 shows running in both years took their average from $127.68 to $113.87, down 10.8%. The difference is mix: last year's closings priced low, and losing them flatters the street's figure by seven points.
Hidden mechanic of the week
Two-thirds of what the running shows lost came off the price, not the seats.
Off the price
65%
$3.1M of the $4.8M lost
Off the seats
35%
$1.6M · 12,731 fewer tickets
Hold attendance at last week's level and reprice it at this week's average, and the 32 running shows give up $3.1M; the seats they actually lost cost $1.6M more. Harry Potter is the clean case: attendance down 1%, the average down 17% ($154.27 to $127.34), so its $361K drop is all price. Per available seat is price times capacity; when both move, it falls faster than either.
Last week we said
01
No. 05: The Halloween week takes the street's per-seat figure below $120.23 but above $110.
Miss. $103.10 — $7 under our floor.
The per-seat figure fell 14%, from $120.23. The direction was right; the size of the Halloween hole was not.
02
No. 05: Harry Potter holds above $1.8M at a $140 average; wrong if the average falls under $120.
Miss on both numbers named.
$1.63M (−18%) at $127.34, attendance down 1%. The average stayed above our $120 failure line — which makes the call badly set, not right.
03
No. 05: The season gap widens to −7.9% at week 23; wrong if the week beats $31.2M.
Hit. The gap is −8.0%.
$726,010,709 season to date against $789,456,689 last year; the week's $29.6M ran $1.6M under the threshold.
04
No. 05's boldest read: without Harry Potter, the running shows lost on price and people together.
Holds a second week.
The 29 shows at the same performance count without Harry Potter: average $129.23 to $118.25 (−8.5%), 6.2% fewer seats sold, 23 of 29 lower on both.
05
Unpacked 05: no show below 64% capacity in the Halloween week (scored by count only).
Miss. Two shows fell below 64%.
None last week; two this week, the lowest at 56.7%. Scored by count; the table shows capacity, not costs or deals, so the shows are not named.
On watch
01
The per-seat figure recovers — partway.
We call the street's revenue per available seat between $110 and $120.23 in the week ending Nov 8, the first full week after Halloween, with 860 back to eight performances. Wrong if it stays under $110 or clears $120.23.
02
Much Ado clears $2.0M at a $200-plus average.
One preview this week: $358,262 at a $238.36 average on an $875 top, 1,503 of 1,503 seats. Eight previews put 12,024 seats on sale. We call the first full week above $2.0M at an average above $200; wrong if either number misses.
03
The season gap passes −8.5%.
Last year's week ending Nov 9 grossed $40.7M across 34 shows, so narrowing needs more than $37.4M and the gap reaches −8.5% at a $33.6M week. We call the week under $33.6M; wrong at $33.6M or above.
Investing Unpacked · No. 06 · New models
A slate changes the odds, not the average.
One show, or a piece of ten? In our illustrative model, a slate cuts the chance that nothing recoups from 77% to 7% — and leaves the average at 50 cents on the dollar either way. What diversification does to Broadway odds, and what a fund layer costs.
Disclosure
OFFSCRIPT is a producer or investor in nine of the 33 shows in this week's table: Buena Vista Social Club, Just in Time, Two Strangers, Operation Mincemeat, The Lost Boys, Maybe Happy Ending, Paranormal Activity, Other Desert Cities and A Few Good Men. Observations on other productions are inferences from published League data, not reported facts.
Source: The Broadway League, via Playbill and BroadwayWorld; season-to-date figures from the League's weekly release; last year's tables from Playbill. Figures are gross box office for the week ending November 1, 2026. How every number here is computed: our methodology.
The Pulse is published every Tuesday. This issue on Instagram: the narrated reel. Every issue: @offscript.theatricals.