The Pulse · No. 07 · Week ending November 8, 2026
Broadway took $36.8M across 35 shows, up 24% on the Halloween week, and revenue per available seat went from $103.10 to $117.00: $14 of the $17 that Halloween took off every seat is back. The 33 shows running both weeks grossed 21% more and 31 of them rose; the two first weeks added less than $1M. The houses went from 87.8% to 92.1% full and the average paid ticket from $117.49 to $127.06. The street is still $3 a seat short of the week before Halloween, and 10% under the same week last year.
Also this week in Unpacked: comps, capacity and the papering tell.
The week
Total gross
$36.8M
WoW +24% (+21% same-show)
YoY −10%
Attendance
289,254
WoW +15%
YoY −5% (−8% per show)
Avg. paid ticket
$127.06
WoW +8%
YoY −5%
Capacity · 35 shows
92.1%
from 87.8% last week
34 shows last year
Per available seat
$117.00
= $127.06 × 92.1%
WoW +13% (from $103.10)
Season to date · week 24
$762.8M
YoY −8.1% (attendance −3.3%)
744 playing weeks vs 752
The 33 shows running both weeks grossed 21% more. The header's 24% includes two first weeks: Here There Are Blueberries, $669K in seven previews at the Barrymore, and It's a Wonderful Life: A Live Radio Play, $323K in six at the Broadhurst, $992K together, 14% of the week's $7.18M gain. Much Ado About Nothing, one preview last week and eight this week, brought $1.98M of the gain, 28%; the other 32 running shows brought the remaining 59%, $4.21M. No show closed.
The number
Average paid ticket · week ending 11/8/26
The recovery was priced from the bottom of the ladder: +12% below last week's average, +7% above it.
Other Desert Cities
$315
Hamilton
$254
Oh, Mary!
$209
Much Ado About Nothing
$194
A Few Good Men
$163
Broadway average
$127
& Juliet
$113
The Imaginary Invalid
$95
Wicked
$89
Downstate
$59
Cream: above the street average. Red: the average. Muted: below. Twelve of the 35 shows price above the average; this is a selection around it. Split at last week's $117.49, the 23 running shows below it took their average from $91 to $101; the ten above it from $167 to $180.
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 (+21%), in points: a show at +21% 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 · 35 shows | $36.75M | +24% | — | $117 |
| Hamilton | $2.70M | +16% | −5 | $255 |
| Other Desert Cities † | $2.46M | +5% | −16 | $315 |
| Much Ado About Nothing | $2.34M | +553% | +532 | $195 |
| The Lion King | $1.80M | +15% | −6 | $133 |
| Harry Potter | $1.67M | +3% | −18 | $129 |
| MJ | $1.62M | 0% | −21 | $146 |
| 860 (7 perfs) | $1.51M | +11% | −9 | $149 |
| A Few Good Men † | $1.44M | +13% | −8 | $163 |
| Oh, Mary! | $1.44M | +10% | −11 | $201 |
| The Lost Boys † | $1.28M | +16% | −5 | $103 |
| Wicked | $1.18M | +10% | −10 | $81 |
| Aladdin | $1.06M | +20% | −1 | $77 |
| The Great Gatsby | $1.03M | +20% | −1 | $87 |
| Chicago | $942K | +20% | −1 | $109 |
| Hadestown | $928K | +22% | +1 | $126 |
| Paranormal Activity † | $927K | −15% | −36 | $98 |
| Buena Vista Social Club † | $874K | +29% | +8 | $104 |
| The Book of Mormon | $867K | +19% | −2 | $102 |
| Schmigadoon! | $861K | +13% | −8 | $93 |
| The Outsiders | $857K | +41% | +21 | $105 |
| & Juliet | $851K | +39% | +19 | $104 |
| Operation Mincemeat † | $742K | +35% | +14 | $117 |
| Stranger Things | $740K | +30% | +9 | $68 |
| Maybe Happy Ending † | $736K | +19% | −1 | $95 |
| SIX | $704K | +59% | +38 | $85 |
| The Rocky Horror Show | $700K | −28% | −49 | $88 |
| Just in Time † | $696K | +45% | +24 | $126 |
| Here There Are Blueberries (7 perfs) | $669K | new | — | $94 |
| Two Strangers † | $581K | +46% | +26 | $69 |
| Wanted | $517K | +2% | −19 | $62 |
| The Imaginary Invalid | $498K | +37% | +16 | $85 |
| School Girls | $439K | +18% | −3 | $85 |
| The Fantasticks | $416K | +36% | +15 | $90 |
| Downstate | $349K | +27% | +6 | $58 |
| It's a Wonderful Life: A Live Radio Play (6 perfs) | $323K | new | — | $46 |
† OFFSCRIPT is an investor or producer. Gross in millions to two decimals, in thousands to the thousand; changes computed from the unrounded figures. New: no prior week.
The read for investors
01
The running shows did it, on price first.
The 31 shows at the same number of performances both weeks grossed 14% more: the average paid ticket rose 8%, from $117.31 to $126.87, attendance 6%, and their houses went from 87.6% to 91.8% full. 27 of the 31 took a higher average, 22 sold more seats, 20 did both. Price was 59% of the gain, and per seat they went from $103 to $116.
02
The bottom of the table refilled first.
Split the 33 running shows at last week's $117.49 average: the 23 below it gained 6.8 points of capacity, from 83.3% to 90.0%, and 12 of them gained five points or more. The ten above it gave up a point, 97.5% to 96.5%, and took their averages up 7%. Last week's read, that the bottom emptied first, holds in reverse.
03
One first full week was a quarter of the week's gain.
Much Ado About Nothing, eight previews at the Winter Garden: $2.34M, third on the table, 12,050 seats sold against 12,024 on sale, and the widest ladder on the street, an $875 top and a $194 average. Its $1.98M gain was 28% of the street's $7.18M. The two first weeks were 14%; the other 32 running shows, 59%.
04
The season gap held at 8%, and the calendar now works against it.
$36.8M is 10% under the same week last year, $40.7M across 34 shows, on 5.5% fewer seats on sale (314,138 against 332,474) and a lower price: $127 against $133, 5% down. Across the 20 shows running both years the average fell 9%, 6% without Hamilton, whose $362 average that week was $108 above this one. Season to date is −8.1% at week 24, from −8.0%; −7.1% per playing week. Next week narrows it only above $36.9M (last year's week ending November 16 took $40.2M), with It's a Wonderful Life dark and School Girls in its final week.
Hidden mechanic of the week
The street's average ticket is a mix, not a price.
Much Ado joining at full weight
$2.92
of the $9.57 rise in the street's average
The 31 same-count shows
+8%
their own average, $117.31 to $126.87
The average paid ticket is attendance-weighted: every show counts by the seats it sells. Much Ado About Nothing sold 12,050 of the week's 289,254 seats, 4.2%, at $194.26, and that alone takes the street's average from $124.14 to $127.06. So $2.92 of the $9.57 rise from last week's $117.49 is one show arriving at full weight; the other $6.65 is the running shows repricing, the 31 at the same performance count taking their average from $117.31 to $126.87.
When the street's average jumps $10 in a week, ask which rows did it. A show entering or leaving the table at full weight moves the average without any other show changing a price. Revenue per available seat has the same exposure in the other direction: the two first weeks put 14,148 seats on sale at $94 and $46 a seat and pulled the street's figure to $117.00; the 33 running shows alone came in at $119.21.
Last week we said
01
The street's per-seat figure recovers to between $110 and $120.23 in the week ending Nov 8.
Hit: $117.00.
Up 13% from $103.10, $14 of the $17 the Halloween week took off every seat, and $3 short of the October 25 week's $120.23.
02
Much Ado About Nothing's first full week of previews clears $2.0M at an average above $200. Wrong if either number misses.
Half right, so a miss: $2.34M at $194.26.
The gross cleared $2.0M by $341K on 12,050 seats, 100.2% of the house. The average missed $200 by $5.74, and the call needed both.
03
The season gap passes −8.5% at week 24. We call the week under $33.6M.
Miss: the week took $36.8M.
The gap went from −8.04% to −8.12%, wider by less than a tenth of a point, nowhere near −8.5%. The week was $3.2M above our line, and $0.7M short of the $37.4M that would have narrowed the gap.
04
The bottom of the table emptied first (read 01). Score on next week's tiers: does the lower tier recover more capacity than the upper, or keep falling?
Holds: the bottom refilled first too.
Split at last week's $117.49 average, the 23 shows below it gained 6.8 points of capacity, 83.3% to 90.0%; the ten above it gave up 1.0, 97.5% to 96.5%.
05
Unpacked 06: the top ten shows take at least 50% of the street's gross in the Thanksgiving table (week ending Nov 29); a 2025–26 show announces recoupment before then.
Too early on both. This week the top ten took 49.7%.
$18.26M of $36.75M, from 52.8% in the Halloween week and 50.2% on October 25, with two first weeks and a star-led first full week in the mix. No recoupment announcement turned up in searches between November 3 and November 10. Both score on the November 29 table.
On watch
01
The street holds its gain: between $117.00 and $120.23 a seat.
It's a Wonderful Life is dark this week, so 7,008 seats at $46 a seat leave the table (without them this week's figure would be $118.62); School Girls plays its final week; Here There Are Blueberries opened November 9 and Wanted plays its first week after its November 8 opening. Wrong if the figure falls under $117.00 or clears the October 25 week's $120.23.
02
Much Ado holds above $2.34M with the average above $194.26.
Its second full week of previews, before the November 19 opening. The house was 100.2% full, so the only way up is price. Wrong if either number falls.
03
The season gap widens again at week 25.
Last year's week ending November 16 took $40.2M across 34 shows, so narrowing needs more than $36.9M, $0.2M above this week, with one show dark and one closing. We call the week under $36.9M. Wrong at $36.9M or above.
Investing Unpacked · No. 07 · Recoupment math
Capacity counts bodies. Recoupment counts dollars.
Since 2009 the League's attendance has counted complimentary tickets, so a seat given away raises capacity and adds nothing to the gross. What ten points of comps do to the weeks a show needs to recoup, how to spot it on the public table, and five things to ask for.
Disclosure
OFFSCRIPT is a producer or investor in nine of the 35 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 BroadwayWorld and Playbill; season-to-date figures from the League's weekly release. Figures are gross box office for the week ending November 8, 2026. How every number here is computed: our methodology.
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