Broadway is short of seats, not price
The Pulse · No. 03 · Week ending October 11, 2026
Columbus Day week took Broadway to $35.3M across 29 shows, up 27% on the week. Revenue per available seat rose to $134.84 from $109.13, which is where last year's holiday week sat: about $134, on a $142.49 average at 94.2% full. The gross is still 10% below last year's because about 11% fewer seats were on sale. The gap to last year is now seats, not price.
Also this week in Unpacked: premium seats against discounts, and where a show's margin really comes from.
The week
Total gross
$35.3M
WoW +27% (+25% same-show)
YoY −10%
Attendance
248,496
WoW +10%
YoY −10% (−4% per show)
Avg. paid ticket
$142.02
WoW +16%
YoY 0%
Capacity · 29 shows
94.9%
from 89.1% last week
31 shows last year
Per available seat
$134.84
= $142.02 × 94.9%
WoW +24% (from $109.13)
Season to date · week 20
$628.5M
YoY −7.6% (attendance −2.6%)
614 playing weeks vs 619
All 28 shows that ran both weeks grossed more than the week before, 25% more together; the other two points of the 27% are A Few Good Men's first three previews ($555K). The running shows' lift was mostly price: their average paid ticket rose 16%, to $141.68 from $122.51, on attendance up 8%, with 2% more seats on sale as The Lion King, 860, Other Desert Cities and The Imaginary Invalid added performances. Price carried about 70% of the per-seat gain.
The number
Average paid ticket · week ending 10/11/26
The holiday week priced like last year's: a $142 average against $142.
Hamilton
$288
Other Desert Cities
$277
Oh, Mary!
$223
Harry Potter
$173
MJ
$171
Broadway average
$142
The Outsiders
$142
The Lost Boys
$118
Buena Vista
$105
The Imaginary Invalid
$82
Cream: above the street average. Red: the average. Muted: below. Ten of the 29 shows price above the average; this is a selection around it.
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 (+25%), in points: a show at +25% 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 · 29 shows | $35.29M | +27% | — | $135 |
| Hamilton | $3.09M | +14% | −11 | $292 |
| Harry Potter | $2.22M | +33% | +8 | $171 |
| The Lion King | $2.22M | +48% | +23 | $163 |
| Other Desert Cities † | $2.16M | +15% | −10 | $277 |
| MJ | $1.89M | +19% | −7 | $170 |
| Oh, Mary! | $1.59M | +31% | +6 | $222 |
| Wicked | $1.48M | +33% | +8 | $103 |
| The Lost Boys † | $1.36M | +24% | −1 | $112 |
| Aladdin | $1.25M | +29% | +4 | $91 |
| The Great Gatsby | $1.18M | +33% | +8 | $99 |
| 860 (7 perfs) | $1.17M | +37% | +12 | $143 |
| Chicago | $1.16M | +13% | −12 | $135 |
| Hadestown | $1.13M | +28% | +3 | $154 |
| Schmigadoon! | $1.11M | +14% | −11 | $119 |
| The Outsiders | $1.10M | +40% | +15 | $135 |
| The Rocky Horror Show | $1.03M | +33% | +8 | $131 |
| Paranormal Activity † | $1.03M | +13% | −13 | $109 |
| & Juliet | $1.01M | +34% | +9 | $123 |
| The Book of Mormon | $971K | +17% | −8 | $114 |
| Just in Time † | $927K | +20% | −5 | $168 |
| Buena Vista Social Club † | $866K | +7% | −19 | $103 |
| SIX | $832K | +48% | +23 | $101 |
| Maybe Happy Ending † | $829K | +23% | −3 | $107 |
| Stranger Things | $826K | +45% | +19 | $72 |
| Operation Mincemeat † | $816K | +13% | −12 | $129 |
| Two Strangers † | $608K | +21% | −4 | $73 |
| A Few Good Men † (3 perfs) | $555K | new | — | $168 |
| School Girls | $439K | +25% | 0 | $85 |
| The Imaginary Invalid | $430K | +22% | −3 | $73 |
† 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
Per seat, this holiday week earned what last year's did. The gap is seats.
$134.84 per available seat against about $134 in the same week last year ($142.49 average at 94.2% full, per BroadwayWorld's report). The gross is 10% lower because about 11% fewer seats were on sale: 29 shows against 31, in smaller houses.
02
The running shows' lift was price, not people.
Across the 28 shows that ran both weeks, the average paid ticket rose 16% and attendance 8%; price carried about 70% of the per-seat gain. Our inference: the holiday weekend let dynamic pricing move the middle of the ladder, not just the top.
03
Take out one show and the street is pricing above last year.
Hamilton averaged $287.50 against $376.01 in last year's week, which was its best-ever gross ($4.04M, per Deadline). Without it in both years, the street's average paid ticket is $135.45 against $133.04, up 2%.
04
The season gap widened anyway, to −7.6%.
The week ran 10% behind last year's, below the season's pace, so season to date moved from −7.5% to −7.6% ($628.5M against $680.4M at week 20; 614 playing weeks against 619). Four openings land in the next three weeks: Other Desert Cities (Oct 18), 860 (Oct 21), The Imaginary Invalid (Oct 22) and A Few Good Men (Oct 29).
Hidden mechanic of the week
A smaller house can lift capacity without selling one more seat.
Capacity
92%
from 83%, as reported
Seats sold
1,073
a performance, both weeks
860, the new play in previews at the Imperial: Playbill lists 1,172 seats a performance this week, down from 1,291. The show sold 1,073 seats a performance in both weeks and grossed $168K a performance against $171K. On last week's house its capacity is 83%, unchanged; the eight points came from 119 fewer seats on sale. Stranger Things shows the same thing at the Marquis: of its 10.7-point rise, about seven points came from 150 fewer seats a performance.
Capacity is seats sold over seats offered, and the seats offered can change: a reconfigured section, positions held for cameras or press, seats taken off sale. Which applies here is not in the table; that is our inference to check, not a reported fact. Revenue per available seat moves the same way ($143 for 860 this week, $130 on last week's house), so read both against the seat count before reading either as demand.
Last week we said
01
"The street at $109.13 per available seat: does next week's table beat it?"
It did, by $26: $134.84.
Up 24% on a holiday week, with every running show higher and four of them adding performances.
02
"860's first full week: the same rate over eight performances is $1.37M. Does capacity move up from 83%?"
Wrong on demand: seven previews, and the capacity rise was a smaller house.
$1.17M in seven, $168K a performance against $171K (−2%). Reported capacity rose to 91.5% from 83.2%, but the show sold 1,073 seats a performance both weeks; on last week's house, 83%.
03
"The season gap widens next week. Wrong if the week lands above $36.5M."
Right: it widened to −7.6%.
The week grossed $35.3M, under the $36.5M threshold; the League confirms last year's week at $39,416,736 across 31 shows. Season to date went from −7.5% to −7.6%.
04
Boldest read: "The running shows came back on people, not price."
Not this week: the lift was price.
The 28 running shows' average paid ticket rose 16% against attendance up 8%. Last week's read held for its week; it did not carry into the holiday.
05
Unpacked 02: "A successor to the Equity–League Touring Agreement, whose term ended Sep 7, 2026."
Still open.
Equity's Touring Agreement page, checked October 13, still gives the Feb 6, 2023 to Sep 7, 2026 term and names no successor.
On watch
01
The street after the holiday.
Our call: next week's revenue per available seat falls below $125 but stays above last week's $109.13. Settles on the street's per-seat figure for the week ending October 18.
02
The Lion King's $167 average.
Up 24% on the week, from $134.99, back at eight performances. Our call: it holds above $150 next week. Settles on its average paid ticket.
03
The season gap, at −7.6%.
Our call: it widens again at week 21, to −7.7% or wider, before the openings arrive. Settles on the League's season-to-date gross change.
Investing Unpacked · No. 03 · Pricing science
Nobody pays the average ticket. The margin is in the spread.
What a premium seat, a rush seat and a discount code each do to the money that reaches investors, on one hypothetical musical, with the questions to ask about a show's price ladder.
Disclosure
OFFSCRIPT is a producer or investor in nine of the 29 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 October 11, 2026. Last year's comparisons from BroadwayWorld's report for the week ending October 11, 2026 and Deadline's for the week ending October 12, 2025. How every number here is computed: our methodology.
The Pulse is published every Tuesday. The weekly carousel is on Instagram at @offscript.theatricals.