The Pulse · No. 04 · Week ending October 18, 2026
Broadway took $34.0M across 30 shows in the week after Columbus Day, down 4% on the week and 11% on the year. Attendance rose 4% to 259,164 and the houses stayed 94.8% full, a tenth of a point under the holiday week. What came off was price: the average paid ticket fell $11 to $131.05, and revenue per available seat fell $11 to $124.28. The holiday crowd stayed. The holiday price did not.
Also this week in Unpacked: landlord economics. The landlord never loses. Except ten weeks a year.
The week
Total gross
$34.0M
WoW −4% (−5% same-show)
YoY −11%
Attendance
259,164
WoW +4%
YoY −7% (0% per show)
Avg. paid ticket
$131.05
WoW −8%
YoY −5%
Capacity · 30 shows
94.8%
from 94.9% last week
32 shows last year
Per available seat
$124.28
= $131.05 × 94.8%
WoW −8% (from $134.82)
Season to date · week 21
$662.5M
YoY −7.8% (attendance −2.8%)
644 playing weeks vs 651
The 29 shows that ran both weeks grossed 5% less; the gap to the header's −4% is Wanted's first five previews ($451K). The 28 shows that played the same number of performances both weeks sold 0.4% more seats at an average 7.5% lower, and 20 of them took a lower average than the week before. Their revenue per available seat fell 7.8%, the same as the street's.
The number
Average paid ticket · week ending 10/18/26
The premium came off the top of the ladder, not the bottom.
Hamilton
$259
Other Desert Cities
$233
Oh, Mary!
$215
Just in Time
$183
A Few Good Men
$161
Broadway average
$131
Operation Mincemeat
$131
The Book of Mormon
$112
Harry Potter
$97
Stranger Things
$80
Cream: above the street average. Red: the average. Muted: below. Eleven of the 30 shows price above the average; this is a selection around it. The street: $124 per available seat.
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 (−5%), in points: a show at −5% 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 · 30 shows | $33.96M | −4% | — | $124 |
| Hamilton | $2.78M | −10% | −5 | $262 |
| The Lion King | $2.02M | −9% | −4 | $149 |
| Other Desert Cities † | $1.82M | −16% | −11 | $233 |
| MJ | $1.76M | −7% | −2 | $159 |
| Oh, Mary! | $1.53M | −4% | +1 | $214 |
| Wicked | $1.43M | −4% | +1 | $99 |
| The Lost Boys † | $1.30M | −5% | 0 | $101 |
| 860 (7 perfs) | $1.27M | +8% | +13 | $155 |
| A Few Good Men † (7 perfs) | $1.25M | +124% | +129 | $161 |
| Harry Potter | $1.23M | −45% | −40 | $95 |
| Aladdin | $1.20M | −5% | 0 | $87 |
| Chicago | $1.17M | +1% | +6 | $136 |
| The Great Gatsby | $1.16M | −2% | +3 | $97 |
| Hadestown | $1.05M | −7% | −2 | $143 |
| Paranormal Activity † | $1.05M | +2% | +7 | $111 |
| The Rocky Horror Show | $1.04M | +1% | +6 | $132 |
| Schmigadoon! | $1.04M | −6% | −1 | $112 |
| Just in Time † | $1.04M | +12% | +17 | $188 |
| The Outsiders | $1.00M | −9% | −4 | $122 |
| The Book of Mormon | $936K | −4% | +1 | $110 |
| & Juliet | $918K | −9% | −4 | $112 |
| Buena Vista Social Club † | $880K | +2% | +7 | $105 |
| Operation Mincemeat † | $818K | 0% | +5 | $129 |
| SIX | $790K | −5% | 0 | $96 |
| Maybe Happy Ending † | $788K | −5% | 0 | $101 |
| Stranger Things | $764K | −8% | −3 | $60 |
| Two Strangers † | $641K | +5% | +10 | $77 |
| Wanted (5 perfs) | $451K | new | — | $86 |
| School Girls | $440K | 0% | +5 | $86 |
| The Imaginary Invalid | $428K | 0% | +5 | $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
The price came off the top of the ladder, not the bottom.
Of the 28 shows at the same number of performances both weeks, the nine that averaged above last week's $142 street average took their averages down 12% (7% without Harry Potter), with attendance flat. The 19 below it: averages −4%, and 0.7% more seats sold. Our inference: the holiday premium sits in the top-priced seats, and that is where it came off.
02
Against last year, the gap is still seats.
$124.28 per available seat against $125.25 in the same week last year (−1%, from Playbill's table for the week ending October 19, 2025). Seats on sale were down 10% (273,290 against 304,913, 30 shows against 32) and the gross 11%; per show, attendance was flat.
03
The season gap widened to −7.8%, as called.
Week 21 ran 11% behind last year's $38.2M, wider than the season's pace, so season to date moved from −7.6% to −7.8% ($662.5M against $718.6M). Per playing week the season is −6.8% (644 playing weeks against 651). The last three weeks ran −12%, −10% and −11%.
04
The long-runners gave back the most.
Shows running three years or more took 45% of the gross, $15.27M of $33.96M, from 49% the week before: their gross fell 12% (7% without Harry Potter) against the street's 4%. The holiday lift had been theirs, and so was the comedown.
Hidden mechanic of the week
A holiday week is priced, not filled.
Average paid ticket
$97
from $173, −44%
Attendance
−2%
12,855 to 12,586 seats
Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, the week after Columbus Day: capacity 99% to 97%, the gross down $997K, $171 to $95 a seat. Same house, almost the same people. The table prints its top ticket at $239, from $352; our inference is that the premium tier was priced down, not that the seats went unsold, and the table cannot say which seats moved.
The running costs of a show don't move with the price. A premium week is almost all margin; the week after, the shortfall comes almost all out of margin. A recoupment schedule is built on the ordinary weeks, which is why the week the holidays stop is worth reading closely.
Last week we said
The calls from The Pulse, No. 03 and Unpacked 03, scored on this week's table.
01
"Next week's revenue per available seat falls below $125 but stays above $109.13."
Right, by 72 cents: $124.28.
From $134.82, at 94.8% capacity and a $131.05 average.
02
"The Lion King's $167.22 average holds above $150 next week."
Right: $157.41.
Down 6% on the week, with capacity 94.5% from 97.8%.
03
"The season gap widens again at week 21, to −7.7% or wider."
Right: it widened to −7.8%.
$662,472,408 against $718,605,099; the week ran −11% against last year's $38,189,430.
04
Boldest read: "Per seat, this holiday week earned what last year's did. The gap is seats."
It held a second week.
$124.28 per available seat against $125.25 in the same week last year, −1%, with 10% fewer seats on sale (273,290 against 304,913) and the gross −11%.
05
Unpacked 03: "Hamilton's top ticket into the holidays. Settles on the Thanksgiving-week table."
Still open.
The top held at $599 both weeks; the average moved, to $258.86 from $287.50, at 101% capacity.
06
Unpacked 03: "860's first full weeks: capacity up with the average held is demand; capacity up with the average down is the bottom of the ladder."
Demand, on the test as set, with one caveat.
Capacity 98.4% from 91.5%, the average $157.09 from $156.25, the top $325 from $297; 1,153 seats sold a performance from 1,073. BroadwayWorld's report notes four heavily comped press performances in the week, so part of the capacity is press seats (our inference); the paid average held through them.
07
Unpacked 03: "A fall lift arriving as attendance with flat or falling averages means the discount channels are filling the houses."
Not the discount channels.
Over the two weeks from $122.51 at 89.1%, both the average ($131.05) and capacity (94.8%) rose. This week's attendance +4% with the average −8% is the holiday premium coming off houses already 95% full.
On watch
01
The street without a holiday.
Our call: revenue per available seat lands below $124.28 again but above $115, as 860 and The Imaginary Invalid open, Wanted plays eight previews and A Few Good Men goes to eight. Wrong if it holds above $124.28 or falls under $115. Settles on the street's per-seat figure for the week ending October 25.
02
860's opening week.
It opens October 21, from 98.4% capacity and a $157.09 average the week before the reviews. Our call: capacity above 95% and the average above $150. Settles on its row.
03
The season gap, at −7.8%.
Our call: −7.9% or wider at week 22. Narrowing needs a week better than −7.8% on the year, and the last three ran −12%, −10% and −11%. Settles on the League's season-to-date gross change.
Investing Unpacked · No. 04 · Market structure
The landlord never loses. Except ten weeks a year.
What a Broadway house earns, what it costs to own, who carries the risk, and the ten weeks a year it loses.
Disclosure
OFFSCRIPT is a producer or investor in nine of the 30 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 18, 2026. Last week's seats from BroadwayWorld's report for the week ending October 11, 2026; the same week last year from Playbill's table for the week ending October 19, 2025. 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.