October put $9 a seat back on the street, and two new shows brought $5 of it
The Pulse · No. 02 · Week ending October 4, 2026
Broadway took $27.7M across 28 shows, up 15% on the week and 12% under last year. Revenue per available seat, the number the running costs are charged against, rose from $100.54 to $109.13. Two shows in their first week, Other Desert Cities† and 860, brought $5 of that $9: without them the street would stand at $103.80. The 26 shows that ran both weeks added the other $3, and they did it with people more than price: attendance up 2%, the average paid ticket up 1%.
Also this week in Unpacked: first class, second class and worldwide, how a show makes money on the road.
The week
Total gross
$27.7M
WoW +15% (+4% same-show)
YoY −12%
Attendance
226,390
WoW +8%
YoY −3% (−7% per show)
Avg. paid ticket
$122.51
WoW +6%
YoY −9%
Capacity · 28 shows
89.1%
from 87.3% last week
27 shows last year
Per available seat
$109.13
= $122.51 × 89.1%
WoW +9% (from $100.54)
Season to date · week 19
$593.2M
YoY −7.5% (attendance −2.2%)
585 playing weeks vs 588
The 26 shows that ran both weeks grossed 4% more than the week before; 21 were up and five down. The other 11 points of the header's 15% are calendar: Other Desert Cities† ($1.88M in seven previews) and 860 ($855K in five) joined the table, and nothing left it. The Lion King's −12% is one cancelled performance, not demand: at seven performances its gross per available seat was unchanged.
The number
Average paid ticket · week ending 10/4/26
The street's average rose $7 in a week. Most of that is two new rows near the top.
Other Desert Cities
$276
Hamilton
$252
Oh, Mary!
$182
860
$159
Just in Time
$146
Broadway average
$123
Chicago
$122
The Book of Mormon
$103
The Great Gatsby
$93
Stranger Things
$66
Cream: above the street average. Red: the average. Muted: below. Ten of the 28 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 (+4%), in points: a show at +4% 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 · 28 shows | $27.74M | +15% | — | $109 |
| Hamilton | $2.70M | +4% | 0 | $255 |
| Other Desert Cities † (7 perfs) | $1.88M | new | — | $276 |
| Harry Potter | $1.67M | +6% | +2 | $129 |
| MJ | $1.59M | +3% | −1 | $143 |
| The Lion King (7 perfs) | $1.50M | −12% | −16 | $126 |
| Oh, Mary! | $1.22M | −17% | −20 | $170 |
| Wicked | $1.11M | +10% | +6 | $77 |
| The Lost Boys † | $1.10M | +4% | +1 | $93 |
| Chicago | $1.03M | +5% | +1 | $119 |
| Aladdin | $971K | −1% | −5 | $70 |
| Schmigadoon! | $970K | +11% | +7 | $105 |
| Paranormal Activity † | $911K | +4% | +1 | $96 |
| The Great Gatsby | $885K | +5% | +1 | $74 |
| Hadestown | $883K | +7% | +3 | $120 |
| 860 (5 perfs) | $855K | new | — | $132 |
| The Book of Mormon | $828K | +2% | −2 | $97 |
| Buena Vista Social Club † | $811K | +1% | −3 | $97 |
| The Outsiders | $786K | +13% | +9 | $96 |
| The Rocky Horror Show | $775K | +11% | +7 | $98 |
| Just in Time † | $773K | +16% | +12 | $140 |
| & Juliet | $750K | +9% | +5 | $91 |
| Operation Mincemeat † | $720K | +7% | +4 | $114 |
| Maybe Happy Ending † | $676K | −1% | −5 | $87 |
| Stranger Things | $571K | 0% | −4 | $45 |
| SIX | $562K | +14% | +11 | $68 |
| Two Strangers † | $504K | +6% | +2 | $60 |
| The Imaginary Invalid (7 perfs) | $353K | +93% | +89 | $69 |
| School Girls | $351K | +9% | +5 | $68 |
† 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 came back on people, not price.
The 26 shows on both tables: attendance up 2%, the average paid ticket up 1% ($115.17 to $116.72), capacity from 87.3% to 88.9%. Per available seat they went from $101 to $104. That is demand returning at the price the market set in September, not a repricing.
02
The year's price gap is smaller than the header says, and still real.
The average paid ticket is 9% under last year ($122.51 against $134.02). But the same week last year carried Hamilton at a $348 average on $3.74M (BroadwayWorld's report for the week ending October 5, 2025), against $252 now. Take Hamilton out of both years and the street is $116 against $124: down 6%, with attendance per show down 7%.
03
The season gap widened, and next week's calendar widens it again.
Nineteen weeks in, the season stands at $593.2M, 7.5% behind last season's $641.0M, from 7.2% a week ago; attendance is 2.2% behind on 585 playing weeks against 588. This week ran 12% under last year's. Last year's next week grossed $39.4M across 31 shows (Ken Davenport's weekly grosses post for the week ending October 12, 2025, League figures), so narrowing the gap needs more than $36.5M next week, 32% above this one.
04
Last week's capacity losers took seats back, at the same price.
The three biggest capacity gains among running shows: SIX +9.3 points (gross +14%), The Rocky Horror Show +9.2 (+11%) and The Outsiders +5.0 (+13%), after the three lost 26, 16 and 17 points the week before. SIX's and Rocky Horror's average ticket moved less than 1%. The seats came back; none of the three has recovered all it lost.
Hidden mechanic of the week
A cancelled performance takes an eighth of the week's gross. It takes much less than an eighth of the week's costs.
The Lion King · gross
−12%
seven performances, not eight
Per available seat
+0.7%
$126 against $125 last week
The Lion King, same week: one Saturday matinee cancelled (BroadwayWorld's report for the week), seven performances instead of eight. The gross fell $202K, 12%, almost exactly an eighth of the week before ($213K). Per performance it took $214K against $213K, and per available seat $126 against $125. Demand did not move; the calendar did.
What moves is the week's margin. Most of a show's weekly costs are set for the week, not the performance: rent, salaries, advertising, the office. The royalty pool is the main line that moves with the gross. So a lost performance takes an eighth off the top line and a much smaller share off the costs, and the week's operating profit falls by more than 12%. This is why the board carries per seat beside the gross: the gross column reads the calendar, the per-seat column reads the demand.
Last week we said
01
The street at $101 a seat: does October lift it, and is the lift price or people?
October lifted it to $109. The calendar did most of the lifting.
Per available seat the street went from $100.54 to $109.13. Two new shows brought $5 of the $9; the 26 shows that ran both weeks added $3, on attendance up 2% and the average ticket up 1%. For the shows already running, the answer is people.
02
Harry Potter's $607K jump: does it hold a second week?
It held, and added 6%.
$1.67M against $1.57M, capacity up 2.8 points to 96%, $129 a seat from $121. Two weeks on from a $966K week, it reads as a step, not a spike.
03
The season gap, −7.2% on gross and −2.1% on attendance: do the next four tables narrow it?
The first of the four widened it.
Week 19: 7.5% behind on gross, 2.2% on attendance, 585 playing weeks against 588. This week's table ran 12% under last year's, so the gap grew. Three tables to go, and the call is behind.
04
"When Wicked softens, it is not a Wicked problem." (Read 04)
One week in, Wicked moved with the market and then some.
Up 10% on the week, six points ahead of the street, capacity from 86% to 88%, $70 to $77 a seat. It fell with the street and came back ahead of it. One week supports the read; it is not yet proof.
05
Unpacked 01: from No. 02 the Pulse carries revenue per available seat and vs. street for every show.
Done. The board above.
Every show, ranked by gross, with its change against the street and its revenue per available seat.
On watch
01
The street at $109 a seat.
Next week 860 plays eight performances instead of five, Other Desert Cities† eight instead of seven and The Lion King is back to eight. The number to beat is $109.13; if the 26 running shows hold $104 a seat and the new rows hold their rate, it clears.
02
860's first full week.
$855K in five previews is $171K a performance: $132 a seat at 83% capacity and a $159 average, with the street's highest yield ratio (54 cents on the top-price dollar). At eight performances the same rate is $1.37M. The question is whether capacity moves up from 83% ahead of the October 21 opening.
03
The season gap widens next week.
Our call: last year's week ending October 12 grossed $39.4M across 31 shows, and nothing on this week's calendar adds the $8.7M the street would need to beat $36.5M. We will be wrong if the week lands above it.
Investing Unpacked · No. 02 · Touring and global
First class, second class, worldwide. How a Broadway show makes money on the road.
What first class, second class and worldwide touring are, how a touring week is paid (the presenter's guarantee, the royalty, the split), the same deal at three sizes (a first-class week needs a market of about $1M; a non-Equity week works from $370K), and why the long non-Equity tours are worth more to the business than they get credit for.
Disclosure
OFFSCRIPT is a producer or investor in eight of the 28 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 and Other Desert Cities. 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 4, 2026. How every number here is computed: our methodology.
The Pulse is published every Tuesday. The weekly carousel is on Instagram at @offscript.theatricals.