The Tony Awards by the numbers

Matthew Murphy

The 72nd Tony Awards, happening this Sunday, June 10, take place at a time when the Broadway experience has never been more lucrative for theaters and producers, or more expensive for ticket-buyers.

Shows including “Harry Potter and the Cursed Child,” “The Band’s Visit,” “Once on This Island,” “Mean Girls,” “Angels in America” and “Frozen” will battle it out for New York’s theater equivalent of the Oscars.

The Tonys, which are being held at Manhattan’s Radio City Music Hall and presented by Sara Bareilles and Josh Groban, will be televised on CBS.  

Stars including Claire Danes, Robert De Niro and Carey Mulligan will be attending the awards together with nominees Amy Schumer, Tina Fey and Andrew Garfield. Bruce Springsteen, who has electrified Broadway with his hit show, is picking up a special Tony Award and will perform at the ceremony.

MarketWatch looks beneath the razzle dazzle and examines the data of Broadway:

BROADWAY BY THE NUMBERS:

2017-18 Season:

2017-18 Total Gross: $1.697 billion

2017-18 Attendance: 13.79 million

New Productions: 33

Average Ticket Price of Musicals in 2017-18: $125.7

Average Ticket Price of Plays in 2017-18: $89.2

(Source: Broadway League)

2007-08 Season:

2007-08 Total Gross: $938 million

2007-08 Season Attendance: 12.27 million

New Productions: 36

Average Ticket Price of Musicals in 2007-08: $78.9

Average Ticket Price of Plays in 2007-08: $62.7

(Source: Broadway League)

Highest Grossing New Musical on Broadway in 2017-18 Season: “Springsteen on Broadway”- $65 million (Opened October 12, 2017)

Highest Grossing New Play on Broadway in 2017-18 Season: “Harry Potter and the Cursed Child”- $20.3 million (Opened April 22, 2018)

(Source: Broadway League)

Average Increase in Ticket Prices for Tony Winner Best Musical a Month after the Awards: 17%

(Source: MBA@Syracuse, the online MBA program from Syracuse University)

Increase in ticket sales for “The Band’s Visit” in two days after Tony nominations: 543%

(Source: Forbes)

Increase in overall ticket sales on mobile ticketing platform TodayTix in the week following the Tony Nominations compared to the previous week: 29.5%

(Source: Forbes)

Average Total Budget of Musicals on Broadway: $9 million

Average Total Budget of Play on Broadway: $3.1 million

(Source: Broadway League)

Average Weekly Amount a Musical Needs to Gross to Stay Open: $665,000

Average Weekly Amount a Play Needs to Gross to Stay Open: $468,000

(Source: Broadway League)

Average Run of a Musical on Broadway Since 1998: 492 performances

Average Run of a Play on Broadway Since 1998: 150 performances

(Source: Dr. Russell T. Warne, Utah Valley University)

Top 8 grossing shows currently running on Broadway:

1. “The Lion King”Total Gross: $1.48 billion

2. “Wicked”: $1.2 billion

3. “The Phantom of the Opera”: $1.16 billion

4. “Chicago”: $619.7 million

5. “The Book of Mormon”: $555.9 million

6. “Hamilton”: $364.5 million

7. “Aladdin”: $330.4 million

8. “Kinky Boots”: $286 million

(Source: The Wrap)