The Amazing Broad Street Success of ‘Oh, Mary!’ And ‘The Outsiders’

Oh, Mary!a sleeper if ever there was one, too Outsidersmusical so popular that over 200 people bought tickets last week knowing they wouldn’t get a real seat, continuing what can only be described as a hot summer.

Think about it Oh, Mary!, writer/actor Cole Escola’s camp, comedic period drama (flawlessly directed by Sam Pinkleton) about alcoholic, streetwise Mary Todd Lincoln (who would have been Escola) and her late, gay husband (James Scully). It was last year’s Off Broadway hit, but that doesn’t always translate to Broadway success.

But this time, it happened. Oh, Mary! has been selling for weeks, and has been pulling in over $1 million for the week since July 21. Last week (week ending August 4) Oh, Mary! a small game with five characters and a set, although attractive and functional, not very specific (well, until it is), very bad. $1,048,173. That’s more than a big Broadway musical like it & Juliet, Chicago, Hadestown, Six, Suffs, The Notebook again Elephant wateris approximately equal to Back to the Future again Moulin Rouge. Cabaret at the Kit Kat Club, entered the custom-built August Wilson Theater and perhaps the most anticipated musical of the spring 2024 season, entered. $1,508,933, just $460,760 more Oh, Mary!a flawless summation by any means, but one that put the crazy First Lady in the screaming zone of those crazy Weimar nightclubs.

Ticket price? Oh, Mary! he had an average ticket $146.39. That’s more than the average consumer brought out to enjoy big Broadway musicals like & Juliet, Aladdin, Back to the FutureHarry Potter and the Cursed Child, Hell’s Kitchen, MJ, Moulin Rouge, Sixth, SuffsThe Book of Mormon, The Great Gatsby, The Wiz, Elephant water again They are not bad.

In short, Oh, Mary! it is absolute, indisputable, like fooling bean counters like sitting in laughing chairs. It is a miracle.

And then there is Outsiders, musical based on SE Hinton’s 1967 coming-of-age novel Coming to New York Last March is a hit from a popular engagement party at San Diego’s La Jolla Playhouse and plenty of pre-arrival media. Even after seeing it at Broadway’s Bernard Jacobs Theater before opening night, I wasn’t convinced that a winning cast and a well-crafted play could bring together a diverse enough audience to become a hit. Are the kids still reading Hinton? Did Boomers buy tickets all these years later? Could the children of the ’80s be attracted by the beautiful characters of the 1983 film and rush to New York to see the faces of strangers?

Well, if see i didn’t a person he did. Outsiders regularly sells and sets house records at Jacobs, and not just sales seats. With last week’s attendance at 102.5% of capacity, my calculations suggest that over 200 ticket buyers were lined up in the back to watch star Brody Grant and his cast. The music grew $1,488,298 last week.

The success of those two productions bodes well for an overflowing Broadway summer. For the week ending August 4, 26 shows combined $30,523,164, about 2% better than last year at this time. Number of attendees 239,326 it held steady last week but was up 4% year-on-year. In total, 95% of available Broadway seats were filled last week.

Besides that Oh, Mary! again Outsiderssold out shows, or very close to it, last week Hadestown; Hamilton (99%); Hell’s Kitchen; Moulin Rouge! (98%); Once in the mattress, the spectacular Encores! transfer opening at Hudson on August 12; It is stereophonic; The Book of Mormon (98%); King King (99%); again They are not bad (98%).

Also important, WorkMax Wolf Friedlich’s publicist at the Helen Hayes Theatre, opened July 30, taking the modesty $267,283 per week, a figure influenced by media previews and opening night comps. Whether a strong revision can draw heat will become clear in the next few weeks.

The season so far, Broadway, in the 11th week of the 2024-25 season, has grown. $369,174,509, up 6% on last year at this time, and attendance 2,922,096 up to 3%.

All figures are courtesy of the Broadway League. For a complete list of box offices, visit the Society’s website.