How Did Broadway's Long-Runners Fare This Summer?

As previously reported, many shows struggled this summer, particularly long running shows that tend to do well with international tourists. International tourists in previous seasons have made up about 21% of Broadway ticket buyers, but that number is poised to decrease this year. In May, projected international tourism numbers were revised down 17%, bringing them steady with last year. More recent reporting has suggested that those earlier estimates were too conservative, and the actual picture is significantly worse. A July study found that around 2 million fewer international tourists were expected this year compared to last.

Midtown restaurants are reporting significant decreases in revenue year to year, and Broadway, another midtown Manhattan institution, is no different. For Broadway, international tourists overwhelmingly prefer musicals to plays. Interestingly, this has been a bumper year for plays, with all eight productions of the 2024-25 season that have recouped their initial investment so far being plays. 

Show by show paints an interesting picture. These are the long running shows on Broadway, all of these shows have recouped their initial investment and run for multiple years at this point. Our sample size is covering the weeks ending May 25 through August 31, or Memorial Day Weekend to Labor Day Weekend, and comparing them to the same stretch last year. 

The Lion King

Summer 2025 Total Gross: $31,277,064; Summer 2025 Average Weekly Gross: $2,081,064; Summer 2024 Total Gross: $33,582,686; Year over Year Difference: -$2,355,622 or -7%

The Lion King’s grosses dipped down 7% year to year, which translates to nearly a 150 grand drop per week. It’s not covered as part of these numbers, but their drop in gross to $1.4 million last week marks their lowest grossing week since March 2022. 

Wicked

Summer 2025 Total Gross: $34,321,230; Summer 2025 Average Weekly Gross: $2,288,082; Summer 2024 Total Gross: $31,776,506; Year over Year Difference: +$2,544,724 or +8%

Wicked is still enjoying the bump that comes along with the movie adaptation. Though, their sustained success has been much less than other cultural moments recently. Their grosses have been steadily coming down to previous year’s levels, even as promotion for the sequel ramps up. 

Hamilton

Summer 2025 Total Gross: $31,218,158; Summer 2025 Average Weekly Gross: $2,081,158; Summer 2024 Total Gross: $28,473,998; Year over Year Difference: +$2,744,160 or +9.6%

Hamilton is the other show enjoying something of a cultural moment right now. Their success started this summer, after a winter and spring that was slower than previous years have been. But that trend has more than been reversed in large part to their 10th anniversary celebrations, and with Leslie Odom Jr. back in the cast, these next 10 weeks should be very very lucrative for them. 

MJ: The Musical

Summer 2025 Total Gross: $19,158,468; Summer 2025 Average Weekly Gross: $1,277,231; Summer 2024 Total Gross: $20,132,063; Year over Year Difference: -$973,595 or -4.8%

MJ continued their trend of the last couple of seasons, decreasing this summer once again. It was less of a year to year decrease than they had last year, which is a promising sign if they can continue to turn the tide. 

Aladdin

Summer 2025 Total Gross: $20,694,952; Summer 2025 Average Weekly Gross: $1,379,663; Summer 2024 Total Gross: $21,419,413; Year over Year Difference: -$724,461 or -3.4%

Prior to the summer, Aladdin had been enjoying something of a renaissance. They eclipsed two million in gross during the Easter holiday for the first time since 2023, and they were riding a wave from their 10th anniversary celebrations last year. Without an ongoing national tour to draw away attention from domestic tourists, they have seen much greater success. But the summer has eaten away all of that and more. Through the week ending May 4, they were up nearly $700k YTD. In the stretch from May 4 through September 7, that number has changed to -684k YTD, a $1.3 million swing the wrong direction.  

Moulin Rouge! The Musical

Summer 2025 Total Gross: $14,321,230; Summer 2025 Average Weekly Gross: $977,118; Summer 2024 Total Gross: $16,488,660; Year over Year Difference: -$1,831,883 or -11.1%

Moulin Rouge has only beaten their 2024 gross three times this year so far, and when they have that has mostly been due to celebrity stunt casts in their final weeks. Nevertheless, the first half of the summer was only slightly below 2024, but that changed when Jordan Fisher left the cast, the show has only eclipsed $1 million in gross once since Wayne Brady and Taye Diggs joined the cast. 

Harry Potter and the Cursed Child

Summer 2025 Total Gross: $16,569,588; Summer 2025 Average Weekly Gross: $1,104,639; Summer 2024 Total Gross: $18,660,480; Year over Year Difference: -$2,091,327 or -11.2%

Harry Potter and the Cursed Child continues their steady trend downwards, though they enjoyed a stronger summer than the winter and spring, neither of which were kind to Cursed Child. That is a trend that will likely be reversed by the upcoming casting of Tom Felton this November. 

The Book of Mormon

Summer 2025 Total Gross: $12,699,691; Summer 2025 Average Weekly Gross: $846,646; Summer 2024 Total Gross: $13,361,052; Year over Year Difference: -$661,361 or -4.9%

The Book of Mormon rolled out a new ad campaign this summer, with revamped advertisements popping up all over the Theatre District. And maybe it’s paying off, the last two weeks for the Book of Mormon have been much better, and exceeded their 2024 counterparts. It’s also likely somewhat to do with their 15th anniversary of performing on Broadway, which comes next year. 

Six

Summer 2025 Total Gross: $10,295,690; Summer 2025 Average Weekly Gross: $686,379; Summer 2024 Total Gross: $13,150,662; Year over Year Difference: -$2,284,972 or -21.7%

Six had the most precipitous drop of any long running show. They have only had two weeks this year where they’ve done better than the corresponding week in 2024, and last week they posted their lowest grossing week of their Broadway run. It’s a small show, with relatively minimal weekly costs, but you’d struggle to find any musical these days that earns money on $400k a week grosses. 

Hadestown

Summer 2025 Total Gross: $10,942,837; Summer 2025 Average Weekly Gross: $729,522; Summer 2024 Total Gross: $12,626,121; Year over Year Difference: -$1,683,284 or -13.3%

Hadestown is an interesting case. Even though they were down pretty significantly from last summer, they are doing better than they were doing two summers ago, further highlighting the positive impact that Jordan Fisher had on their grosses. Notable for Hadestown, they were one of only three shows last week to post an increase in their grosses, which coincided with the first week of their new cast. 

Chicago

Summer 2025 Total Gross: $8,534,382; Summer 2025 Average Weekly Gross: $568,959; Summer 2024 Total Gross: $10,855,493; Year over Year Difference: -$2,321,111 or -21.4%

Chicago had the second worst year to year decrease, and with an average of less than $600,000 in gross per week. This year overall has been a struggle for Chicago, none of their stunt casts have hit with the same success as ones such as Ariana Madix last year or Jinx Monsoon the year before that. 

&Juliet

Summer 2025 Total Gross: $13,370,976; Summer 2025 Average Weekly Gross: $891,398; Summer 2024 Total Gross: $13,423,428; Year over Year Difference: -$52,452 or -0.4%

&Juliet managed to only see a minor decrease, largely due to the impact of former NYSYNC member Joey Fatone. Following his departure at the end of July the show had an unceremonious fall, going from posting grosses that were at the level of or exceeding the 2024 returns to posting grosses that are ten to twenty percent lower than they were a year ago. 

Luckily with the success of plays this year, it stands to reason that maybe the NYC and Tri-State area audience has grown, or at least is taking up a larger portion of the market share. With success of shows like Oh, Mary!, which had a very successful downtown run before going uptown to great, sustained, commercial success. They are already the longest running play since Broadway’s return from the pandemic, and with continued smart casting they should continue to have a healthy run. Other shows that had slow starts but became large word of mouth hits include this years Best Play winner, Purpose, and unexpected breakout hit John Proctor is the Villain, which at time of closing is the highest grossing show to play the Booth Theatre (by weekly average) since The Boys in the Band in 2018. All of those shows are indications that shows can still be hits on Broadway, and generate sufficient demand to sustain a run. But it might have to be without the support of international tourists for a time.