THE LUNCHBOX Breaks Roda Theatre Box Office Record at Berkeley Rep
The Lunchbox now ranks as Berkeley Rep's third highest-grossing production of all time.
Berkeley Repertory Theatre's world premiere musical The Lunchbox—featuring a book and co-lyrics by the original film’s writer and director Ritesh Batra, music and co-lyrics by The Lazours, and direction by Tony Award winner Rachel Chavkin—has broken the Roda Theatre's eight-performance weekly box office record and achieved the highest-grossing week in the organization's history. Check out photos of the production!
For the week ending July 12, 2026, playing to standing room only audiences, the twice extended The Lunchbox surpassed the previous eight-performance house record with gross sales of $530,254, eclipsing the previous record of $456,827 set by Berkeley Rep’s world premiere production of Ain't Too Proud in 2017. Sales for the week also exceeded the nine-performance house record of $497,656, also set by Ain’t Too Proud in 2017. The remarkable milestone caps an extraordinary run for the world premiere musical, which concluded its engagement on July 12, 2026, having played 63 performances to more than 35,500 audience members at an average of 98% capacity.
The Lunchbox now ranks as Berkeley Rep's third highest-grossing production of all time, trailing only Ain't Too Proud and Monsoon Wedding. While those productions ran 75 and 79 performances, respectively, The Lunchbox achieved its milestone in just 63 performances, underscoring the exceptional demand for the production throughout its run, which had to end on July 12.
In other notable statistics, The Lunchbox attracted audiences to Berkeley from 12 countries (Cambodia, Canada, Colombia, Germany, India, Indonesia, Ireland, Philippines, Singapore, Switzerland, United Kingdom, and United States) and 39 states and the District of Columbia. The production also attracted a younger-than-average audience with 18% of audience members under 35 years of age, compared to the Berkeley Rep average of 10%. Of the households purchasing tickets to The Lunchbox, 33% were new to Berkeley Rep, compared to an average across the other shows of the 2025/26 season of 12% new households.
|
The Still Point: An Immersive Experience SOMArts Cultural Center (7/16-7/25) |
|
The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark SPARC (7/03-7/26) |
|
A Chorus Line El Cerrito High School Performing Arts Theater (7/24-8/02) |
|
Comedy Oakland at Quinn's Lighthouse Fri July 31 8:30pm Quinn's Lighthouse (7/31-7/31) |
|
Joy of Astonishment - An Evening of Magic and Mentalism The California Theatre of Santa Rosa (7/30-7/30) |
|
Pamela Gaye Walker’s Little BIG Mouth The Marsh Berkeley (7/12-8/02) |
|
Based on a Totally True Story City Lights Theater Company (1/21-2/14) |
|
"In A Memory Palace" Z Space (7/30-8/01) |
|
An Evening with a Mentalist: Jay Alexander's Mind Tricks Live San Francisco Magic Theater (w/Jay Alexander) at the Marrakech (7/31-8/02) |
|
Comedy Oakland at Quinn's Lighthouse Fri Aug 7 8:30pm Quinn's Lighthouse (8/07-8/07) |