Topline
Actress Lea Michele’s debut as Fanny Brice in Funny Girl on Broadway significantly boosted the show’s box office in her first week of shows, according to figures released Tuesday by the Broadway League, as the musical experienced its most profitable week even with Michele not performing over the weekend due to Covid.
Lea Michele as Fanny Brice in “Funny Girl” on Broadway at The August Wilson Theatre on September 6 … [+]
Key Facts
Funny Girl grossed $1.64 million in the week ending September 11, with 9,343 people attending the show and the theater being 96% full on average.
That’s up from $659,874 the week before and the most money the show has ever grossed since opening in April, beating its previous record of $1.42 million in its fourth week on Broadway for the week ending April 17.
It’s also significantly higher than ticket sales at the end of previous star Beanie Feldstein’s run, when the show grossed $765,670 for the week ending July 31, the date of Feldstein’s final performance.
The average ticket price paid last week was $175.45, according to the Broadway League, though tickets for Michele’s first performance went for as much as $2,500 each.
Michele did not perform on Saturday or Sunday, as the actress first stepped out of the show on Saturday due to an inconclusive Covid test result and then subsequently tested positive for the virus.
What To Watch For
Michele is still out of Funny Girl due to her Covid diagnosis, with standby Julie Benko performing the role of Fanny Brice in the meantime, and will return to the show on September 20. Ticket prices when she returns will not be cheap: ticket seller SeatGeek shows orchestra seats for the evening performance on September 24 are going for as much as $2,000, though prices for matinee and weekday performances are less expensive. (Michele does not perform in the show on Thursday evenings.)
Surprising Fact
Despite all the attention around Michele’s debut in Funny Girl, the musical still made less money last week than the long-running Hamilton and MJ the Musical, which grossed $1.88 million and $1.7 million, respectively.
Key Background
Michele took over the role of Fanny Brice on Tuesday after publicly angling for the role since at least 2014, earning widespread praise and multiple standing ovations during her first performance. Her entrance into the show has been controversial on multiple levels, after Michele came under fire in 2020 for allegedly mistreating her colleagues on the show Glee, resulting in her losing sponsorship deals and not taking on any big roles prior to her Funny Girl debut. (Michele has apologized for the alleged harassment.) Funny Girl, the 1960s-era musical best known for making Barbra Streisand a star, debuted in April starring Feldstein, who initially was contracted to stay with the show for a year, but received largely negative reviews. The show was mostly shut out of the Tony Awards, without nominations for Feldstein’s performance or Best Revival of a Musical. Feldstein announced in June that she would stay with the show until September 25—already an early departure—before then saying in July she would actually leave even sooner, on July 31, and that she had made “the extremely difficult decision to step away” early after the production “decided to take the show in a different direction.” Michele was announced as her replacement the next day.
Further Reading
Lea Michele Earns Multiple Standing Ovations After Finally Taking Over ‘Funny Girl’ On Broadway (Forbes)
Lea Michele Cancels ‘Funny Girl’ Performances Only Days Into Run After Covid-Like Symptoms (Forbes)
Lea Michele Replacing Beanie Feldstein In ‘Funny Girl’ On Broadway — Here’s Why It’s Controversial (Forbes)
Source: https://www.forbes.com/sites/alisondurkee/2022/09/13/funny-girl-hits-box-office-record-in-lea-micheles-first-week-on-broadway/