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Plenty of Christmas Cheer for Broadway as 18 Shows Break $1M


A marquee is lit up on the opening night of the musical play "Hamilton," on Broadway in New York, Aug. 6, 2015.
A marquee is lit up on the opening night of the musical play "Hamilton," on Broadway in New York, Aug. 6, 2015.

Fans of Broadway gave theater producers reasons to smile this Christmas, with 18 of the current 37 shows breaking the $1 million mark for the week, led by "Hamilton,'' the new Andrew Lloyd Webber production "School of Rock - The Musical'' and Disney's "Aladdin'' and "The Lion King.''

The Broadway League said Monday that the shows on the Great White Way pulled in $36,271,797 for the very mild weather week ending Sunday, much better than the previous week's $29,484,797 but more than $4 million less - and with 19,000 fewer people attending overall - than the same week last year, when 36 shows attracted $40,993,950 and 318,721 ticket buyers.

"Aladdin'' grossed $2,095,363 for eight performances, a new house record at the New Amsterdam Theatre. That haul surpassed even its nine-performance record of $2,078,163 set this summer.

"The Lion King'' broke the eight-performance-week house record at the Minskoff Theatre with $2,587,925. (The touring version of the show, currently in Chicago, set the Cadillac Palace house record with a gross of $1,810,167.)

"School of Rock - The Musical'' pulled in $1,506,236 for the week, setting a new house record for an eight-show week at the Winter Garden Theatre, beating the old record there held by "Mamma Mia!'' set in 2009.

Numbers for the first week of January - traditionally one of the slowest times on Broadway - will look far worse when a flood of shows close, including "Hand to God,'' "Sylvia,'' "Dames at Sea'' and "A Gentleman's Guide to Love and Murder.''

Some other shows that enjoyed Christmas week include "Wicked'' with $2,400,920, "The Book of Mormon'' at $1,891,356, "The King and I'' with $1,094,022, and the new offerings "Hamilton'' at $1,844,837, "On Your Feet!'' with $1,239,109, "Something Rotten!'' at $1,005,546 and the revival of "Fiddler on the Roof'' at $1,339,255.

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