The cast of “Gigi” (photo: Margot Schulman via The Broadway Blog.)
Wondering how many people attend a Broadway show throughout a year? The Broadway League has released end-of-season statistics for the 2014–2015 season, which began May 26, 2014 and ended May 24, 2015. For the 2014–2015 season, total attendances reached 13,104,078 million, and Broadway shows yielded $1,365,232,182 billion in grosses, the best attended and highest grossing season in Broadway recorded history! All new and continuing productions ran a total of 1,626 playing weeks, a record that shows this was Broadway’s healthiest season!
Steven Boyer in “Hand to God” (photo: Joan Marcus via The Broadway Blog.)
The 2014 – 2015 Broadway season concluded with attendance up 7.3 percent, grosses up 7.6 percent, and playing weeks up 8.7 percent.
Broadway attendance in the 2014–2015 season topped those of the ten professional New York and New Jersey sports teams combined. Broadway surpassed the combined sports teams by over 2.6 million attendances, which is the largest difference since 2005.
“It’s been another extraordinary season on Broadway, and I’m thrilled that we have broken all records! The upward trend in audience growth continues and it’s no surprise. While we’ve been saying for several years now that there is something for everyone on Broadway, to have audience growth of over 13 percent in two years clearly proves our point,” said Charlotte St. Martin, President of the Broadway League. “We’re giving theatergoers what they want, including a variety of musicals and plays, recognizable brands and new shows. We have stars, we have kids; we have some of the best ensemble casts ever on Broadway. It’s been a joy to see such spectacular direction and choreography – in both plays and musicals. As well, ticket buying is easier and alternate curtain times and more selections of matinee days make seeing a show convenient for every schedule.”
The show tally is based on the final Tony Awards determinations of categories. The final numbers in accordance with the 2015 Tony Awards determinations are as follows:
37 productions opened during the 2014-2015 season which included 15 musicals (10 new, 5 revivals), 20 plays (11 new, 9 revivals), and 2 specials.
