‘Merrily We Roll Along’ Ends Run On New High

Merrily We Roll Alongside closed out its Broadway run with a brand new excessive of $2.77 million, which the manufacturing says is the very best grossing week ever for any Stephen Sondheim musical on Broadway.

The revival, starring Daniel Radcliffe, Jonathan Groff and Lindsay Mendez, ended its run July 7, after opening on the Hudson Theatre in October 2023. The revival has continued to interrupt field workplace information on the theater and has seen a selected rise in grosses in latest weeks, after the manufacturing gained finest revival of a musical on the June 16 Tony Awards, the place each Radcliffe and Groff additionally took residence trophies, and because it neared its deadline. 

Capability has been at one hundred pc each week of run. And the typical ticket value has additionally elevated, alongside its recognition, to succeed in a brand new excessive of $357.94 in its last week. 

Whereas Sondheim musicals didn’t historically fare nicely on the field workplace of their authentic runs, there was a resurgence within the recognition of his reveals, and their grosses, since his dying in November 2021. 

Current examples embrace the 2023 revival of Sweeney Todd, starring Josh Groban and Annaleigh Ashford, the place grosses hit a excessive of $2.26 million throughout a seven-show week round Christmas, and the 2022 revival of Into the Woods, which hit a weekly excessive of $2.1 million in August 2022. 

The unique manufacturing of Merrily We Roll Alongside, directed by Hal Prince and that includes a ebook by George Furth, was one in every of Sondheim’s extra notorious flops. The present started previews on Oct. 8, 1981 and closed on Nov. 28. 

The revival, directed by Maria Friedman, recouped its $12 million capitalization in March 2024. Throughout the last weeks of the run, the present producers raised as much as $4 million to professionally movie the manufacturing. The filming was achieved “for posterity,” in accordance with a manufacturing spokesperson, who additionally added, “We’ll see what occurs.” 

The manufacturing was initially produced on the Menier Chocolate Manufacturing facility in 2012 adopted by a West Finish run produced in 2013. It was produced Off-Broadway at New York Theatre Workshop in 2022.

The musical was the very best grossing present for Broadway for the week, beating out stalwarts corresponding to Depraved, which introduced in $2.2 million, Hamilton, with $1.9 million, and The Lion King, with $2.5 million. 

General, grosses for the trade took a success within the week ended July 7, as is typical because of the July 4 vacation. The general gross throughout all reveals fell 8 p.c from the prior week and attendance fell 5 p.c.