Information used to tally the Top 20 Musicals Who Make The Most Money was sourced from The Broadway League as of 4 October 2015. This also covered gross as of the said date. Also, it only refers to musicals still running as of this writing.
Top 20 Musicals Who Make The Most Money
20. Amazing Grace
Sales as of 4 October 2015: $286,204.50
A musical based on a hit inspirational song. With majority of the news headlines pertaining to religious issues. Even Broadway found itself raking in the bucks for productions like Amazing Grace. Does this a friendlier trend towards religious topics? Let’s explore the top 20 musicals who make the most money further.
Top 20 Musicals Who Make The Most Money
19. Spring Awakening
Sales as of 4 October 2015: $402,258.00
Erratic teens and raging hormones make it very easy for creative teams to come up with a story. Not all of them end up in hit productions like Spring Awakening. Nor does it warrant a revival that is just as lucrative money-wise. Who would have thought that catering to the deaf-mute community would fuel not only interest but an instant classic? It would be minting more money as the weeks would go by.
Top 20 Musicals Who Make The Most Money
18. A Gentleman’s Guide to Love and Murder
Sales as of 4 October 2015: $488,848.00
For a hit musical comedy that just recently announced its final playdate. A Gentleman’s Guide to Love and Murder is still raking the bucks. A classic heir conflict story hit the jackpot once it went the musical comedy route. Most fans would credit its success though to the actor who ended up playing all 8 characters in a series of quick changes and personality transitions. With the characters outnumbering the cast (excluding the ensemble), you can only imagine the payday.
Top 20 Musicals Who Make The Most Money
17. Jersey Boys
Sales as of 4 October 2015: $600,079.29
Is it about the music or about the story? It had to be both. Presenting the story behind the hits of Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons hit a nerve among some recording artists today. A criminal past was kept under the rug. That was until Bob Gaudio of the original Four Seasons decided to come clean about the all-too-squeaky clean image. It had to be too good to be true. Even by the 60’s standards. Doo wop goes musical. And it scores a runaway hit in Jersey Boys.
Top 20 Musicals Who Make The Most Money
16. Chicago
Sales as of 4 October 2015: $647,941.15
America’s fascination with celebrity criminals is far from gone. Roxie Hart and Velma Kelly may be fictional characters. But their story is based largely on the mob culture that once dominated Chicago. And crime stories get more media mileage when it involves gun-toting women. Hence the title. Lace dresses and fishnet stockings add spice to a rather lackluster criminal procedure set to vaudeville music. Much of the vaudeville treatment may be attributed, story-wise, to Billy Flynn.
Top 20 Musicals Who Make The Most Money
15. Matilda
Sales as of 4 October 2015: $662,128.00
Roald Dahl’s classic tale of children’s rebellion set to music, It may be different from the Hollywood version. (The musical version involved minimal telekinesis.) But the music got everyone sweeping off their feet. And Matilda was one little girl that more viewers can relate to. Must be the unapologetic “Naughty” streak. It made kids today think twice what they want to be when they grow up too.
Top 20 Musicals Who Make The Most Money
14. Les Miserables
Sales as of 4 October 2015: $671,288.50
After its Hollywood version earned Oscar nominations. Les Miserables was confirmed ready for a revival run. It resulted in another Tony nomination for Ramin Karimloo now taking on the role of Prisoner 24601 Jean Valjean. Loyal Les Mis fans all over the world now awaited the world tour. Definitely. You can still hear the people sing. Singing the songs of angry men.
Top 20 Musicals Who Make The Most Money
13. Finding Neverland
Sales as of 4 October 2015: $724,794.50
Finding Neverland now has a new captain hook in Terrence Mann as TheaterMania.com reports. And as a musical it still sells tickets briskly. The story of how author J.M. Barrie found the inspiration for his best work yet has become a hit musical in itself. It will not be a far-fetched idea to see Finding Neverland outsell Peter Pan. Has any producer thought about pitting their musical versions on the Great White Way lately? For now, it revels in the high tickets sales. They could no longer feel their feet touching the ground.
Top 20 Musicals Who Make The Most Money
12. Fun Home
Sales as of 4 October 2015: $747,651.40
Caption: The first ever mainstream lesbian musical. Fun Home’s selling point would be the upbeat, almost Motown-like tempo of their LSS-inducing hits. Alison Bechdel’s graphic memoir transcended to musical theater and stole hearts from all walks of life. Including the straight people. The unreliability of memory resulted in a Tony-Award-winning musical for the whole family to enjoy.
Top 20 Musicals Who Make The Most Money
11. The Phantom of the Opera
Sales as of 4 October 2015: $857,083.47
The Phantom of the Opera is there inside your mind. And chances are, you’d still willingly pay to see OG terrorize the hell out of people in the Paris Opera House. The idea of a musical prodigy getting obsessed with his pupil is still a theme that resonated in hit musicals like POTO. Fans have managed to include Stockholm syndrome and the Elektra complex into other interesting topics after watching it several times. POTO’s ability to mesmerize the audience transcends OG’s own skills at hypnotizing Christine. Except that fans are wiling to get messed up in the head over and over again.
Top 20 Musicals Who Make The Most Money
10. The King and I
Sales as of 4 October 2015: $868,414.00
A king in Siam managed to marry any young woman available for him. But ended up falling for his son’s English teacher. Interesting love stories never get old. Setting it to music heightens up the emotional turmoil experienced by the monarch and his employer at The King and I. If there would be one revival run that is expected to be a surefire hit, it’s The King and I.
Top 20 Musicals Who Make The Most Money
9. Kinky Boots
Sales as of 4 October 2015: $873,788.19
Everybody say yeah! Hell friggin’ yeah indeed. A business arrangement was set between a shoe factory owner and a contractor in need of a new manufacturer/supplier. Throw in drag queens working as entertainers and the music comes naturally. It fitted the advocacy that composer Cyndi Lauper promoted. LGBT rights served as the prime inspiration for her. And now, she’s reaping the sweet fruits of success. Thanks for the enormously colorful motivation behind Kinky Boots.
Top 20 Musicals Who Make The Most Money
8. Something Rotten
Sales as of 4 October 2015: $915,993.00
You don’t have to hate Shakespeare to enjoy Something Rotten. It may not be the reason why it was a big hit on Broadway. (It was Fun Home’s closest rival for the 2015 Tony Award for Best Musical.) It is about the music. The same music that served as basis for the fictional account on how musicals would topple the rule of Shakespearean plays in theater. Is it historically accurate? No. Does it make it less of a smash hit? Absolutely not.
Top 20 Musicals Who Make The Most Money
7. Beautiful: The Carole King Musical
Sales as of 4 October 2015: $1,047,531.70
Feel the earth move under your feet. An artist who saw herself first as a composer. Beautiful explored the emotional journey that Carole King went through. A colorful love life meant fuel for beautiful (pun intended) love songs. Hits like “So Far Away”, “Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow” and the title track “Beautiful” proved to be excellent inclusions in presenting King’s life. Music proved to be her ticket to a better life. Now Broadway enjoys her music through the power of theater. A fitting tribute to a musical legend.
Top 20 Musicals Who Make The Most Money
6. An American in Paris
Sales as of 4 October 2015: $1,351,218.30
Rave reviews would often emphasize the enthralling choreography in presenting a classic love story. The titular American in the story refers to the American GI stationed in Paris. Love is inevitable in the City of Lights. Taking your audience to that Parisian feel meant giving a hit love story. It kept the trend of Hollywood films-turned-Broadway musicals very much alive. An American in Paris was one of those musicals that got the alchemy right.
Top 20 Musicals Who Make The Most Money
5. Aladdin
Sales as of 4 October 2015: $1,365,965.00
A whole new world has been secured on Broadway. Aladdin first stole hearts in Disney’s animated feature. The musical version meant additional tracks without losing track of the story. A lamp with a genie that gave Aladdin practically anything he wished for. Granted that he limit it to 3. Disney’s magic transverses well into Broadway. Talk about conversions and all you have to check is the tally.
Top 20 Musicals Who Make The Most Money
4. Wicked
Sales as of 4 October 2015: $1,454,569.50
No ticket sales goes unlisted. At least when it comes to The Broadway League as far as Wicked is concerned. More than a decade after it debuted on the Great White Way, it’s still popular. And it will keep defying gravity by getting extended once another final playdate is announced. So fans take advantage of the fact that it’s still getting staged.
Top 20 Musicals Who Make The Most Money
3. Hamilton
Sales as of 4 October 2015: $1,481,172.00
Lin Manuel Miranda’s modernized take on the Alexander Hamilton biography injected new blood into Broadway productions. A casting move that is unapologetically contemporary. Hamilton proved that history lessons need not to be boring. History is colorful and involved people in the early days of the United States of America that lived lives that are anything but boring. Also, hip hop is the best language to use to make history interesting again. The educational benefits of musical theater has succeeded once again.
Top 20 Musicals Who Make The Most Money
2. The Book of Mormon
Sales as of 4 October 2015: $1,489,412.00
As mentioned in the Amazing Grace paragraph. Religion is still a topic that would remain as a hot button in musical theater. The main source of interest in The Book of Mormon though is the reception it received. Is it parody or reportage? When the minds behind the other musical theater hit “Avenue Q” and the hit animated series “South Park” unite to come up with a musical production, expect the gloves to come off. You just can’t turn it off. The Book of Mormon just had you at “Hello”.
Top 20 Musicals Who Make The Most Money
Top Spot. The Lion King
Sales as of 4 October 2015: $1,892,393.00
Disney’s animated films are ripe sources for musical theater versions. Thanks to the musical numbers that enthralled kids and adults alike. The Lion King proved to be a mighty king on the Great White Way too. For week ending 4 October 2015, it means no worries for the cast and crew behind The Lion King.
How long can The Lion King keep its spot? Competition between the top 3 musicals this week proved to be intense. That is if you check the tally boards on a daily basis. Weekend tallies still make the difference though. So you can take this list with a grain of salt now that we are in the middle of the week. Click here to buy tickets for Hamilton, here for The Book of Mormon and here for The Lion King respectively.
Music would still be the clincher in getting these productions stuck in the audience’s consciousness. Long enough to guarantee multiple viewings leading to multiple ticket sales. And this would surely be not the last article to discuss Broadway ticket sales. When would be the updated version be posted? Subscribe to our online newsletter to read the next articles ahead of everyone else. Following us on our social media accounts would help too. Like our official Facebook page, Musicals Online. And follow us on Twitter @musicalsnews. Thanks for reading.
