Press agents love to tout that their show is the “highest grossing” or had its “best-attended week ever.” This is certainly noble and obviously intended to generate buzz, however it’s less effective when the numbers don’t add up. The statistical errors in press releases are becoming more and more common – yet the numbers are easily accessible to double-check.
On January 3, 2023, the revival of The Piano Lesson claimed that it had become the highest-grossing production of an August Wilson play in Broadway history. At that point in time, the revival of The Piano Lesson had grossed $12,976,747. Is this indeed true? Over the last forty years, 14 productions of August Wilson plays have been presented on Broadway, some running for over a year. Is it possible not one of those grossed more than $12.98 million?
Shifting the numbers over to percentages, the recent Broadway production of To Kill a Mockingbird noted that pre-pandemic the production played to over 100% capacity every week. Did it? Mockingbird sold extremely well from first preview through the suspension of performances in 2020, but was every single seat filled for all 71 playing weeks?
This article will be expanded into a longer piece in the future.
Michael Abourizk spent eight years managing the content of the Internet Broadway Database as well as statistics for the Broadway industry as Senior Manager of Research at The Broadway League. He holds a degree in Dramatic Literature and Theatre History from New York University.