The box office earnings arrived during a week when star Nicole Scherzinger faced criticism for her remarks on what seemed to be a pro-Trump social media post made by comedian Russell Brand.
Despite the debate surrounding Nicole Scherzinger’s social media update, Sunset Blvd. recently achieved its best-grossing week to date.
The musical revival, featuring Scherzinger in the role of Norma Desmond, grossed $1.86 million last week, marking the third highest total in the industry for that period, and filled nearly 97 percent of the seats at the St. James Theatre.
The earnings were reported during a week when Scherzinger faced criticism for her remarks on a social media post by comedian Russell Brand, who shared an image of himself wearing a hat that read “Make Jesus First Again,” resembling a Trump MAGA hat. In images shared online, Scherzinger seemed to have responded to the photo with the remark, “Where can I find this hat!!!?” Scherzinger’s remark is absent from the post now.
The Pussycat Dolls vocalist expressed regret on Thursday, stating she was unaware her remarks might be “easily seen as politically driven” and that “Many assumptions are being made, which do not represent who I am, what I believe in, or whom I voted for.”
The figures for Sunset Blvd., which debuted on Oct. 20, ranked just below Wicked, which earned nearly $2.45 million, and The Lion King, which earned $1.96 million. Hamilton generated approximately $1.8 million, while MJ The Musical completed the top five with $1.5 million.
Several new productions were preparing for their debut last week, including A Wonderful World: The Louis Armstrong Musical, which opened at Studio 54 on Nov. 11 to varied reviews and earned slightly more than $612,000 in a week that featured press tickets.
Perhaps Happy Ending, featuring Darren Criss, is scheduled to debut at the Belasco Theatre on Nov. 12 and garnered just below $300,000 (a modest total for a musical, though it also encompassed press comps), operating at 84 percent capacity. Tammy Faye, with music composed by Elton John, is scheduled to premiere at the Palace Theater on Nov. 14. The musical earned just over $380,000 last week during its initial week of eight previews, which also featured press comps, but attendance stayed low at below 60 percent.
In total, industry earnings increased by 11 percent compared to the previous week, with capacity rising slightly more than 4 percent.
Conclusions
The presence of Nicole Scherzinger in the cast of Sunset Boulevard has created a significant impact at the box office, which has in turn helped to enable a healthy financial inflow and good attendance for the show. There has been some critique directed at her, but her fans and supporters of Broadway are queuing to watch her performance, making it one of the most awaited performances of the Broadway season. Her casting shows how the integration of a well-known performer can breathe life into aged productions and improve the economics of Broadway.
