The hottest play on Broadway was written more than 400 years ago. Demand to see Denzel Washington and Jake Gyllenhaal face off in Shakespeare’s “Othello” is so strong that many center orchestra seats are selling for $921, helping the show break box office records.
During its first week of previews, its average ticket price was $361.90, more than double that at the next highest-average-price show (“The Outsiders,” at $155.02). And last week “Othello” grossed $2.8 million, more than any nonmusical has ever made in a single week on Broadway.
The huge numbers, for a show that has not yet been reviewed and that was selling briskly long before anyone had seen it, come at a time when the prices for the most sought-after pop concerts and sporting events are also quite high.
And theater prices — at least for the most sought-after shows — are no exception.
At its peak, “Hamilton” charged $998 for the very best seats during holiday weeks, and at one point a revival of “Hello, Dolly!” charged $998 for front row seats, which allowed fans of Bette Midler the possibility of being brushed by her glove as she strolled along a passerelle.
But “Othello” is distinguished by the large number of seats being sold at the highest prices, which is driving up its average ticket price. At many upcoming performances, the show is asking $921 for the first 14 rows in the center orchestra, and for much of the first two rows in the front mezzanine.
The show, like others, uses variable pricing — prices are higher for the most-desired seats at the most-desired times. Early in previews, the top price was $897, and there are some future performances at which the top price is $721. The show reported a lowest regular ticket price of $197 last week, and at every performance there are some partial view seats made available via an online lottery for $49.
With many movie stars and television stars appearing on New York stages this season, a number of shows have been charging high prices for their best tickets.
A production of “Romeo + Juliet,” starring Kit Connor and Rachel Zegler, sold well throughout its 20-week run, which ended just eight days before “Othello” began. (Yes, it’s been a good season for Shakespeare.) During most weeks the top ticket price for “Romeo + Juliet” was $574.50, but it sold some seats for $974.50 during the Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year’s weeks, and it charged $1,478.50 for some seats during its final week. But its average ticket price was substantially lower than that for “Othello,” peaking at $225.07 during its final week, and often much lower.
Another starry spring play on Broadway, “Good Night, and Good Luck,” with George Clooney in his first professional stage appearance in nearly four decades, is asking $799 for the best seats at some performances, while a revival of “Glengarry Glen Ross” has some tickets on offer for $724.50. And prices for those shows could rise if demand spikes.
Off Broadway, a one-man “Vanya” starring Andrew Scott is charging up to $449, while the Brooklyn Academy of Music is seeking up to $435 to see a revival of “A Streetcar Named Desire” starring Paul Mescal.
Washington is highly acclaimed and enormously popular. He has won two Academy Awards, for “Glory” and “Training Day,” and a Tony Award, for “Fences”; in 2020 he was named by New York Times film critics as the greatest actor of the 21st century so far. “Othello” is his sixth starring role on Broadway, where he is now one of a tiny handful of performers who reliably sell strongly.
But “Othello” sales are next-level, seeming to reflect the appeal of the combination of two well-known actors with a well-known title, and also a “Taylor Swift effect,” meaning that consumers are getting used to paying top dollar for live entertainment.
“Shows like ‘Othello,’ that are limited-run star vehicles, do so much to build the brand of Broadway, and they are a unique part of the ecosystem,” said Deeksha Gaur, the executive director of TDF, a nonprofit that tries to make theater more accessible and that oversees the TKTS discount theater booths. “At the same time, obviously, it’s important for us as an industry to think about making sure people are aware of all the price points available to audiences — there is a huge range of shows available to audiences, and we’re not hearing that.”
Gaur pointed out that, during the week ending March 9, 10 of the 26 shows running on Broadway had an average ticket price under $100 (the average price for all shows combined was $120), and she said that 21 of the 26 shows had at least one performance for sale at the TKTS booths, where last-minute tickets are sold for up to 50 percent off.
It’s possible, of course, that prices for “Othello” could fall. If reviews, or word-of-mouth, are not great, that could lead to a reduction in prices for remaining ticket inventory at the box office, and could also diminish demand on the resale market.
But thus far, “Othello” has been taking in more at the box office than any other show on Broadway, outgrossing “Wicked,” “Hamilton” and “The Lion King,” even though those shows are playing in larger theaters and selling more seats.
“Othello,” like every Broadway show these days, cost a lot to stage, which is how producers tend to explain high ticket prices. The show, which opens on March 23 at the Ethel Barrymore Theater, was capitalized for up to $9 million, according to a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. And, like most plays featuring movie stars, who tend to have limited time available for stage work, it has a short run: It is scheduled to last just 15 weeks. That makes recoupment, and profitability, challenging.
The lead producer, Brian Moreland, declined to comment on the show’s pricing. But the subject is clearly a sensitive one — after the New York Post entertainment critic Johnny Oleksinski wrote a column referring to the “Othello” prices as “obscene” and based on “greed,” the production declined to accommodate his request for free press seats, which the production, following industry standards, had previously offered to him along with other journalists.