NEW YORK (AP) – Broadway ended 2014 with a bang – a big New Year’s Eve holiday capping off the highest grossing calendar year in history.
According to the Broadway League, the total gross was $1.362 billion and total attendance was 13.13 million for the year that just ended.
The total take was a 14 percent uptick over last year boosted by premium pricing, making 2014 the highest grossing calendar year on Broadway. And there was a 13 percent increase in attendance over 2013.
A hugely profitable Christmas week led to the highest grossing New Year’s holiday week, with “The Elephant Man,” ”It’s Only a Play,” ”The Book of Mormon,” ”Aladdin” and “The Lion King” all breaking theater records. Crowds also said goodbye to “Rodgers & Hammerstein’s Cinderella,” ”Once” and “Pippin.”