Crowds Say ‘Gimme, Gimme’ to First Preview of ‘Mamma Mia’

Mamma Mia! returned to Broadway last week after a 10-year hiatus, and the ABBA fans turned out. 

The musical played its first preview performance at the Winter Garden Theatre Aug. 2 and played to 100 percent capacity, with attendees paying an average ticket price of $173.49, one of the highest in the industry last week, coming in only behind the Jonathan-Groff led musical Just In Time, with an average ticket price of $231, Hamilton at $207 and just below best musical winner Maybe Happy Ending at $175. 

Mamma Mia!, which is scheduled to open Aug. 14 and stay through Feb. 1, brought in $261,796 in one performance. 

The top grossing shows of the week were Wicked with $2.3 million, Hamilton with $2.23 million, The Lion King with $2.20 million, Aladdin with $1.43 million and Maybe Happy Ending with $1.40 million.

Overall, grosses fell 5 percent from the prior week and attendance fell 4 percent. Most shows saw drops in grosses last week, with exceptions including Death Becomes Her, which shot up about $142,000 from the prior week to reach $1.39 million, Purpose, up $21,645 from the prior week as it continues its post-Tony Award winning streak and Maybe Happy Ending, up close to $20,000.

Just In Time also continued its sold-out streak on Broadway, with the show about singer Bobby Darrin hitting $1.3 million last week, up close to $5,000, and playing to more than 100 percent capacity at the Circle in the Square Theatre.