Despite the controversy over Nicole Scherzinger’s social media post, Sunset Blvd. just had its highest grossing week yet.
The musical revival, starring Scherzinger as Norma Desmond, brought in $1.86 million last week, the third highest total in the industry for the week, and played to close to 97 percent capacity at the St. James Theatre.
The grosses came in a week in which Scherzinger came under fire for commenting on a social media post by comedian Russell Brand, in which Brand posted a picture of himself holding a hat that said “Make Jesus First Again,” with the appearance of a Trump MAGA hat. In screengrabs that circulated online, Scherzinger appeared to have replied to the picture with the comment, “Where do I get this hat!!!?” Scherzinger’s comment is no longer on the post.
The Pussycat Dolls singer apologized Thursday, saying she did not realize her comments could be “easily interpreted as being politically related” and that “Many presumptions are being drawn, which do not reflect who I am, what I stand for, or who I voted for.”
The totals for Sunset Blvd., which opened Oct. 20, came in only behind Wicked, which brought in close to $2.45 million and The Lion King, which brought in $1.96 million. Hamilton brought in close to $1.8 million and MJ The Musical rounded out the top five with $1.5 million.
A number of new shows were also gearing up for opening last week, with A Wonderful World: The Louis Armstrong Musical, opening at Studio 54 on Nov. 11 to mixed reviews and bringing in just over $612,00 in a week that included press comps.
Maybe Happy Ending, starring Darren Criss, is set to open at the Belasco Theatre Nov. 12 and brought in just under $300,000 (a low total for a musical, but also one that included press comps), while playing to 84 percent capacity. Tammy Faye, featuring music by Elton John, is set to open at the Palace Theater Nov. 14. The musical brought in just above $380,000 last week, in its first week of eight previews, which also included press comps, but capacity remained low at under 60 percent.
Overall, industry grosses were up 11 percent from the prior week, with capacity up just over 4 percent.
