‘Othello’ With Denzel Washington & Jake Gyllenhaal Sells Out First Week, Shattering House Records With A $2.6 Million Weekly Gross – Broadway Box Office

Greg Evans

4 March 2025 at 1:21 pm·3-min read

Othello, the new Broadway production of Shakespeare’s tale of power and envy starring Denzel Washington and Jake Gyllenhaal broke four house records at the Ethel Barrymore Theatre last week, grossing a whopping $2,637,158 for its first seven previews.

The take tops four previous Barrymore records. The Band’s Visit‘s held the biggest nine-performance gross ($1.6M, week ending 12/31/2017); Waitress was tops for a musical, eight performances ($1.6M, 10/10/2021); Betrayal held the nine-performance record for a play ($1.4M, 12/29/2013); and A Raisin In The Sun had the eight-performance record for a play ($1.3M, 6/15/2014).

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Othello easily tops the Broadway box office chart for the week ending March 2, with the runner-up being the usual front-runner Wicked, taking $2,368,448 for its eight-performance week.

The chance to see Washington and Gyllenhaal onstage also had ticket-buyers ponying up big time: The average ticket price for the show last week was a very hefty $361.90, far outdistancing the second-most expensive show The Outsiders, which had an average ticket price of $155.02. The average ticket price across all 27 Broadway productions was $118.14.

Othello officially opens March 23 and runs through June 8, and Deadline hears the production has already amassed an advance of more than $27.5M. Kenny Leon is directing, with Brian Anthony Moreland the lead producer.

Elsewhere on the Broadway box office chart for last week, the Pulitzer Prize-winning English went out on a high note, closing March 2 with its week’s gross at $556,896, a jump of $19,921 over the previous week. Attendance at the Todd Haimes was 99% of capacity.

In addition to Othello, several other shows were in previews:

Purpose, the new play from Appropriate playwright Branden Jacobs-Jenkins, directed by Phylicia Rashad, began previews at the Helen Hayes, taking $300,892 for seven performances, filling 94% of seats. Opening night is March 17;
Buena Vista Social Club grossed $758,261 for seven previews at the Schoenfeld, attendance at 92% of capacity. Opens March 19;
Operation Mincemeat: A New Musical sold out seven previews at the Golden, grossing $611,310. Opens March 20.

A couple other notable numbers for the week:

Gypsy, with Audra McDonald back after missing some shows the previous week due to a death in the family, was back to its usual million-dollar-plus gross, jumping $369,567 over the previous week and landing at $1,246,861. Attendance was at 77% of capacity at the Majestic;
The gross for MJ was down $213,916 to $1,056,510 due to a special TDF Autism Friendly performance on Sunday in which the house was bought out at a discounted price to welcome the autism community and their families.

In all, the 27 Broadway productions grossed $27,030,004 for the week ending March 2, a slight 3% dip from the previous week and up 15% over the same time last year. Total attendance for the week was 228,794, about even with the previous week and up 15% year-over-year.

Season to date, Broadway, in the 41st week of the 2024-25 season, has grossed $1,379,275,373, up about 18% over last year at this time, with total attendance of 10,833,479 up 18%.

All figures courtesy of The Broadway League. For complete box office visit the League’s website.

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