Broadway Box Office: ‘Ragtime’ Breaks Box Office Record With $1.96M Final Gross
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Broadway's Ragtime has closed out its run by setting a new box office record, taking $1.96 million in its final week — the fourth time the Tony-winning revival broke the record at Lincoln Center Theater's Vivian Beaumont Theater, cementing it as the highest-grossing production in the venue's history. The milestone came in a week that also saw the arrival of a new production, Paranormal Activity, and a broader dip in Broadway takings as the summer tourist season winds down ahead of the autumn slate of openings.
Ragtime, starring Joshua Henry, Caissie Levy and Brandon Uranowitz, ran from 16 October 2025 to 16 August 2026 and finished as the week's second-highest grosser behind Hamilton's $2.1 million, ahead of The Lion King ($1.89 million), Harry Potter and the Cursed Child ($1.7 million) and MJ ($1.69 million). Paranormal Activity began previews at the August Wilson Theatre on 14 August with full houses across its first four performances, taking $422,257 at an average ticket price of $88, putting it on track for over $800,000 across a standard eight-performance week; meanwhile Two Strangers (Carry A Cake Across New York) saw capacity fall to 65 per cent, earning $484,143. Following the prior week's closures of Cats: The Jellicle Ball and Death of a Salesman, overall industry grosses dropped 20 per cent and attendance fell 12 per cent week-on-week.
- Ragtime closes with record $1.96m final week at Lincoln Center Theater
- New show Paranormal Activity opens to full houses, $422,257 takings
- Overall Broadway grosses down 20%, attendance down 12% week-on-week
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Broadway shows are ranked week by week by how much money they take at the box office, and beating a theatre's all-time record is seen as a significant milestone in the industry. Ragtime is a Tony Award-winning musical revival that had been running at Lincoln Center Theater's Vivian Beaumont Theatre, with a cast led by Joshua Henry, Caissie Levy and Brandon Uranowitz, before ending its run.
Broadway takings are usually reported and compared on a weekly basis, alongside figures for other long-running shows such as Hamilton, The Lion King and Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, which gives a sense of how well a production is performing relative to its peers. Late summer is traditionally a quieter period for Broadway as tourist numbers ease off, and this is also when some shows close and new ones begin previews ahead of a busier autumn season.
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