Broadway Box Office: A Tale of Two Shows
For the first day of Dashboard Week, we were tasked with web-scraping data from the Playbill website and turn it into an insightful Tableau dashboard, with total freedom to choose whatever angle we wanted. I couldn’t resist a head-to-head comparison between two of my favourite shows and Broadway’s biggest heavyweights: Wicked and Harry Potter and the Cursed Child.
Both are massive productions, both sell out theatres, both have legions of fans, but when it comes to the box office. I wanted to see if in detail how they performed across the years.
The Web-Scraping Part
This bit was quite painful. It’s been a minute since we covered this technique in training, so I had to go back to my notes, struggle and ask for help to some of my peers. Thankfully, I got it done quickly enough and was able to successfully get the data (revenue, seats sold, number of shows, etc.) and perform some cleaning before lunchtime.
Plot Twists in the Data
What I thought would be a clear competition between these two great shows, turned out to be a surprising story of pricing and playbook strategies.
In late 2018, Harry Potter decreased prices to combat backlash against the expensive two-part format. After COVID, the show came back in late 2021 with a single-part version, leading to a spike in revenue and ticket prices. But by mid-2023, the magic started fading. Revenue, ticket sales, and occupancy all began sliding down. Audience fatigue, brand controversies, and new competition hit the show hard.
Meanwhile, Wicked? Just calmly continued its iconic run like the Broadway queen she is.
The Dashboard
I built the dashboard to let users explore four KPIs: total revenue, average weekly revenue, average ticket price, and theater occupancy. You can toggle between them with a parameter and see how each play performed over time.
The line chart captures the trends, with reference lines marking key moments like the price strategy change in 2018, the format change in 2021, and the performance decline after 2023. Heatmaps underneath help surface patterns at a glance.
Key Takeaways
- Harry Potter’s pricing and format changes had major impacts on revenue but couldn’t prevent the post-2023 slump.
- Wicked continues to be the picture of stability, with high occupancy and consistent revenue even years into its run.
- On Broadway, even blockbuster shows need to evolve, but evolution doesn’t always guarantee long-term demand.
Final Thoughts
This was honestly one of the most fun datasets I’ve worked with. There’s something special about combining storytelling, data, and my favourite shows.
If you want to check out the dashboard, click here.
