Ticket Club’s 2025 Theatre Year in Review – Holiday Favorites & Broadway Blockbusters Dominate Sales

by Ticket Club, posted in Data, Holidays, Theatre

Holiday traditions, touring blockbusters, and the shows fans chased most

This year, Ticket Club fans didn’t just go to the theatre—they booked holiday traditions, grabbed touring blockbusters when they hit town, and treated “Wednesday night” like a perfectly valid time for a standing ovation. Using Ticket Club order data pulled through December 29, 2025, we looked back at what led the way across Concerts, Sports, and Theatre.

Want the full year-in-review package? Start here with Theatre, and move on to our other core category breakdowns: Concerts | Sports

And if you’re already planning your 2026 “we should do more fun stuff” era: Ticket Club members get no added fees on tickets—so you can put the budget where it belongs (snacks, parking, and a little post-show dessert diplomacy).

December owned the stage (and it wasn’t subtle)

If theatre had a power month in 2025, it was December—ranked #1 for both overall sales volume and demand. That’s the magic of seasonal tradition: once the calendar flips to “holiday mode,” people don’t just attend shows, they build rituals. The headline act was The Nutcracker, which finished as the year’s #1 overall show by both measures. It’s the ultimate “everybody can say yes” event: family-friendly, nostalgia-powered, and perfectly timed for the stretch of the year when we all pretend we’re not busy (and then panic-shop anyway).

And Nutcracker wasn’t alone. Holiday programming reliably pulls demand forward because it’s often tied to plans that exist before the ticket even does—family visits, school breaks, tradition weekends, “let’s do one nice thing.” That’s also why seasonal favorites like A Christmas Carol show up as dependable drivers: the story is familiar, the vibe is cozy, and you can take out-of-town guests without stress-testing anyone’s taste.

One more thing that made December stand out: theatre lends itself to multi-show weekends. A Saturday matinee + dinner plan is basically the most civilized form of chaos, and it helps explain why weekends dominated the category overall (with Saturday and Sunday leading the pack). If you want the clearest “why this matters” takeaway, it’s this: theatre isn’t just competing for entertainment dollars—it’s competing for calendar space, and December is the month when people intentionally make room for it.

The touring backbone: the big titles that stayed “must-see” all year

While December steals the spotlight, 2025 theatre wasn’t only a holiday story. The rest of the year belonged to touring giants—shows that carry their own hype, sell well across markets, and turn a random Tuesday into “okay, we’re dressing up.” Right behind Nutcracker on the year-long leaderboard were staples like Hamilton, Wicked, The Book Of Mormon, and The Lion King. These are the shows that reliably trigger the same reaction in every city: “It’s here? We should go.”

The “why” is part brand, part accessibility. Touring blockbusters tend to pull in multiple kinds of buyers at once—superfans, first-timers, date-night planners, and the friend who says they “don’t really do theatre” and then cries at intermission. That broad appeal shows up in how consistently these titles rank across both demand and sales volume. You also see it in the strength of classic-and-epic productions like Les Miserables, plus contemporary crowd-pleasers like A Beautiful Noise – The Neil Diamond Musical.

And theatre’s “top tier” in 2025 wasn’t only Broadway musicals. Ballet and spectacle kept real momentum, too—most notably Swan Lake, which ranked among the top demand drivers. That’s a reminder that a big cultural title with a recognizable name can behave like a touring juggernaut even outside the Broadway lane. Add in modern favorites like Moulin Rouge – The Musical, plus pure-fun nights like Mamma Mia! and Six The Musical, and you get the 2025 theatre recipe: tradition + blockbuster + “let’s have a great time.”

Where theatre demand concentrated: the touring cities (and the MVP venues)

Theatre demand clusters in a very specific way: it follows touring routes, strong subscriber markets, and cities where “a night at the theatre” is part of the culture. In 2025, the top markets were remarkably consistent across both sales volume and demand. New York led the way, followed by Chicago, Seattle, Portland, and Denver. In plain English: big theatre towns did big theatre-town things.

But the venue story is where it gets extra fun. Some rooms didn’t just host great shows—they stacked them, week after week. Keller Auditorium (Portland) ranked as the #1 venue by sales volume, and it showed up repeatedly in the year’s biggest single-show moments (we’ll get to those). Meanwhile, Paramount Theatre – Seattle was a consistent powerhouse as well, reflecting how touring stops can “anchor” demand when a major title lands for a multi-week run.

Other venues that kept popping as repeat leaders included Cadillac Palace (Chicago), Citizens Bank Opera House (Boston), and Murat Theatre at Old National Centre (Indianapolis). The “why” is simple: touring infrastructure. When a market has the right rooms (and the right audience habits), big shows don’t just visit—they perform. The result is a theatre calendar that feels like a steady stream of “oh wow, that’s here too?” moments all year long.

Top 10 lists (ranked)

Top 10 shows by sales volume (ranked)

  1. The Nutcracker
  2. Hamilton
  3. Wicked
  4. The Book Of Mormon
  5. The Lion King
  6. Les Miserables
  7. A Beautiful Noise – The Neil Diamond Musical
  8. Mamma Mia!
  9. Six The Musical
  10. Moulin Rouge – The Musical

Top 10 shows by demand (ranked)

  1. The Nutcracker
  2. Hamilton
  3. The Book Of Mormon
  4. Wicked
  5. The Lion King
  6. Les Miserables
  7. A Beautiful Noise – The Neil Diamond Musical
  8. Swan Lake
  9. Mamma Mia!
  10. Six The Musical

(Translation: 2025 theatre fans loved a classic, loved a blockbuster, and really loved a show that could double as a family tradition.)

The “big nights” list: single-show standouts

Some performances don’t behave like regular dates on a calendar. They behave like events—the kind where the best seats become a mission, the group chat locks in a plan, and the post-show dinner turns into a full debrief. Here are the biggest single-show standouts in our 2025 theatre data.

Top 10 single theatre events by sales volume (ranked)

  1. The Book Of Mormon — May 31, 2025 — Keller Auditorium (Portland, OR)
  2. Hamilton — Mar 8, 2025 — Keller Auditorium (Portland, OR)
  3. Hamilton — Feb 8, 2025 — Paramount Theatre – Seattle (Seattle, WA)
  4. Hamilton — Mar 15, 2025 — Keller Auditorium (Portland, OR)
  5. The Book Of Mormon — Jun 1, 2025 — Keller Auditorium (Portland, OR)
  6. Wicked — Jun 21, 2025 — Murat Theatre at Old National Centre (Indianapolis, IN)
  7. Hamilton — Mar 22, 2025 — Keller Auditorium (Portland, OR)
  8. Wicked — Jun 28, 2025 — Murat Theatre at Old National Centre (Indianapolis, IN)
  9. Hamilton — Feb 15, 2025 — Paramount Theatre – Seattle (Seattle, WA)
  10. Hamilton — Mar 1, 2025 — Paramount Theatre – Seattle (Seattle, WA)

Top 10 single theatre events by demand (ranked)

  1. The Book Of Mormon — May 31, 2025 — Keller Auditorium (Portland, OR)
  2. Hamilton — Mar 8, 2025 — Keller Auditorium (Portland, OR)
  3. The Nutcracker — Dec 6, 2025 — Orpheum Theatre – Omaha (Omaha, NE)
  4. The Book Of Mormon — Jun 1, 2025 — Keller Auditorium (Portland, OR)
  5. Hamilton — Feb 8, 2025 — Paramount Theatre – Seattle (Seattle, WA)
  6. Hamilton — Mar 15, 2025 — Keller Auditorium (Portland, OR)
  7. Disney On Ice: Magic In The Stars — Jan 11, 2025 — Thomas & Mack Center (Las Vegas, NV)
  8. The Nutcracker — Dec 20, 2025 — Clowes Memorial Hall (Indianapolis, IN)
  9. Hamilton — Mar 22, 2025 — Keller Auditorium (Portland, OR)
  10. Nutcracker! Magical Christmas Ballet — Dec 7, 2025 — Fox Theatre – Detroit (Detroit, MI)

Bonus: the “family calendar” effect

One more pattern that showed up loud and clear: family-friendly productions are theatre’s secret superpower. When a show becomes “something we do together,” demand gets steadier and less dependent on any single title. You saw that in the way Nutcracker performances surged through December—and you also saw it in touring family brands that turn a well-timed weekend into an annual tradition.

The best example from 2025’s single-show demand list was Disney On Ice: Magic In The Stars, which cracked the year’s biggest one-night demand moments. And if you’re building a 2026 family calendar, it’s worth keeping an eye on the broader Disney On Ice universe too—like Disney On Ice: Frozen & Encanto—because those shows tend to be the definition of “everyone leaves happy.”