The League of American Theatres and Producers announced that box office and attendance numbers were up slightly from those during the 2002-03 season. Box office tills rang to the tune of $771 million during the last 12 months, an uptick of $50 million from the previous year. In addition, 11.6 million theatregoers passed through Broadway theatre doors, an increase over the 11.42 million who took in shows from the 2002-03 Broadway line-up.

The bumps in box office and attendance came despite a decrease in playing weeks—the number of weeks in which theatres were filled. 2003-04 saw 1,451 playing weeks, down nearly 100 weeks from the previous 1,544. The season boasted 39 shows, three more than the last season. But several of those shows—including Bobbi Boland, Prymate, Laughing Room Only, Sixteen Wounded, Six Dance Lessons in Six Weeks and The Oldest Living Confederate Widow Tells All—had very short runs.

Helping the season out were still-running hits from past seasons, such as Mamma Mia!, The Phantom of the Opera, The Producers, Beauty and the Beast, Aida, The Lion King, Movin' Out, 42nd Street and Hairspray, as well as new hits such as Avenue Q, Wicked and The Boy From Oz.