Small Town, the John Mellencamp musical in its world premiere at Ogunquit Playhouse in Maine, is projected to take about $2.34 million at the box office by the time it closes on Sunday, November 1, which the Playhouse says will make it the highest-grossing five-week production in its history.
The figure is a projection, not a final count: it was issued with the run in its last weekend. It also caps a season in which, by the Playhouse’s account, three of its five highest-grossing five-week productions were staged — Small Town, The Producers and Ain’t Too Proud — over a history the Playhouse puts at 93 years.
The kind of show behind the number is what gives it weight. Small Town was developed and produced entirely by the Playhouse, with no commercial enhancement money behind it, and it had no Broadway title to sell it: it is an original story by Naomi Wallace built around 23 of Mellencamp’s songs. Our earlier report on the premiere has the songs and the creative team.
The season as a whole points the same way. The Playhouse projects ticket revenue of $10.2 million for 2026, against $6.2 million in 2022, growth of roughly 64% in four years, at a time when many regional theaters are reporting falling attendance and rising costs. Besides Small Town, the season took in Hello, Dolly!, The Producers, Ain’t Too Proud and a revival of City of Angels, the 1990 Cy Coleman musical that is rarely staged.
Away from the stage, the annual Gala Benefit, headlined by Sutton Foster with a surprise appearance from Hugh Jackman, raised more than $3 million, and the Next Century Campaign, a $70 million plan to rebuild and expand the theater, has about $40 million committed so far.
The figures come from the Playhouse and were first reported by BroadwayWorld. The final performance of Small Town is on Sunday, November 1; details are on the Ogunquit Playhouse website.
