NOT everyone was out shopping last week – Broadway had its most wickedly profitable stretch ever.

“Wicked” – the untold story of the Witches of Oz, set to music – rang up $1.7 million in ticket sales for the week ending Sunday, a new record for the Great White (and increasingly expensive) Way.

Hard on its broomstick were “Dr. Seuss’ How the Grinch Stole Christmas!” ($1,578,149, for a 12-performance week); “The Lion King” ($1,402,984); “Mary Poppins” ($1,241,413) and, still playing to more than 100 percent capacity after a year on the boards, “Jersey Boys” ($1,182,602).

The fact that “Wicked” opened three years ago – it set the last record when it raked in $1,610,934 for the week ending Jan. 1, 2006 – was hardly lost on the producers of the show, now on its fourth set of witches. (Former “SNL” trouper Ana Gasteyer is the current Elphaba, opposite Kate Reinders’ Glinda.)

“The season seems pretty great,” says producer David Stone. “What’s amazing is not only are these new shows

doing reasonably well, but look how many musicals from previous seasons – ‘Jersey Boys,’ ‘Phantom,’ ‘Spamalot,’ ‘Avenue Q,’ ‘Chicago,’ ‘Rent,’ Hairspray,’ ‘Mamma Mia!’ – are not only running, but running so strongly.”

Just as surprising, Stone says, is that “Wicked” is selling even better now than it was a year or two ago, something he attributes to its success of its franchises: The show is currently playing Chicago, London and Toronto, and it is soon to kick off an open-ended run in Los Angeles.

“This is the flagship production,” he says, “and people either want to see it again, or they’ve heard about it [out of town].”

Also boosting sales are those “premium” tickets, at $250 a pop instead of the customary $110. “Wicked” sold more premium seats last week than ever before, Stone says, but declined to say how many.

The 2005-2006 season, which ended in May, was Broadway’s highest-grossing ever. Stoked in part by premium seats and stars like Julia Roberts, it sold a record $861.6 million in tickets.