Fans of the legit theater have just sustained a huge blow: the Broadway box office continues on its downward slide.
Deadline reports the ongoing Omicron surge continues to cause a steady decline in crowds for shows, with attendance sliding another 6% just last week. At the moment, there are only 21 shows performing on the Great White Way, down from 25 the week before.
Broadway theaters have taken desperate measures to try and lure audiences back into seats. This month has seen Broadway Week, the semi-annual promotion that sees massively reduced ticketed prices, extended to almost a full month. Shows have also called in understudies to avoid canceling performances, sometimes resorting to drafting actors who performed years earlier.
Related: How a gay, musical genius created one of Broadway’s biggest bombs
Despite their every effort to stay afloat, four shows went dark just prior in the past week. To Kill a Mockingbird will go on hiatus until the summer, while Flying Over Sunset, Ain’t Too Proud, and Clyde’s have all closed permanently. Curtains will fall on Slave Play and Girl From The North Country next week as well.
One silver lining in the report: the reduced roster of shows has pushed attendance to about 75% per performance. On average, a show needs to fill to 75% capacity to break even on a performance.
In addition to that, two beloved films, The Nutty Professor and Mr. Holland’s Opus, will be getting big-budget musical adaptations later this year. Both shows will go up at the famed Ogunquit Playhouse as a presumable dry run for a Broadway staging.
The pandemic has wreaked havoc on stage performances everywhere. New York’s famed theater district and the mega-shows that usually attract tourists from all over the world went dark for more than a year. Plays began to reopen last summer, with Broadway’s famed musicals striking up the orchestra in the fall.
Related: Beanie Feldstein and Jane Lynch are about to make Broadway even gayer (if that’s possible)
Fahd
If there isn’t, there should be government funds available to keep the theater afloat through the pandemic; it is an integral part of American culture.
jackscott
I love Bway, however, aside from COVID, the other issue is the crazy increase in prices. Plus, people buying up tickets and then the ticketing companies allowing them to resell at a much higher prices on their site. It’s just not wroth it at this point!
Man About Town
Exactly! I find it odd that this piece claims “Broadway theaters have taken desperate measures to try and lure audiences back into seats.” How about the not-so-desperate measure of making ticket prices somewhat less than most people’s morgages?
Toofie
Broadway’s audience is older and they’re just not coming out during a Covid surge.
Jim
Broadway’s issue may be the banal shows based on other sources and not being new and creative.
For example, I loved “Beautiful, The Carol King Musical” but just a walk down memory lane. And don’t get me started on movies with songs presented on stage.
Ronbo
Theatres near me are still doing “Oklahoma”, “Cats the Musical” and “Hello Dolly”. I’ve was in TWO of those shows back in the 70’s!
Dan Renzi
Is there a reason they call it “Cats the Musical”? Is there a “Cats the Play”? I think that there should be a “Cats the Cirque du Soleil Extravaganza.” Imagine cats doing the Cirque acrobatics to the music of the musical. Someone call Andrew Lloyd Weber. I just came up with the next million-dollar idea.
Kolohe Tom
I remember being in Amsterdam a few years back, and seeing a street poster for “The Sound of Music….The Musical”. I stood there, scratching my head thinking…..as opposed to what, The Sound of Music….The Euripides Tragedy???
JScott
Part of the problem is the abrupt closures. It is painful to buy tickets only to have the shows close the day of your ticket. It has happened to me 4 times on and off Broadway (Space Dogs, Mrs. Doubtfire, Company and Assassins). After a while it is easier to blow it off altogether.
Jon in Canada
COVID is definitely part of the problem, but there’s another factor that others have noted and it’s the biggest problem, that being ever increasing prices. Simply put, if Broadway is suffering, it’s because it’s pricing itself right out of the market.