BroadwayCon 2024

There are only so many major musicals that can get a reunion. Some people may prefer to do those for charity instead of for a for-profit fan engagement company.

This year included panels of performers talking about things like battles with Addiction and Eating Disorders, so I hope those people were paid through the nose to speak about their traumas!

BroadwayCon historically has little impact on the sales of shows. The attendees here are young and generally aren't buying large volumes of premium and $125+ tickets (with the exception of select titles). And because it doesn't have this type of impact on sales, big announcements aren't being made there (unlike D23 or Comic Con), so the media is not going to give it major coverage.

It's a weird time of year. They may be trying to align it with kids who are on vacation from school, or tourists visiting NYC......but that also means talent might be on vacation or working in summer stock, and there's little incentive for new shows to do an appearance because they've just completed a press blitz surrounding the Tonys, or it's premature to talk about aspects of an upcoming show.

Anecdotally, a number of people on Broadway have taken a step back from fan engagement post-covid because it can get soooooooo toxic. To attend is to encourage the behavior.

Don’t bother, BroadwayCon is overrated and has become an afterthought. 

Frankly, at this point, the Broadway Flea Market is a superior gathering in nearly every way. It's free and accessible, it gets the names and industry involvement, it has the merch and unique finds, and it has the good will behind it.

When this began there were producers and other industry high-ups who questioned its existence because it basically combined the Flea Market and aspects of the road conference and NAMT conference, but geared towards an average age of 21. And now even the flea market has become a nightmare because of the level of young fans and people who want proximity to industry people.

It’s tough when a “Con” is 95% focused on things of the past aka Nostalgia. Comic Con and D23 draw the most eyeballs for the parts that are about the future.

This really needs the buy-in of the Broadway League or a majority of the theatre owner chains or bway ad agencies. Or CAA and WME. AND needs a media outlet as partner to publish the panel discussions beyond the 1000 fanatics who attend. That’s how to transform it.

Updated On: 7/28/24 at 04:11 PM

ErmengardeStopSniveling said: "
This really needs the buy-in of the Broadway League or a majority of the theatre owner chains or bway ad agencies. Or CAA and WME. AND needs a media outlet as partner to publish the panel discussions beyond the 1000 fanatics who attend. That’s how to transform it."

When this started, there seemed to be a level of industry buy-in. But this year... there is very, very little. Their list of sponsors includes no theatre media or news platform, no producing orgs, no theatre companies or theatre owners, no ticketing platforms, no merchandising companies, no PR or marketing firms, etc- they've got Yamaha, 92nd St Y, the NYPL, the UK Bonnie & Clyde for some reason. There are many panels with interesting topics, but many are comprised of extremely marginal figures in the industry.

There just does not seem to be industry support for this. And without that support, I don't see how it can continue, particularly at these prices.

g.d.e.l.g.i. said: "If they'd just merge with the damn Broadway Flea, make like Captain Planet and let their powers combine, it would be a much better event aimed at both the theater kid and the longtime aficionado demographics. I've been identifying problems with their operation since Day 1 (including one year where I co-presented a panel), and they would do a lot better by moving over and letting a pro at it."
 

Perhaps the best outcome would be Mischief Management (which started the whole thing in the first place) discontinuing BroadwayCon because of poor sales, and then that leaves room for someone else to create their own version of it under a different name or buying the name from Mischief (whether that's the League or one of the theatre owners or TodayTix or an independent theatre producer with better connections/relationships/vision).

"Merging" with the Flea would be tough-to-impossible, since that's a charitable fundraiser of BC/EFA (a nonprofit) and Mischief Management is a for-profit company that aims to make money off the Con.

Updated On: 7/28/24 at 11:01 PM

ErmengardeStopSniveling said: "There doesn’t even seem to be much Broadway “B-level” talent (people who’ve been nominated for or won Tonys and had some level of crossover success outside of the theatre but aren’t selling out a show on their own (Donna Murphy, Megan Hilty, Roger Bart, Shoshana B, Josh Henry, BVD, Jessie Mueller, Annaleigh, etc)"

He was there as part of the Back To The Future panel.