Phantom4ever said: "The Phantom of the Opera, two Saturdays after September 11th:
Everybody was saying that the long runners were going to close because tourists, especially international tourists, would not return to New York City. So I bought a rear mezzanine ticket to Phantom, bracing myself for seeing my beloved show one final time. A few minutes before curtain, the ushers told everyone in the rear mezz and front mezz to come downstairs. The jammed us into the first 7 rows of the front orchestra. When I turned around and saw the theater essentially empty and the ushers talking about how this is how it is at every performance, I got choked up and realized that the rumors were true and long runners like Phantom would never survive small audiences like that for long. Little did I know that by 2003, ALW and CM did strongly consider closing Phantom but luckily grosses bounced back.
Avenue Q, the first night back after the IATSE strike, December 2007
When they announced the strike was over, I was so happy I knew I had to see a show that night, so I raced to Times Sq and got tickets to Avenue Q. Word had apparently not gotten out yet because the mezz looked almost empty and the orchestra was at most 30-40% full.
Frankie and Johnny in the Claire de Lune, summer 2019
This was was generally unpopular, and the performance I went to was no exception. I was in the front mezz and the ushers told everyone to sit wherever they wanted and to spread out. There was maybe ten people at most in the mezz. The weird part was two women sat right behind me even though there were acres of empty seats and they gave a running commentary of the play. Normally that would have angered me but they were actually witty and shady so I somehow enjoyed their rudeness."
These are all extremely interesting stories! Of course the context of 9/11 is extremely heartbreaking as it such such a tragedy. I was born on ‘02, but yeah it clearly is reasonable to imagine that theatres remained at low capacities for some time (especially since I don’t know when tourism started to rise again). Considering that the majority of ticket sales I believe are from tourists, it must be hard for touristy spots and their attractions like Broadway to survive during downtime’s on tourism. And it shocks me to even imagine a theatre being so empty that an estime of the orchestra’s capacity I would be in the minority (>50%), let alone being told by an usher that I can sit where I please, even if it be in a more expensive tier of seating (orchestra, front mezz, etc.).
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