Has Broadway Survived the Bad Economy?

[TreyKenyon]

Posted: 8/10/09 at 10:52pm

I was just wondering what everyone thinks about this. Back in January we had nearly a dozen shows closing and the future looked a little grim. However this summer season proved to be VERY strong (this week alone 11 shows grossed over a million and nearly every show played to 90% capacity or higher) and come this fall, I think, nearly every Broadway theatre will be filled (correct me if I am wrong). Now obviously the grosses won't be as high come fall, but I think many of the new shows have somewhat exceeded expectations and may be a little more secure come fall than originally thought (N2N and HAIR are probably the best examples of this). Not to say there haven't been some problems along the way, namely 9to5 and now Spiderman. But the problem seems to be with the large multi-million dollar budgets these shows have as opposed to a lack of audience. So has Broadway proven itself against a bad economy or is it still up in the air?

[SNAFU]

Posted: 8/10/09 at 10:59pm

It is still up in the air because the future of the economy is still a question mark. I do believe though in other bad economic times Broadway still thrived to a degree. People need escape from their problems and Broadway offers a cheaper alternative to a vacation.

[AwesomeDanny]

Posted: 8/10/09 at 11:00pm

There have been news reports about movie theaters bringing in more money because people want to temporarily escape the troubles of the world in our current economy. I think the same thing can be said about theater. I think part of the reason Broadway is doing so well right now is because of the flood of new shows from this season.

[inick122492]

Posted: 8/10/09 at 11:10pm

I think its been rather untouched... Did shows closed, yes but look at the past grosses. Nothing abnormal. A 'dud' here and there but otherwise good.
Updated On: 8/10/09 at 11:10 PM

[TimesSquareRegular]

Posted: 8/10/09 at 11:59pm

In a way, Broadway (and NYC tourism in general) may be benefiting from the down economy. I wonder how many people and families scrapped that European trip or winter cruise and decided to just make do with a few days in NY: some nice dinners and a few shows.

[saveusmike]

Posted: 8/11/09 at 2:47am

I dont think Broadway has been affected that much.
In ticket sales alone Broadway makes over 1 billion dollars a year. Not to mention the souivneers they sell for triple than what they paid for them (i.e 60 bucks for a wicked towel).

I do however think off broadway shows are suffering. A friend of mine told me how he saw toxic avenger during a week day and there was about 20 people in the entire audience.
I felt really bad and Toxic Avenger is one of the more popular off broadway shows so I could imagine how others are doing..

[madbrian]

Posted: 8/11/09 at 8:29am

There were definitely casualties of the economy on Broadway. However, Broadway seems to be doing very well now, but it's the summer, and some shows have closed or will closed. October/November may give us a better indication of how well Broadway is holding up. When God Of Carnage returns, and 'must see' starry shows like A Steady Rain and Hamlet open, will revivals like Bye, Bye Birdie and Finian's Rainbow be able to find an audience? That's a lot of tickets to sell in a usually slow time of year.

[Barney Stinson]

Posted: 8/11/09 at 9:42am

The Economy has definitely effected Bway, but yes, Bway has, and will survive it.

Few things to note. One reason most shows are doing well right now is that there are simply fewer shows to compete with. 21 shows this year, versus 26 last year and 25 the year before. Grosses are up over last year, 19.6 vs 18.7, but with the new gross calc, are they really? Probably not.

Grosses dropped off very badly last September. I'm waiting to see how badly things drop off in the fall compared to 07 or 06.

[snowskittle]

Posted: 8/11/09 at 10:12am

Yes, I agree. I think September will tell the story. But until we have that, it seems Broadway, and maybe the entertainment business in general, has done better than expected this year and certainly better than most other industries.

[Fosse76]

Posted: 8/11/09 at 11:33am

"In a way, Broadway (and NYC tourism in general) may be benefiting from the down economy. I wonder how many people and families scrapped that European trip or winter cruise and decided to just make do with a few days in NY: some nice dinners and a few shows."

Probably very few. The people who would be planning those kinds of trips were most likely not affected by the economic downturn. A lot of destinations discounted heavily to lure tourists, with varying degrees of success.

The entertainment industry is usually the most successful industry during economic dowturns. Broadway was affected, but the effects were minimal compared to other industries.

[uncageg]

Posted: 8/11/09 at 12:18pm

I think more than a few. I keep hearing on the news that a lot of people are scrapping vacation trips. A lot of those people that take those trips save up for them and are affected by the economy. I know a number of people who had trips planned, scrapped them and opted for a weekend in the mountains here in Colorado.

[Mark_E]

Posted: 8/11/09 at 1:32pm

But then that works both ways. As in Americans may be staying because they can't afford that Europe trip, but Europeans may also decide to have a "staycation" instead of flying across the pond.

Im coming next week to NYC from the UK. We have been booked since September last year and at one point we very nearly had to cancel the trip altogether because of lack of moneys.

[uncageg]

Posted: 8/11/09 at 1:44pm

You are correct Mark. My friend is a concierge in NYC. He has a lot of Europeans that stay at his hotel. A lot of his guests are regulars. He told me that a lot of them have cancelled their trips this past year.