How is Broadway selling?

We are not going to be able to answer that questions for a while in any meaningful way. As Wick3 notes, the heavy presence of secondary sellers, combined with the availability of refunds makes it anybody's guess. The first weeks of many/most shows will be well sold even if it is unsustainable, plus the resale patterns on Stubhub tells us quite a bit. (Have a look at Hamilton, which is obviously the high water mark, for this week.) The only thing we can say with reasonable assurance is that shows that are not selling well in the first instance are not selling well. I think we will have some clarity in a month or so after a show (re)opens, when we will also have enough reliable gossip to thwart the stupid idea of trying to keep the ugliness a secret. 

for kicks I was checking out Hamilton tickets and there are some resell tickets priced lower than sale price. For example, one matinee had box seats for $239 and resale was under by $30 in parts of mezz.  

Without saying too much (because I really can't), companies are actually taking on more house, merch, and other infrastructural staff. So clearly the shows are selling.

soulmistin said: "Without saying too much (because I really can't), companies are actually taking on more house, merch, and other infrastructural staff. So clearly the shows are selling."

What you’re talking about is EDI hiring —which has no correlation to ticket sales. 

JSquared2 said: "soulmistin said: "Without saying too much (because I really can't), companies are actually taking on more house, merch, and other infrastructural staff. So clearly the shows are selling."

What you’re talking about is EDI hiring —which has no correlation to ticket sales."

For those of us not in the business- what is "EDI"?

 

soulmistin said: "Without saying too much (because I really can't), companies are actually taking on more house, merch, and other infrastructural staff. So clearly the shows are selling."

Each theatre has a certain number of fixed house staff, so if they hiring, that means they lost staff over the course of the pandemic (for whatever reason) and need to replace them. While it's true that bar staff do get decreased for less than full houses, if they are hiring it means that they have lost a number of employees. They'll want the maximum number available for staffing. Same for merchandise staff. It doesn't actually mean there will be steady work for all of them. And of course, backstage staff is completely unrelated to ticket sales. 

Phantom4ever said: "It is worth noting that 50% of Phantom's November seats would have been available any year, pandemic or not, this far in advance."

Pre-pandemic, producers could generally guage their viability based on these advanced sales. If a show typically is less than half-sold three months out, but is 80% or more by performance date, these numbers would not be a concern. Most tourists usual wait until they are in the city before buying their tickets (unless it's a *hot* show like Hamilton). However, we are still in a pandemic. It's still not clear if there is any danger for some of these shows. Just a week ago, Wicked had very good availability. Now,  the next two weeks have limited availability. But it opens up again in October.

As Hogan said, we'll probably need a month or so of performances (for each show) to start to see the sustainability and true nature of the sales of these shows. The producers are behaving as if it's business as usual. Discounts are now being released, slowly, and that might have some impact as well. This is really a wait-and-see game now. 

When the tri-state area and surrounding domestic sales start to slow (which will happen soon) then we will know. International tourism is a huge demographic in Broadway tix sales. 
International tourists aren't flocking to a country that was just deemed a hotspot by the EU. 
Its gonna get dicey unless the US slows down its cases. (Hey red states..maybe get vaccinated) The EU has warned its nations about non essential americans traveling to their nations. See below:

"The European Union recommended on Monday that Americans should be banned from nonessential travel to its member states after a rise in Covid-19 cases in the United States.Countries within the 27-nation bloc, which includes France, Italy and Germany, have been advised to reinstate coronavirus-related restrictions and halt the arrival of tourists from the US and five other countries.

The guidance, which also now applies to Israel, Kosovo, Lebanon, Montenegro, and the Republic of North Macedonia, is non-binding for EU member states. That means it remains up to each individual EU country to decide whether to allow "nonessential travel to the EU for fully vaccinated travelers."
-Aug 30th. 

I don't imagine a ton of EU tourists are excited to come to a country where they are saying "think twice before letting americans into your country"

I hope i am wrong.