The Spider-Man marquee was up until June. I remember seeing it in May, which excited me as it was my first Broadway show (pre-hiatus previews too) and I hadn't had the chance to come back and get a picture. However, in mid-June, it was gone. That was also when they redid the signage to reflect the theater name change.
I wish I had taken a picture but towards the end of January I was walking past the Lunt-Fontanne Theatre. The Motown sign was up at the ends of the marquee, but the center had the banner for Finding Neverland. So it read: "Motown the Musical: The story of how Peter became Pan"
I think it's funny to see some shows stay up there for quite some time, and others come down immediately. I wonder what the cause of that would be other than a new show coming right in.
I used to live across the street from the Martin Beck Theatre, which we now know as the Al Hirschfeld, & before "Into the Woods" & the GIANT BOOT there was a show that kept it's Marquee pics up for 2 and half yrs. after it closed. "Take Me Along!" At least those performers who didn't get a long Broadway run ended up sorta getting one? Couldn't believe it!
I imagine there's legalities (i.e. ALW and Love Never Dies) but also, I doubt anyone wants to go through the process of painting and then re-painting. Broadway is such a gamble at this point that you don't know how long your show will last so it's probably best to play safe - if options are allowed.
I think they'd have to be sure it was going to run for years... they have to pay to get the theatre back to it's original state when the show closes... so that has to be put in their original budget.
Underneath all of the posters in Shubert Alley are old posters from years ago... in the early mornings when they change the posters it's fun to see what is underneath...
The Shuberts have a set of plastics that read Enjoy A Broadway Show that would go up the day after a show closed. Today the shows are booked so quickly they are rarely used. The Nederlanders and Jujamcyn Theaters don't and the former show would stay up until the next booking was announced and ready, usually the day before the new show box office opened.
Phillypinto, it is the same deal with living in a landmark or historical neighborhood, just because you own it doesn't mean you can do anything you want with it. The look of the structure is to be preserved and usually must be maintained to a certain degree.