Posted: 7/13/26 at 4:38pm
Kad said: "Mr. Wormwood said: "The fake "extensions" are all semantics and marketing tricks but there seems to be something to it because shows like Mincemeat and Oh Mary have made it work really well for them."
Yes, it's artificial scarcity. But it helps make a production feel like an event that you may miss out on, which people are still very willing to pay for. Oh Mary has coupled that with genuinely exciting cast changes, so it really is more of an event even if it's obvious that the production isn't going anywhere.
After a few decades of Broadway that have been defined by extremely long running productions, we could be seeing a turnaround in which the prospect of a production not sticking around is what drives sales."
Adding on to Kad's very thoughtful points -- shows announcing 'limited booking windows', then putting out press releases when new blocks go on sale every 4-6 months is a more common practice in the West End than it has been here. It might be a cultural thing to a degree - West End audiences perhaps don't immediately consider a show will run for years/decades (and our buying patterns are likely different, too.)
I don't think it's a bad thing if it becomes a bit more common here - Heaven knows how many shows I missed when I literally worked in theatre / lived in Midtown / and thought "Oh, that sounds great, I definitely need to see that!" and then, well, just didn't b/c I thought it'd extend or run longer. ::sigh::
But anything that'll encourage urgency and increase sales overall is a positive thing as we navigate this very weird timeline we're in.
