Staging musicals in Broadway "Barns"

[Theatrefanboy1]

Posted: 4/26/26 at 11:54pm

I'm curious people's thoughts on what musicals have made "barns"  (The Palace, Lyric, Broadway, Minskoff, Gershwin) work for them on Broadway and what in particular people feel works best artistically when staging successful work in these large theatres. So many shows I've seen in these feel so distant and swallowed up. 

[ErmengardeStopSniveling]

Posted: 4/27/26 at 12:02am

I think all the theatres you mention are currently making good use of their vast spaces, and a majority of them are filling the seats.

A lot of houses have challenges, though. The rear mezzanines of the Majestic and Imperial feel quite distant. The overhangs of the Shubert and St. James ruin a lot of rear mezz seats. The Beaumont is tough to stage on and looks bad if there are a lot of open orchestra seats.

I’d be very happy with more houses scaled like the August Wilson, Neil Simon, and Nederlander.

[CoffeeBreak]

Posted: 4/27/26 at 2:51am

Shows with a lot of money attached to them.