Thursday Matinees

[Kinky Boy]

Posted: 3/20/17 at 1:29pm

Why don't more shows do this? I'm seeing a show Thursday night and wish I could see something during the day other than Phantom!

[TheThreadMaster]

Posted: 3/20/17 at 1:48pm

As of this week (on broadway) the only thursday matinee is phantom of the opera. However off broadway Im sure there are a few.

[Phantom4ever]

Posted: 3/20/17 at 2:10pm

I'm quite happy with Phantom's Thursday matinee, since I see it every time I'm in town but it sure would be great to have a few Friday matinees as well. 

[dramamama611]

Posted: 3/20/17 at 2:11pm

There have been a few shows that have attempted unorthodox schedules....it has failed to be successful.

[JPeterman]

Posted: 3/20/17 at 2:15pm

I know Cagney off-Broadway has Thursday matinees.

[AC126748]

Posted: 3/20/17 at 2:19pm

The majority of the audience who frequent mid-week matinees are not likely to see more than one per week. And most people are working. 

[Kinky Boy]

Posted: 3/20/17 at 2:37pm

I don't understand why. Don't people come in for long weekends? You would think Thursday mats would be successful. Or maybe Friday Matinees would work as well.

[AC126748]

Posted: 3/20/17 at 2:40pm

Sometimes people on vacation in NYC want to do more than see theater. They might prefer to spend the daytime hours going to museums, to parks, shopping, etc. And overall, tourists make up only a small segment of Broadway ticket buyers.

[neonlightsxo]

Posted: 3/20/17 at 2:42pm

If you want to see a matinee on a variety of days in the week, go to London. It doesn't work here. They've tried.

[LizzieCurry]

Posted: 3/20/17 at 2:45pm

AC126748 said: "Sometimes people on vacation in NYC want to do more than see theater. They might prefer to spend the daytime hours going to museums, to parks, shopping, etc. And overall, tourists make up only a small segment of Broadway ticket buyers."

 

https://www.broadwayleague.com/research/research-reports/

"In the 2015–2016 season, there were a record breaking 13.3 million admissions to Broadway shows. 63% of those were made by tourists: 45% from the United States (but outside New York City and its suburbs) and 18% from other countries."

[AC126748]

Posted: 3/20/17 at 2:48pm

I stand corrected. But the fact remains that most tourists don't come to New York exclusively to see Broadway shows.

[Dave13]

Posted: 3/20/17 at 3:38pm

We just had another thread on this recently. However, I fully support matinees on Thursday or Friday. It would allow me to see more shows while in town. I say keep a thread like this going until more shows offer it. Never understand while struggling shows don't offer a matinee on a different day and have less competition. I have seen Phantom, Annie, and Mamma Mia as a Thursday matinee and the house was packed every time. I am always looking for one when in town. 

[Valentina3]

Posted: 3/20/17 at 3:58pm

Off the top of my head, I can think of couple things which might be wrong/could be changed to make this a success.

A big part of the reason matinees even work is because people know they exist. I bet if someone does Thursday matinees - they'll need to advertise the heck out of it so standard New Yorker knows it's a norm for some shows. A lot of information tourists get are by talking to people around them/looking things up online.

Second one could be that matinee audiences are typically old people who might not be living in the city and use dedicated bus services which don't run on any other days than Wed/Sat/Sun to satisfy current matinee needs.

[JPeterman]

Posted: 3/20/17 at 4:36pm

I like what 1984 is doing at the Hudson .... "matinees" at 5 pm instead of 2 pm on both Friday and Saturday throughout most of the summer.  Locals can try to get there by 5 pm after work, out of towners who can't get into town by 2 pm can see a show at 5 pm, and people like me can fly into town and see three shows on one Saturday .... love it!

[Lot666]

Posted: 3/20/17 at 5:08pm

Phantom4ever said: "I'm quite happy with Phantom's Thursday matinee, since I see it every time I'm in town"

I do, too! How many others like us do you think there are?

[TheSassySam]

Posted: 3/20/17 at 5:18pm

Speaking of Thursday matinees. I have an extra ticket to Phantom's matinee this week that I'm selling for $30 (paid $59) if anybody is interested!

[dramamama611]

Posted: 3/20/17 at 5:43pm

Honestly, I think it has more to do with habit....for so many years, matinee were weds & Saturdays.  I think it's ingrained. 

[AC126748]

Posted: 3/20/17 at 5:45pm

I think that's a lot to do with it, dramamama. I know a lot of older people/retirees who go to a Wednesday matinee every week. They plan their week around it. It's no different than a weekly card game, or even church. Habit is a strong force.

[elephantseye]

Posted: 3/20/17 at 6:02pm

On the subject of schedules, is there any particular reason that pretty much all Broadway shows take their day off on Mondays? Seems like it would make more sense if they were staggered throughout the week. I know that most musicals do Sunday matinees, so I guess that makes some sense, but some off-Broadway shows do Monday performances.

[dramamama611]

Posted: 3/20/17 at 6:09pm

It has a lot to do with the time off for actors....so they have some sort of "weekend"....about a 48 hour break.

[AC126748]

Posted: 3/20/17 at 6:18pm

Sunday matinees sell better than Monday evenings.

[_IrisTInkerbell]

Posted: 3/20/17 at 6:28pm

From a selfish, personal standpoint, I would love to see shows have different schedules, with matinees on different days and different days off. As a theater tourist, it would allow me to see more shows, or god forbid, take a night off and see a few more matinees instead. For this upcoming trip in June, Miss Saigon was the very first show I locked in, because they have a Monday night performance while I'm in town. It was the only show, so that made it really easy to commit.

A Friday matinee would be great, but the poor actors who'd have to do 2 shows on 2 consecutive days. That sounds grueling.

Does London really do different schedules? I was just there this past weekend, and I couldn't really find anything that played a Sunday matinee. The traditional dark day in London is Sunday, which I find a bit annoying, to be honest. When taking a long weekend for a trip you *have* to take Friday off and make the the trip Fri-Sun and deal with a ridiculous crowd on the airport (it was't pretty). If there were shows on Sunday, I could make it Sat-Mon and still see the same amount of shows, but be a little off schedule with other weekend travelers... But I'm going off-topic, sorry.

[Eliza2]

Posted: 3/20/17 at 6:32pm

Lot666 said: "Phantom4ever said: "I'm quite happy with Phantom's Thursday matinee, since I see it every time I'm in town"

I do, too! How many others like us do you think there are?"

Count me in this club! I'm looking forward to it even more for my trip this week since a new Raoul is starting today.

 

[Phantom4ever]

Posted: 3/20/17 at 8:24pm

Eliza2 said: "Lot666 said: "Phantom4ever said: "I'm quite happy with Phantom's Thursday matinee, since I see it every time I'm in town"

I do, too! How many others like us do you think there are?"

Count me in this club! I'm looking forward to it even more for my trip this week since a new Raoul is starting today.
 

Wow there are three of us already! Already have my Phantom tix for Spring Break and Memorial Day weekend. I typically see the show about 6 times a year. I appreciate the Thursday matinee because now I can still see a new show while still reserving a slot for the Phantom. Whenever I see it, I feel like i'm surrounded by American tourists who saw the show on tour years ago and are now seeing it on Broadway for the first time. Just a general observation. 
 

 

"

 

[adam.peterson44]

Posted: 3/20/17 at 10:01pm

I have been going to see Phantom on Thursday matinees during my long-weekend trips to NYC ever since they added them to the schedule.  I do usually check out other shows that i haven't seen before when they offer Thursday matinees, and have recently seen Cagney, Shear Madness, and Not That Jewish during that time slot.  But Phantom most consistently offers it, so they've gotten most of my ticket purchases for that time slot in my last few years of trips.