Today's Random Question: Performance Schedules

I imagine this has been discussed before but a search on "schedule" brings up pages and pages of questions about actors and their performance schedules, not what I'm looking for.

I'm curious how a show's weekly performance schedule is determined. Why are most, for example, dark on Sunday nights while some, i.e., CATS, have a scheduled performance? Why do most have a mid-week matinee, while some don't? And why do some performances start at 7 pm on a couple days, but 8 on others?

Any insiders know what goes into deciding a show's schedule?

Hogan, I am so impressed with your ability to answer complicated questions correctly and concisely. I've been wanting to tell you and this seems as good a place as any.

To the OP, Hogan is absolutely right: the schedule is most often a marketing decision (within limits set by the actors' union re how many 2-show days may take place in a week and in a row). E.g., elderly people tend to feel less comfortable traveling late at night, so a show that appeals to what Hogan and most of us call "blue hairs" is apt to offer more matinees.

A "foreign" example: the last time I checked, the most common dark day in Las Vegas is Friday (a day that is almost never dark in NYC). Why? Because so many tourist packages run Friday to Friday that tourists are busy checking in and out on Fridays and won't come to shows.

Updated On: 6/26/17 at 01:36 AM