What Is Our Ideal Broadway?

Hello Everyone,

I was wondering if people would be comfortable sharing what they envision to be the "ideal" Broadway?

Throughout the Shutdown, many members of our industry shared the collective realization that major structural changes needed to take place in order to make Broadway a more sustainable and equitable industry.

So, what I would love, is if people would share what their dream scenario and/or work envirment would look like for their specific relationship to Broadway. I am looking to gather responses from across the board, so please, share what this looks like for you.

Let's make sure that to keep our responses honest, insightful, and respectful.

Thank you, everyone - I can't wait to see where this leads us!

Definitely not government subsided.
I would like to see more “events” (ala headlining stars - Julia Roberts, Julie Andrews, Leo Dicaprio, Jennifer Aniston&hellip and more “hidden gems” (ala hadestown or come from away.) topics that’s aren’t so forward in commercial success.


I’d also love to see a slow down of bio musicals or movie adaptations. (I’m curious of devil wears prada just because of Elton John’s involvement. But that’s about it. I’d like a Dolly Parton bio musical. And that’s about it).


I would also love to see some classic revivals back. Like hello Dolly was IMO so perfect.

More plays.

Maybe its just because I'm on a play kick right now but I want to see more plays than musicals anymore.

NO GOVERNMENT SUBSIDIES AND GRANTS, which will lead to censorship. But perhaps better tax incentives.

As a fan, I personally would love it if shows with higher profile stars had alternates of equal billing.

For example, if performers like Audra and Kelli could alternate or understudy a role together. That way, if Kelli were out, it wouldn’t be a disappointment since I’d get to see Audra and Vice versa. Or maybe - have Kelli do 4 shows a week and Audra 4 shows a week (throw in any other Tony nominee / winners into the ring, just using them as an example)… to get them out of the “8 shows a week” pattern. But if one of them needed a show off, put the other one on.

I know this will probably be a VERY UNPOPULAR opinion due to the love and much deserved understudy appreciation lately, but it’s just something I’ve been thinking about.


This thought came to mind recently when I saw an announcement that Kelli O’Hara was replacing Laura Benanti for a NY pops concert. I thought - wow if I had tickets to see Benanti, I’d be bummed for a split second but then be absolutely thrilled to see Kelli in her place.

Updated On: 1/9/22 at 05:32 PM

Not terribly long ago, I proposed a "New Deal for Broadway," which includes among its planks the following:

(*) A 5-show week. 8 shows a week was arcane long ago, but now it's utterly impractical. Besides which, the grind wears out many performers before their time. So... cut it down to 5, like the work week that every other important industry is usually built on (in theory). My proposed schedule is as follows: Wednesday matinee (1), Thursday (1) / Friday (1) / Saturday (1) evening, and Sunday matinee (1). It's nicely laid out: 2 days off, 5 on, no 2-a-days -- better work / life balance.

(*) Lower ticket prices for in-person seating. (Getting to the in-person distinction in a moment,) The average in-person cost of a theater ticket today is $150-$200, if you're lucky. I don’t have to tell you the standard prices are outrageous. I hear it every day, even from industry folks. [One colleague confided, "It used to cost less to sit in the cheap seats of a Broadway matinee than to see the first run of a movie. Broadway is now for out-of-towners. I'm solidly upper middle class, and if I weren't comped because I'm a known director, I couldn’t afford it. Going to the theater -- with three kids? 1,500 bucks with parking, food, etc.? No. Prices some time ago have made [it] something expensive you do, like going to see a live football game in the good seats."] Stuff like lottery, S.R.O., etc., is supposed to make it easier on the average schmo, but it doesn't do nearly enough and, in the case of lottery, usually leaves too much to chance. So, I'm gonna take the low end of that average spectrum and make it the high end: $75-$150 for in-person tickets is still pricey for some folks, but generally more reasonable for typical buyers.

(*) Simultaneous pay-per-view live streaming of every performance at a more affordable price point. I got this idea when colleagues of mine, major music stars in the rap world, began to experiment with something very interesting during the initial wave of the pandemic. They've marketed and presented live streaming events with low ticket prices -- think $10 or less -- to considerable financial success. Now, they don't have a lot of options to build further upon that model (a concert's a concert, no matter who guests), but theater... that's another story entirely. As I just said in the previous bullet point, Broadway has basically become a luxury item, like people who pay to see the Super Bowl, or watch the ball drop in Times Square on New Year's Eve, in person. The difference between Broadway and such events is those of us without deep pockets can watch the latter from home. So, we need a hybrid model: those who can afford the luxury item can continue to buy a ticket to see it in person, but we open up accessibility, affordability, etc., in the form of a simultaneous live stream, tickets for which are far more affordable for the average person.

In order to see if it'd work, I ran the numbers, with some assumptions baked in (for example, the 5-show schedule and in-person ticket prices outlined above). For the virtual ticket, while affordability and accessibility are key, it also has to be worthwhile for the bottom line. I came up with this scale: $20 for Wednesday matinees and Thursday evenings, $30 for Friday and Saturday evenings, $25 for Sunday matinees, and $10 student / senior discount for all of them with valid ID. Fairly within reach for many who'd buy.

Just for gits and shiggles, I ran an income projection on only the video hits -- no in-person ticket sales -- to get first estimates, and I was quite surprised. On clicks alone, in best case scenario, the show (an original straight play) doubled its backers' investment in less than four months.

(How sustainable is this? About as sustainable as the present model. When one assumes, for example, that streaming tickets are in the price range I quoted, and takes into account that purchases for online events commonly have a median range of 20,000 - 100,000 purchases, about 5,000 people at $20 a ticket is about the same amount we'd have to make off live gate, minimum, to break even with an in-person audience. All we're doing here is removing the false value of a $350 list [with constant discounting so our product presents as affordable] and allowing access to that part of the market that still can't afford $175.)

(*) "Instant recordings" as take-home souvenir for those who continue to see it in person. You might be saying at this point, "Well, if everyone hears about the virtual prices, they'll just stay home and pay those!" As you've seen, the math already makes that all okay, as streaming income would now be a show's primary income, but don't worry, I thought of a way to keep people with deeper pockets coming in-person: 1) to the best of our ability, we restrict the capability to record the streams, and 2) create "instant recordings" (in the vein of, say, Concert Live) as a souvenir you have to attend in person to obtain. Directly following every performance, the in-person ticket buyer receives a pro-quality audio recording of the show they just saw, accounted for in the price of one’s ticket and theirs to own, either in physical format, for the “old fogies,” or for download / streaming within 24 hours via a special token, QR code to be scanned with a mobile device, etc. Ushers would be waiting with the physical product, QR codes, whatever, on the way out the door.

Structuring the recording mechanism into the weekly running nut would be next to nothing. Patch a multi-track into the soundboard, and rather than the muddy noise from a raw dump, they get clean channel feeds, enabling "real deal" recordings better than simply what's useful for archival purposes. Devote a soundboard operator to getting the mix, and, barring equipment rental or purchase, there's no added cost.

Speaking of which, with regard to actors... cover art would not include faces, so no royalties for likeness rights, and real-time regular tabulation (for accuracy, according to industry standards or better) of sales, download, or streaming numbers would factor into their salaries.

(This would make relying on a label's interest in releasing a cast recording a thing of the past. It also plants the seeds for the long-awaited nullification of the bootleg market. Only thrill-seekers would go to the trouble of making an illicit recording of potentially questionable quality when one can just snag the product on the way out or access a personal digital copy later, and the wide availability of other performances would eventually make the uniqueness of an item shared illegally on the Internet virtually nil.)

Updated On: 1/11/22 at 08:19 PM

A more diverse mix of shows at price points that allow a more diverse mix of theatregoers to support them.

Periodic (maybe once a decade) repertory festivals/limited runs of multiple productions from the same creator (ala Kennedy Center's Sondheim Celebration) or featuring similar content themes, ones that attract audiences and performers from around the world becoming major "must see" destination events.

Continued increase in the quality and use of streaming options. Maybe offering a discounted bundle as well ... buy an in-person ticket and gain access to a streaming performance afterwards to relive the experience.

Maintaining some of the ticket refund/exchange flexibility introduced during the pandemic.

Dylan, the vast majority of Broadway casts are “unknown” to the general ticketbuying public. This season alone has more than 20 shows with complete unknowns: Six, Colored Man, Slave Play, Passover, Paradise Square, Girl from the North Country, Book of Mormon, Wicked, Ain’t Too Proud, Tina, Strange Loop, Harry Potter, Phantom, Lion King, DEH, MJ, Aladdin, Hamilton, Come from Away, Doubtfire, Flying Over Sunset, Hadestown, Caroline or Change, I’ll stop listing now. (Even Tony nominations/wins do not make an actor “known” or a “big name.&rdquo

The “star vehicle” shows are rare (Music Man, Am Buffalo, Mockingbird, Am Utopia, Mr. Saturday Night, Plaza Suite, etc)

Stars bring in audiences who wouldn’t otherwise see the show. They’re creating work, not taking it away.

For those who are against government subsidies for broadway shows specifically, perhaps a better suggestion would be greater funding for wraparound services like Broadway Cares which is providing healthcare to so many actors.

I'd also like to see more options for crowdfunding type things for shows. Be hard to fund an entire show that way, but you could crowdfund a decent cut.

I'd like to see a return to contracts that give the original cast a small cut of the profits after a show recoups. Something like the entire cast splitting 1% of the profit wouldn't hurt smash hit shows, and wouldn't harm struggling shows as it's only after recoupment. It would create a more stable living situation for many broadway actors, which imo is important to keep the most talented in our industry. It rewards their creative input, which can sometimes be substantial. It also incentivizes in-demand actors to chose new works. All good things. Baking it into contracts as the default, like cast recordings, also lowers the cost and organizational difficulties a lot as you don't have to renegotiate every time.

But the bigger changes I want are cultural rather than legislative.

I want to see a rise in proshots that treats them like cast recordings. Not necessarily profitable on their own, but essential for marketing and important to preserve our art. It's downright wrong that lyricists, sound designers, and composers have their work preserved on every show while costume designers, directors, choreographers, and book writers etc are forgotten.

I'd also like to see greater organizing and promoting of off broadway work, ideally creating their own little encoves of high profile and interesting shows that aren't 'broadway material' but are still great shows. We talk a lot about how to get these interesting, challenging, weird little shows on broadway when they aren't commercially successful, I'd rather have them in their own spot where they can be commercially successful and their own thing. As a tourist who visits NYC once a year at most, I have never attended an off broadway show because I can never find enough information on them to confirm I would like them. Whereas broadway shows there's always a wealth of information. Not just accounts and reviews but things like b-roll footage and proshots and cast recordings. I'd like to see something between big budget broadway shows and small offbroadway shows that only cater to locals.

And I'd like to see the industry continue its recent trend of standing up against abuse and not hiring abusive people - especially in positions of power. I don't mourn Scott Rudin's productions as much as the knowledge of how many talented people were driven out of the industry by his behaviour and what works we missed out on. There are SO MANY extremely talented folks out there. We don't need to rely on abusers.

Updated On: 1/10/22 at 11:54 AM

Ideally, the mid 1951-1965.

just my $0.02:

i think the reticence toward government funding deserves more unpacking.

(and i'm mindful that the expressions of said reticence are not a statistically valid sample.)

as another poster noted, it's a common practice in other countries, so it would be interesting to know WHY folks think it can't work here. is it the current political moment? principled opposition? something structurally embedded in our culture's DNA? more? other?

and for the poster who dismissed the question by noting that Broadway currently receives government funds: the paltry sums granting agencies currently provide, plus the temporary influx of pandemic-related money, really isn't relevant to the equation; long-term, it's welcome but not material.

Updated On: 1/10/22 at 08:27 PM

Where people respect performers and don’t get mad or insult them when they don’t do what they want- example: stagedooring. Don’t also hang around the stage door if you haven’t even seen the show. That’s just creepy. Like I don’t care how much you like the person you’re waiting for-it’s creepy. They don’t owe you that, and to wait…it’s obnoxious and creepy. And recording the show? Disrespectful on all levels. Do you think it’s okay? Then you don’t care about the performers. Bottom line. You don’t.



I want a Broadway that is as diverse as Waitress’s final cast was, but as an opening cast, They could have had C. Renee and J. Henry open the show and then filmed it with Sara after. Or did a special filming when they weren’t in rehearsals or whatever.