Who are seeing all these shows?

Who exactly are going to see all of these broadway shows? Did you see the grosses for last week? A record! Seriously, over the past few weeks there have been all of these new shows, yet they continue to get at least 80% attendance. How long can this continue?

I am.

So far this year, I've seen:
Lestat
Festen
Three Days of Rain
The Drowsy Chaperone
The Pajama Game
The Odd Couple
The Threepenny Opera
Tarzan
Barefoot in the Park
Sweeney Todd
Ring of Fire
Doubt
Well
Awake and Sing

and I'll be seeing History Boys, Lt. of Inishmore, Wedding Singer, and Caine Mutiny before May 10.

I've seen everything.

Updated On: 4/25/06 at 08:53 PM

who exactly *is* going.

Sorry I had to make that grammatical change.

And yes, I am going to all these shows! :-p

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I don't know, Kevo and I are seeing Tarzan in June.

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I apologize for the grammatical error, its been a long day! But its not just us broadway groupies going to see all of these shows. There are some expensive seats being purchased!

I think two factors are contributing to this semi- phenomenon:
1. Increasing presence of mainstream personalities, talents, and titles on Broadway (from Julia Roberts to Elton John to Wedding Singer)
2. Long- running name- recognizable commodities (most of which have penetrated mainstream culture due to movie adaptation) like Phantom, Lion King, Rent, Mamma Mia, etc...

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It really isn't much of a phenomenon. Attendance isn't up significantly (and in fact is lower than it was a few years ago). Ticket prices (especially premium ticket prices) are causing the record grosses and giving the appearance that Broadway is booming. The same number of people are coming as have in the last couple of years, only they're paying $111 (or $250 for premium seats) for shows that cost $95 just a few years ago. Not to mention, April is when the tourists start coming back which is why numbers are up from a couple of months ago (February is always a struggle). There are really no surprises here.

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The total number of seats available per year is 18,500.

43.3 million people will visit New York this year. If only a 30 percentage see shows (and who doesn't want to see a show?) coupled with the local business, the theaters are filled. It's an amazing statistic.

Then, of course, there seems to be a few people on this site who account for 10% of the seats sold themselves....

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Updated On: 4/25/06 at 11:09 PM

You're talking about ONE WEEK. Look at the numbers for those same shows a month and a half ago. You have to understand these patterns over the course of years. EVERY April and May the box office improves -- tons of shows open to make the Tony deadline (14 shows will or have opened this year between March 30th and May 10th), there's lots of press, the weather improves, the locals realize its time to catch up on the shows they missed during the winter, the tourists return (bumping up the business for the long-running shows), there's Spring Break and Easter Holidays and Memorial Day....... You could go back decades -- and I've been folllowing Broadway for over 30 years -- and see that exact same pattern year after year for this time of the year. This ALWAYS happens. Making some grand pronouncement about how we're in some sort of golden age is just not the case.

Attendance is roughly the same as it was for this time of the year last year and the year before and the year before, and overall attendance is actuually lower than it was prior to 9/11 5 years ago. Box office is growing from those dark days, but it still isn't anywhere near what it was around 1997.

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Updated On: 4/25/06 at 11:41 PM

What I have Seen this year

Broadway:
Chicago
The Odd Couple
Wicked x2
Sweeney Todd
Ring Of Fire (I admit it!)

Off Broadway:

Dog Sees God
Grey Gardens

And I have Tickets to:

The Threepenny Opera (Tommorrow)
Landscape Of The Body (Next Thursday)
The Wedding Singer (May 1

And in June:

Jersey Boys
The History Boys
Faith healer
Three Days of Rain
The Drowsy Chaperone
Avenue Q
Awake And Sing!

So I am one of the people seeing all these shows, and I don't plan on stopping until I see them all!

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lol- Nice request Foster! I'll say that my school is though! They recently sent half of our student body across the country to NYC to see a few shows.

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This was a very good week, and significantly better than the equivalent a year ago. Last year 2 shows went clean, while this year 7 achieved capacity. Last year 6 were over 90% and this year 11.

Margo's right in terms of historic trends in attendance from year to year, and season to season. But it was an exceptionaly strong week.

"Dont ask me why people go see shows like Phantom and Mamma Mia instead of good ones though...I know- Japanese tourists..."

Please remember some people actually like those shows, and that statement is just a tad bit racist.