Skip to main content

All About Broadway

While Broadway is clearly culturally impactful, I have a personal connection to musicals and performances since I have been a fan from a young age. I also have been interested in the architecture and history of performing arts since I did a project on the Lunt-Fontanne theatre in the 6th grade. Many Broadway theatres were built in the early 1900s and are registered as New York City landmarks. 

There are currently 41 Broadway Theatres. The term "Broadway Theatre" doesn't mean the theatre is located on the street Broadway, in fact most Broadway theatres are not located on Broadway. Only three theatres are located on Broadway itself. The definition of a Broadway theatre is any theatre within the Theatre District of New York City, a 25 block radius that have a seat capacity at or above 500. Theatres between 100 and 500 seats are called off-Broadway and theatres with fewer than 100 seats are known as off-off-Broadway. While many people automatically think of musicals when they think of Broadway, Broadway shows in Broadway Theatres do not exclusively refer to musicals, but also include plays.[1] My collection only contains a small portion, 9, of the 41 theatres, but it represents theatres that I have visited. 

While most theatres were built in the early 1900s, not all the theatres have consistently shown Broadway theatres since they opened. Broadway has experienced many ups and downs since the Theatres opened. Many experienced declines in the late 1960s into the 1970s; theatres closed or were repurposed as nightclubs, televisions and radio stations, movie theatres, or even adult theatres. While most theatres were able to rebound in the 1980s into the 1990s, more recently the COVID19 pandemic closed all Broadway theatres for a year and a half between March of 2020 and September of 2021.[2] The first full season since the return after COVID, 2022-23 did not reach the attendance or gross levels of the last full season before the pandemic, 2018-19. The 2018-19 season was both the most attended and highest grossing season since those records have been kept.[3]

While there are only 41 Broadway Theatres, there are infinitely many more shows since they only last for a finite amount of time in a theatre. The longest running show on Broadway, The Phantom of the Opera, closed on April 16, 2023 after 13,981 performances lasting 35 years.[3] This is the exception to the rule as most shows have a much shorter run. While I couldn't find any published statistics about the average Broadway show run length, but I did find one source stating that 25% of shows make it past their recoupment period, which for most shows is only a few months.[4] The business of Broadway is extremely expensive. It can cost from 3 million to 20 million dollars to finance a show, costs that producers must pay up front and hope to receive a return on their investment. Only about 25% shows are able to recoup this investment.[4]

In addition to being very expensive, Broadway can also be very slow. Before a show has its official opening night, the premiere, it goes through about a month of previews. From inception to Broadway opening, it may take up to 10 years. Most shows do not open on Broadway, instead putting on a run in another city in order to gain press, attention, and even perhaps a producer. In addition to financing a show, producers help a show secure a Broadway Theatre, coordinating which Theatres are open and available when the show is ready to transfer as well as which Theatre is the right fit and seat capacity for the show,  through their connections with Theatre operators[4] There are three major Broadway Theatre operators, Jujamcyn, Nederlander, and Shubert, with a handful of smaller operators including Ambassador, Roudabout, and Disney Theatrical.[2] [5]

Footnotes

  1. ^ Playbill Inc. (2008, February 8). Ask playbill.com: Broadway or Off-Broadway-Part I. Playbill. https://www.playbill.com/article/ask-playbillcom-broadway-or-off-broadwaypart-i-com-147549
  2. a, b Wikimedia Foundation. (2024, April 28). Broadway theatre. Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Broadway_theatre
    ​​​​
  3. a, b The Broadway League. (n.d.). Research & Statistics. The Broadway League. https://www.broadwayleague.com/research/statistics-broadway-nyc/
  4. a, b, c Eli Rallo [@elirallo] (2024, April 25) Broadway School 101 Today’s lesson: The basics [Video] TikTok. https://www.tiktok.com/@elirallo/video/7361857775762230571?_r=1&_t=8lztWZq38aE
  5. ^ Playbill Inc. (n.d.). BROADWAY THEATRES. Playbill. https://www.playbill.com/broadway-theatres
Next