Break a leg
In 2023, it seems that there’s still no business like show business. Following a devastating dry spell during the pandemic — which saw all 41 theaters bring their curtains down for a total of 18 months, the longest shuttering in the district’s history — NYC’s Broadway is finally reviving.
A new report from The Broadway League has found that the 2022-23 season, the first full 52-week run since shutting down in March 2020, saw 12.3 million admissions, nearly double the figure seen for 2021-22 and equating to a total attendance capacity of 88%.
However, despite 40 new productions being added to Manhattan’s call sheet for the season, attendance remained shy of Broadway’s pre-pandemic crescendo. In 2018-19, a record-breaking 14.8 million audience members went to Broadway shows, with a total gross of $1.83 billion in 12 months — an all-time high note.
Defying sparsity
Indeed, Broadway’s bounceback has gone hand-in-hand with an audience demographic shift. Although tourists still made up the largest proportion of theatergoers last season, accounting for approx. 65% of attendees, the average audience age sank to 40.4 years old, the youngest demographic seen for 20 seasons; people of color also made up 29% of total attendees, the highest percentage in the League’s history.
However, even with a new theater-loving cohort on board, Broadway might not be in the post-Covid clear just yet, as soaring operating expenses and NYC’s proposed congestion charge are expected to take center stage moving into 2024.
