Broadway has enjoyed a strong summer three years removed from reopening after the long COVID-19 shutdown, but the future remains uncertain.
This week marks the third anniversary of the opening night of Antoinette Chinonye Nwandu’s “Pass Over,” which inaugurated a new season on Broadway following the prolonged 18-month COVID shutdown. It was an experimental and difficult three-actor drama that reflected the desire of the theater industry to be more diverse and inclusive.
However, based on the shows currently running on Broadway and about to open this fall, one can see how much has changed since then.
In the three years since the reopening of Broadway, it has become painfully clear to theater professionals that while the costs of producing plays and musicals in New York have rapidly multiplied, attendance numbers and box office grosses have still not returned to pre-pandemic levels.
In response, programming choices on Broadway are becoming more conservative, and major Off-Broadway companies such as the Public Theater and Signature Theatre have dramatically cut down on the number of shows they produce.
A new fall season is about to begin, bringing these concerns to light once again. However, we can at least celebrate the fact that this summer has worked out pretty well for Broadway, with numerous shows at or near sell-out capacity.
This includes Cole Escola’s new camp comedy “Oh, Mary!” (which has become an unlikely must-see hit with many A-list celebrity admirers) and the new musical adaptation of “The Outsiders,” which won the Tony Award in June in an upset victory over Alicia Keys’ “Hell’s Kitchen.” Even the dance musical “Illinoise” ended its limited run at 98% capacity.
But before anyone gets too excited and declares that the theater industry’s troubles are over, let’s remember that the shows currently running on Broadway are benefiting from summer tourism and a lack of competition, given that one-third of Broadway theaters are vacant (with new tenants arriving soon) and few Off-Broadway companies produce work over the summer.
Will “The Great Gatsby” still be able to do solid business once it is competing for theatergoers with new revivals of “Gypsy” and “Sunset Boulevard”?
Although neither has announced a closing date, based on their grosses, one suspects that the new musicals “Water for Elephants,” “The Notebook” and “Suffs” may not be able to last much longer on Broadway.
Even “Back to the Future” may soon be susceptible to closure given that it likely has significant weekly running costs due to its special effects and reached only 83% attendance last week.
One also wonders what will happen to the new Broadway revival of “Cabaret,” which has managed to stay in sell-out territory despite deeply mixed reviews, once Eddie Redmayne exits the show next month and is replaced as the Emcee by Adam Lambert. Will the musical’s political relevance and splashy immersive environment be enough to keep it going?
Even so, Broadway has the right to mark and celebrate its summertime success, while hoping to sustain the momentum into the fall and beyond.
