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Monday, April 15, 2024
Why So Many New Broadway Shows? The 2024 Spring Season By the Numbers
www.broadwayworld.com: Another openin', another show- words to take literally this spring. If you've been following this Broadway season and have been getting a sneaking suspicion that the spring calendar (see below) is looking a little bit crazy, you're not wrong...
This article as well as some of the other articles I have read on the blog lately have started giving me flashbacks to broadway 2017. This brings me both joy and anxiety. I am so glad so many new productions are opening in new york this season highlighting so many amazing artists and even happier that broadway is back in full swing after the 2020 shutdown but, I am nervous to see the invisible crash after all of this broadway success. Something of note are the amount of book or movie adaptations on broadway this season. I, like many others, hope to get a chance the see Gatsby or The Outsiders (the notebook not so much) but wonder what Broadway would look like with mor original ideas. I hope the market does not become saturated with their adaptations and if it does that the audience can enjoy them for what they are along with other original storylines.
It's genuinely electrifying to observe the competitive spirit of Broadway, especially as someone who's just seen fresh productions like The Great Gatsby, Cabaret, Suffs, and Appropriate. The sheer number of new plays and musicals making their debut this spring is a testament to the industry's resilience and the unyielding quest for innovation. Spring on Broadway feels like a crowded race, with 21 new productions opening this season, nearly half of them concentrated in a two-week period. This approach, influenced by the Tony Awards' cut-off date, mirrors tactics seen in other entertainment industries, where timing plays a crucial role in capturing attention and accolades. Although this strategy may inflate the perceived value of some shows, it also keeps the scene dynamic and ensures a variety of options for audiences. As a theater lover, the thought of so many shows running concurrently is overwhelming yet thrilling. It offers a unique opportunity to experience the diverse creative expressions that define Broadway today. The influx of new titles not only challenges long-running shows to maintain their excellence but also injects fresh energy into the theatrical landscape.
I understand exactly why this is a necessary practice due to the fact that nominations boost ticket sales and there’s this lingering belief that the nominations will in fact, be more in the show’s favor if they’re fresher in the mind, but a small part of me wishes this wasn’t the case. If we could spread out these shows more evenly, it would give all of them an equal moment in the sun. Like I said before, I don’t think that this will ever happen because of capitalism and the like, but I think it’s a nice thought nonetheless. I just wish it weren’t this way as so many shows have been closing so fast that if this pattern holds up a smaller number of people will have seen it as the shows are all competing with each other, making it harder for everyone to have a full audience every day of the week.
This was a genuinely interesting article. Seeing the amount of new shows and when they are opening broken down by dates is a pretty stark look at the ‘game’ of Broadway shows and by extension, Tony nominations. Seeing how few shows opened in the late fall/winter compared to the actual tidal wave of shows we’re currently getting is fascinating, and a reminder of how much of a business Broadway as a whole is. I mean, two opening dates in the winter period to nineteen in the spring? That’s a pretty wild difference and while I’m sure that Tonys aren’t the only reason for this shift and there’s audience/tourism/ticketing logic involved, it definitely puts the Broadway season into perspective. There’s so many shows to see now, and I wonder how much traffic all of the shows will get. I would love to see a handful of them before they close.
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4 comments:
This article as well as some of the other articles I have read on the blog lately have started giving me flashbacks to broadway 2017. This brings me both joy and anxiety. I am so glad so many new productions are opening in new york this season highlighting so many amazing artists and even happier that broadway is back in full swing after the 2020 shutdown but, I am nervous to see the invisible crash after all of this broadway success. Something of note are the amount of book or movie adaptations on broadway this season. I, like many others, hope to get a chance the see Gatsby or The Outsiders (the notebook not so much) but wonder what Broadway would look like with mor original ideas. I hope the market does not become saturated with their adaptations and if it does that the audience can enjoy them for what they are along with other original storylines.
It's genuinely electrifying to observe the competitive spirit of Broadway, especially as someone who's just seen fresh productions like The Great Gatsby, Cabaret, Suffs, and Appropriate. The sheer number of new plays and musicals making their debut this spring is a testament to the industry's resilience and the unyielding quest for innovation. Spring on Broadway feels like a crowded race, with 21 new productions opening this season, nearly half of them concentrated in a two-week period. This approach, influenced by the Tony Awards' cut-off date, mirrors tactics seen in other entertainment industries, where timing plays a crucial role in capturing attention and accolades. Although this strategy may inflate the perceived value of some shows, it also keeps the scene dynamic and ensures a variety of options for audiences. As a theater lover, the thought of so many shows running concurrently is overwhelming yet thrilling. It offers a unique opportunity to experience the diverse creative expressions that define Broadway today. The influx of new titles not only challenges long-running shows to maintain their excellence but also injects fresh energy into the theatrical landscape.
I understand exactly why this is a necessary practice due to the fact that nominations boost ticket sales and there’s this lingering belief that the nominations will in fact, be more in the show’s favor if they’re fresher in the mind, but a small part of me wishes this wasn’t the case. If we could spread out these shows more evenly, it would give all of them an equal moment in the sun. Like I said before, I don’t think that this will ever happen because of capitalism and the like, but I think it’s a nice thought nonetheless. I just wish it weren’t this way as so many shows have been closing so fast that if this pattern holds up a smaller number of people will have seen it as the shows are all competing with each other, making it harder for everyone to have a full audience every day of the week.
This was a genuinely interesting article. Seeing the amount of new shows and when they are opening broken down by dates is a pretty stark look at the ‘game’ of Broadway shows and by extension, Tony nominations. Seeing how few shows opened in the late fall/winter compared to the actual tidal wave of shows we’re currently getting is fascinating, and a reminder of how much of a business Broadway as a whole is. I mean, two opening dates in the winter period to nineteen in the spring? That’s a pretty wild difference and while I’m sure that Tonys aren’t the only reason for this shift and there’s audience/tourism/ticketing logic involved, it definitely puts the Broadway season into perspective. There’s so many shows to see now, and I wonder how much traffic all of the shows will get. I would love to see a handful of them before they close.
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