Money money money: The economy and Broadway

Last year it was a strike. This year, it’s the economy.

The holiday season should be one of the busiest times of the year for Broadway, but this year the economy has hit the theater industry with some pretty powerful blows. This New York Times article from Patrick Healy is a smart, in-depth look at the situation, but this is what it boils down to: people are cutting out a lot of the extras in their lives to save money, and that includes pricey theater tickets. That means that means many shows aren’t playing to capacity, and dependable shows like “Gypsy” and “Grease” are closing earlier than expected. That in turn means that producers are hesitant to invest in new shows. It’s a vicious circle.

Like Nellie Forbush in South Pacific, I’m a cock-eyed optimist, and I can’t help but feel that Broadway will come out of this slump. As Healy points out in his article, there are some productions that are doing well right now, and there are several highly-anticipated productions opening in the spring. Plus, I’m sure I’ll spend a few hundred dollars on shows when I got to New York in January. Somehow I don’t think that will be quite enough to make a difference. If I got all my friends and family and random people on the street to do the same thing, then maybe we’d be in business!