The Broadway Recession
Thursday, December 11th, 2008 | Broadway, General, Theatre
With 7% unemployment rate and the auto makers on the verge of bankruptcy people are cutting back a lot. Broadway shows are getting hit hard with the current economy and many of the big shows can’t fill half their seats. Equus, Young Frankenstein, Grease, and Hair Spary are all schedule to close by February. High production costs and a large jump in ticket prices over the last year is a major reason behind this large decline. Many shows that used to charge $90-$95 for the good seats to their shows have raised the price to $120-$140 plus fees. Unfortunately, a lot of these shows must now offer big discounts or even free tickets to keep people in the seats, but the way it looks we will be seeing more shows go dark in 2009 on top of the 14 already on the chopping block. There is also a sharp decline in tourist coming to NY and other parts of the US which will also not help Broadway in the next 12 months. Broadway needs to figure out a way to keep people in the seats and right now it looks like prices is the biggest sticking point.
