I need your feedback about Broadway Musicals
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- Опубліковано 19 лип 2024
- Hey friends! Today, I have a question for those who visit NYC often for musicals. Why do you choose to see certain shows and avoid others? How do you feel about ticket prices and the quality of today's musicals? Broadway attendance is slowly recovering, but grosses are still $300 million shy of pre-pandemic levels.
What do you think of the congestion tax for driving below 60th Street? Check out the data I've compiled from Broadway grosses over the last 10 years and share your thoughts in the comments. Your feedback is valuable!
#Broadway #MusicalTheater #NYC #TheaterLovers #BroadwayShows #TicketPrices #AudienceFeedback #BroadwayStatistics #PostPandemicRecovery
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I find I'm just not as interested in the voice types being casted. It feels like everything is high and belty nowadays which is a great style but it gets old when that's all you're hearing. When musicals break away from that standard and risk something new, you can get incredible shows like Hadestown. But when I hear Aaron Tveit is cast as Sweeney....not so interested in paying $100+ for that.
Your consistency lately is the best christmas gift!
Glad you think so!
I think there are a few issues. 1. Ticket prices. I’m in the Midwest so going to NYC is expensive, especially when I plan to see at least 6 shows while I’m there. With as many shows as there are offering discounts, there has to be some kind of happy medium to prices. 2. Marketing- There don’t seem to be that many shows I must travel to see. If I went this year, I don’t know that there is a new musical I feel I need to see. I would mostly be seeing revivals, and I can’t say I’m overly excited about them.
I'm a bit of a late adopter, having only really gotten into Broadway last year (after being a big Les Mis fan in the 80s like everyone else). For me there's just something electric about live theater - knowing that the performance you are experiencing with a relatively small group of other people (maybe 1500 max unless you're at Wicked) is unique and ephemeral, seeing a group of performers who are among the best in the world at what they do, listening to how the music tells the story, seeing the choices in the scenic design, lighting, choreography, costumes, direction and how they serve the story, hearing gloriously beautiful voices sing these amazing scores, etc. I love the exchange of energy between the cast members and between the performers and audience. When it all comes together it's absolutely magical (current revival of Merrily We Roll Along being the perfect example).
I see shows that I expect I'll like based on the composer/lyricist, playwright, actors, etc. and avoid the ones that I don't think are for me, and I try to game out ways to get my average ticket price as low as possible to justify the splurges. I live in the city so I'm able to take advantage of last-minute deals, I have TDF membership, and I have a teenage daughter who is an aspiring Broadway actress, so I signed her up for all of the student discount programs and under-30 programs and now she takes me to the theater. Last year I saw 26 shows on and off-Broadway and my average ticket price was $67 (highest being $166 to see Aaron Tveit when he returned to Moulin Rouge).
I also LOVE when understudies and swings go on and absolutely kill it - I saw Nicholas Christopher in Sweeney Todd after Josh Groban left and tickets were cheap, and he was so amazing I bought another ticket for his last night before Aaron Tveit came in.
Originality and story is a HUGE factor for me. Im so sick of movies being turned into musicals (with the acception of Anastasia and Waitress). Im also tired of stories with no real meat or depth. For the love give me SOMETHING to escape into! Also very tired of big celebrities getting cast when they can't perform the material as it was meant to be (i.e. slowing down ALL the songs in the revival of The Music Man). Sometimes it feels like these newer shows target a teenaged audience, which is fine, but leave nothing of real substance for the 25 and older crowd. Most of the shows that tour through my city I don't really care to see anymore when in the past my mom, grandma and I were season ticket holders.
I feel this about many new musicals ... I can watch the film version over and over again at home for free. I would like to see a musical version, but I'm not going to spend loads on a show that may be underwhelming when I know I adore the film. Take Anastasia ....no rasputin... no Bartok! He got a whole film he was so loved. Moulin Rouge... Baz Luhrman put so much thought into the film with little details that just aren't in the musical. I need more than just adding music to a film version to make me spend money to watch something with a crowd of people I don't know will shut up and not annoy me.
I gotcha bestie
1. 99% of why I want to see a show is because I love the music. I almost always wait until the cast album is released before seeing a show. I also really appreciate unique shows like shucked and how to dance… and want to support those shows more than any other cause it’s not easy. I never read reviews from the times or other notable newspapers before I see a show. Why should I care what old white men think? If I read reviews at all it’s after the fact because I’m curious how the show was perceived with critics and if it matches with mine.
2. If I don’t see a show, it’s not personal most of the time. I just don’t have the time because I don’t live in NYC so I have to make choices and there are other shows that are just higher on my list and that didn’t close fast
3. I’m one of the only people that thinks ticket prices are very fair for most shows. $150 for a live show is incredibly reasonable when you know the hundreds of people behind making that show happen everyday. It takes a village. If you want to pay $20, go see a movie. Art is not free.
4. I’ve had zero issues with quality. I saw Harmony closing weekend, best show I’ve ever seen. How to dance was so heartwarming and clearly a ton of thought was put into it. Merrily we roll along was perfect. Are other people blind or something??
I live in the Midwest and i really enjoy seeing Broadway musicals. Normally I'm just limited to touring productions, but i actually came to NYC 3 times within the last year and saw 13 shows. For me, it's been incredible every time. I feel so energized and inspired after almost every show I saw this year. And theres so many i missed that I wished I could see, but timing just fell flat and I can't keep flying into NYC (maybe one day if I hit the lottery or something magical like that).
I'm open to seeing most shows on Broadway. I usually avoid Jukebox musicals, but sometimes they can surprise me.
Ticket prices are expensive, but I think I have accepted that for a long time. Some people spend a lot on whatever vices or hobbies they do, but for me I buy orchestra seats for Broadway Musicals (i love being close to the action, so i can pay some higher prices sometimes). That's my happy place and I would pay the expensive prices as long as i can get the chance to be in the theater and see a story come to life. I think theater is magical and I love that certain stories are being displayed, but I wish they could have an audience to sustain them.
I don't think Broadway is the hub for theater everyone equates it to. It's too hard to make back investment there and you have to cater to a very narrow audience if you hope to succeed in staying open for a year or longer if you're lucky. Smaller regional theaters have much more interesting stories because they can afford to take risks. There's a formula that is necessary on Broadway because investors want their money back and will push as hard as they can to achieve it.
I think the troubling part of Broadway is that the trends are leaning towards big shows that people know (like Wicked and Lion King) and new shows are struggling to find their audience (How to Dance in Ohio and Here Lies Love). And if a production can do a big stunt cast, that might help them get butts in the seats, but can drive up ticket prices even more.
I can't say the quality of shows have gone down because before last year, I had only seen one show in NYC on Broadway (Phantom was my first NYC show and jumpstarted my love for theater). I'm hoping musical theater can become more accessible to people. Not just content, which I'm okay with too, but also price ranges. I think so many people would try to see shows if it wasn't as expensive, but I understand that is not nearly as easy to achieve with the production costs and upkeep required to keep shows going.
Cost of tickets, and no new innovations. Only shows that I would want to see would be Wicked, Sweeny, and Parade.
1. Reasons to see a show:
* original story as opposed to a jukebox musical, bio pic, based on a cash cow popular movie, or a show that virtue signals and is predictably preachy.
* New composers and lyricists or new shows from creators I admire.
* Big name stars is not a draw for me personally. Plenty of great actors that are often even better than big names. Name recognition is a non factor and does not impress me.
* Revivals that honor the writers intent while also having some originality. This is fine line, but Broadway revivals often cross it and make a mockery with new versions. Productions of older shows are often done better Justice in professional theatres (and community theatres) outside of nyc.
2. Why I don’t see certain shows: see above.
3. Thoughts on ticket prices: Broadway is no longer the Mecca of theatre or the American musical. There are Plenty of premieres or even revivals elsewhere with superb quality. Broadway has priced out most people, especially tourists like me. Only the elite can afford to attend regularly. This year I saw 12 musicals in the Midwest (professional down to community) for an average ticket price of $50 - at Louis to Kansas City (including gas money - I drove at most 2 1/2 hours to see a show, but when I did that I saw 2 shows in one day)
4. How do I feel about show quality?
I am in agreement that new shows often offer very little. Like movies, they seem to have run out of ideas and just recycle old “tried and true” ones.
1 - I come back home to the states every summer and use that time to catch up on shows I cannot see throughout the year. It is easy as my parents live 1 hour plus outside NYC. I just love live theater and seeing top level performances. 2 - I avoid certain shows if the music/story doesn’t move me. Sometimes the cost may outweigh the desire to see a certain show 3 -Ticket prices are pretty high(especially compared to West End). But I look at it as this is a one shot opportunity and need to suck it it up or I will regret it. 4 - The shows I have seen have been very high quality. There hasn’t been a single one I have been disappointed in. Each one I have seen I feel I got my moneys worth. Usually, I wait all year to travel home to see a show. I will know what it is I want to see maybe 6-8 months beforehand. Hope this helps.
Ticket prices are purely a result of economics, not greedy producers. These shows cost an unbelievable amount to run these days; some of ALW's recent comments about Broadway becoming a vanity project because of running costs hold some truth.
As for quality, it'd be nice to go back to the 70s and 80s, sure. But we're coming off a great season. Some stellar revivals (Parade, Sweeney), a great new "nerdical" in Kimberly Akimbo, and a critics' darling in Some Like it Hot. This season already has some firepower with Merrily, and a new Adam Guettel musical is exciting.
It seems B'way is drawing a large audience even with higher prices. 80% of the shows don't make their investment back and this is mostly why a lot of new musicals will start with a cast album, out-of-town performances and often just perform elsewhere instead of NYC. NYC isn't the end-all be-all. I have a client who wrote a show and is licensing it to schools all over the US. She's never had a production or a run of it in NYC but is doing great with it.
@@KevinLynchNJ Yep! Off-Broadway and regional theaters are the bread and butter of originality these days.
I'm maybe not your target audience as I only see Broadway shows about once a year. But when choosing them for me it's been mostly about interest in the story combined with interesting musical and technical aspects. I come from a music and technical theater background so seeing impressive things in those areas is as important to me sometimes as the performances. That said, another consideration is whether I could potentially see it on tour later which is so much less expensive.
It’s simple economics. Our economy still hasn’t recovered from the pandemic, and public perception of our economy is even worse. Hollywood movies and Broadway shows are Luxuries, and are thus among the first things to be cut from consumer spending. Broadway shows will see an uptick in Q4 due to NYC being a vacation spot, but even those numbers will be lower than pre-pandemic.the congestion tax certainly won’t help, but I don’t think it will be as big of a factor as others might think.
I’d watch Hadestown, Book of Mormon and maybe Spamalot because I haven’t seen them but to be honest, watching musicals in New York has so far been a slight dissapointment, despite always watching musicals I like. It was always too slick and manic and visually aimless. I always came out feeling like I’d eaten empty calories. Also the singing isn’t good
I play the lottery I go mostly based on word of mouth or whatever lottery I may win. Not sure if this helps.
To add I take the train in from DE (I grew up in Northern New Jersey so traveling to NYC is not a big deal for me)
Modern musical theater has become EXTREMELY pretentious imo. It seems rather than generating themes and a message that naturally works in tandem with a story; the narrative is almost a backseat to-not even themes at this point-but politics.
Sometimes this works (Hamilton), but other times not so much (Rent).
Broadway is also so obsessed with modernizing everything. Sweeney Todd especially is a good example with Aaron Tveit playing the lead character-which should normally be played by a bass baritone. I feel this way about the into the woods revival as well. Gavin Creel is not a good cinderella’s prince. And I suppose the reason they casted him was to contrast Joshua Henry’s beautiful chest voice; but this could be all speculation (and even if it wasn’t, this only works for their interactions and I think it totally ruins the comedy of the character)
I dont live anywhere near that. I live in the Netherlands and there is not a big musical culture here. Although to be fair my local theater has big productions. I saw last year Les Mis however I already knew it like the back of my hand. For me I go to them if I know I will already like it. I am not dishing out 80$ for a show I'm not sure I will like.
The total number of seats available has diminished significantly (about 3M fewer seats than pre-COVID), which is reflected in the number of seats sold. So the percentage of seats sold holds steady while the ticket prices (top and bottom) have also risen to pay for rising performance costs, including insurance and set construction. I haven't been to a Broadway show in ages - I think URINETOWN had just opened - but I'm in London every year and catch the shows there. Ticket prices are much lower than in NYC, and you can buy (way overpriced) ice cream during intermission from the ushers. I think I paid 30 pounds to see DEAR EVAN HANSEN.
Interesting! I'm assuming you are in the UK? What is the theatre economy like over there?
@@KevinLynchNJ I'm actually in Houston, but I visit London annually and usually see five or six shows. including something at The Globe. Theatres are still partially subsidized by the state, which keeps ticket prices below comparable Broadway prices, and patrons need to purchase programs (versus the free Playbills we over here hand out). HAMILTON, for example, could be had for around 25 pounds not long ago. Biggest complaint, which Sondheim echoed, is the Disneyfication/jukeboxing of musicals and the drop in the number of non-musical comedies and dramas (although I caught the excellent new THE CRUCIBLE in June). Lots of small theatres, however, where one can see good productions of smaller and/or older musicals.
The shows suck. The fact that Aladdin is still on Broadway is indicative of this. That show has so many problems.
We have talked about alot of the musical choices, think tank investor garbage, AI, etc.
Also, this is an overall decline in our society similar to the film industry as the west prepares for a world war.
Do you think we will enter into a world war?
Kevin...how can I send you an email ?
info@kevinlynchnj.com