🌅 Broadway Musicals Are Struggling

SOURCE

The New York Times

WHAT TO KNOW

• Of the 46 new musicals that opened on Broadway since the COVID pandemic, just three managed to turn a profit. The shows cost investors $800 million to bring to the stage, though experts estimate only about 10% of new Broadway musicals are now profitable, roughly half of the historical average for the category long seen as the industry’s bread-and-butter. Producers say the cost of staging a musical has skyrocketed in recent years while ticket prices have remained flat and attendance lagged, making it tough to turn a profit.

WHY IT MATTERS

• While Broadway’s long-running juggernauts remain popular—Wicked has benefitted from last year’s film adaptation, while Hamilton recently welcomed back Tony-winning star Leslie Odom Jr.—new productions have struggled. New musicals Tammy Faye, Boop!, and Smash each cost around $20 million to produce, and each closed within four months of opening. Hit revivals Cabaret and Gypsy also closed this past month without either recouping their roughly $20 million budgets. Even Sunset Boulevard, which won this year’s Tony award for best musical revival, failed to make back its $15 million cost. Overall, none of the 18 musicals that opened on Broadway last season made a profit.

CONNECT THE DOTS

• Nonetheless, Broadway enjoyed a record 2024-2025 season, grossing a total of $1.89 billion to beat the previous record of $1.83 billion brought in during the pre-pandemic 2018-2019 season. The success stems from the opening of several high-profile plays, of which seven are profitable, including Good Night and Good Luck starring George Clooney and Othello led by Denzel Washington and Jack Gyllenhaal.