Broadway comeback still faces hurdles to bring audiences back

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Broadway comeback still faces hurdles to bring audiences back

Yahoo Finance's Allie Canal discusses the state of Broadway shows as the industry continues to rebound from the pandemic.

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Broadway comeback still faces hurdles to bring audiences back

Sat, June 18, 2022, 6:22 AM

Yahoo Finance's Allie Canal discusses the state of Broadway shows as the industry continues to rebound from the pandemic.

Video Transcript

- With COVID nearly in the rear view mirror and the international travelers no longer required to show a negative test, is Broadway finally back? Will it ever be the same? Yahoo Finance's Allie Canal here. Allie, nice to see you. So "Top Gun" really showed us that people will return to the movie theaters. Is there an equivalent? Are we seeing a return to Broadway?

ALEXANDRA CANAL: I think what's happening to Broadway is similar to what we're seeing at the box office, right? "Top Gun," "Jurassic World," they're killing it. But some of those more middle tier movies, they're struggling. And the same thing is happening with Broadway. "Hamilton," "Wicked," "Phantom of the Opera," those performances have no problem filling seats. But the plays and some of those lesser known musicals, they do not really-- they're not able to fill the seats to the level that some of those bigger productions are.

And if we take a look at overall Broadway attendance from last week, you'll see that attendance came in at around 85%. That is lower than pre-pandemic levels, which came in right around 94%. Still not totally terrible. I did get the chance to speak with Broadway producer Ron Simons. He told me that there are a few things that Broadway needs to change in order to get back to those levels and really create a new Broadway.

One of those things is making sure that you have diverse stories in order to bring diverse audiences, in order to maximize your income. You want to make sure that you're not pricing people out of the market, either, so that you're offering diversified pricing, discounts, group ticketing, things like that. Because I do think prices are a big issue for Broadway right now.

SEANA SMITH: Allie, going forward, I think a lot of it was, at least Broadway in the midst of the pandemic and also when we were initially starting to see Broadway reopen, they were waiting for the international traveler. Now we're seeing the international travel seemingly coming back. Do they expect that to provide any sort of a boost here over the next couple of months, especially since we're right in the middle of summer?