Breaking Down This Season's April Crush

We are officially done with the Broadway season. And, this season, there have been a lot of complaints about the spring crush.

Almost every year you hear these complaints—this year they seemed louder. But was it worse than normal? Counting Cabaret only once despite its two gala openings, there were fourteen openings in the month of April, which is not at all a record breaker. There were more openings in April 2022 and April 2013, for example. There were also exactly fourteen openings in April in three other seasons since 2010. However, there was something that made this year different from all other years. That is the number of openings very close to the eligibility deadline. Thanks to three different days with two openings per day, there were nine openings within five days of the eligibility deadline. That is abnormally high.

For those who don’t know, the Broadway League keeps the opening night calendar. In theory, that is partially supposed to be so things don’t open on the same day. Ask anyone at the League and the official line is that they don’t have the power to control when the producers open shows, but they try to manage for the betterment of the industry. This management has failed in the past—and in prior years two things have certainly opened on the same day. But, at least in this century, it’s never happened three times in April.

Now, the simple narrative has always been the April crush is about winning the big Tony Awards. Insiders often relay this as: “Nine beat Dreamgirls!” That’s why you’ll see people who argue against opening in April posting about all the Tony winners that opened early in the season. Hamilton! Kimberly Akimbo! But it’s more complicated than this narrative.

In an ever-dicey consumer market, it is even more difficult to survive through harsh winter months. Tony nominations can increase respectability and exposure. They can help goose the grosses. Think about the grosses of Shucked before the Tony nominations and after them.

That’s another key issue—while many think winning the big awards is the only thing that truly sells tickets, there is a feeling that the more nominations you can put on an ad, the better. And no matter how many stats you can cite, there is always going to be a belief that borderline elements have a better shot at being nominated if nominators see the show closer to nominations. Spring is also adjacent to the tourism boom of summer, which is another benefit.

But are there negatives to opening all at once in the spring? Critics would say their reviews aren’t as well thought out, but I’d chalk that damage up as negligible. The real press damage is that mainstream outlets only cover so much Broadway; it is tough for press agents to get those big breaks for their shows. During a time when over a dozen shows are opening, it’s even harder, because there simply isn’t an appetite in major outlets for a ton of theater coverage.

Then there is the direct impact at the box office. Some theatergoers only go to Broadway to see a specific show or else they wouldn’t be attending. I had them around me at The Wiz; I know first-time theatergoers who went to The Outsiders. (Other shows, especially those with brand names or stars, get them.) However, some theatergoers simply want to see a Broadway show. For them, having so many to choose from is great, but for producers, not so much. The more shows these people are spread between, the worse for producers.

Now, you can argue that, ideally, all the shows that opened in the summer/fall would still be open in the spring, and therefore there would be just as many choices. Even in that dream world, it would be different, because some shows would have had time to establish word-of-mouth and a brand; we’d have some differentiation rather than a deluge.

There are other pros and cons to a spring opening, but this gives you an idea of some of them. My Tony preview piece, where I talk rulings and other wonky topics, will be up later today.

Industry Trends Weekly is a short column that runs in the weekly Industry Pro Newsletter. To read past columns and subscribe click here. If you have an idea for the column, you can reach the author at cara@broadwayworld.com.