Did you ever wonder how a Broadway show makes it into a Broadway theater? For many years in the 1970s and 80s, booking a show into a theater was not difficult. Broadway was littered with empty legit houses, and producers had the choice of any number of vacant theaters. In the 1990s, New York City made an enormous effort to clean up the Theatre District and Times Square. The city focused on making the area safe and family-friendly. This turnaround gave a boost to the area economy and revitalized Broadway. Now, booking a Broadway theater requires patience, perseverance and a great relationship with theater owners. There are three organizations that own and operate the majority of the theaters on Broadway: The Shubert Organization controls seventeen, The Nederlander Organization owns nine and Jujamcyn owns five.
Contrary to popular belief, not all Broadway theaters are actually on Broadway. In fact, most of the theaters sit just a block or two off of the famed Great White Way. Currently, there are 39 theaters in New York that qualify as Broadway theaters. In order to be considered a Broadway house, theaters must have at least 500 seats and be located, generally, in Midtown Manhattan.
Today, all 39 theaters are booked. Many house long-running blockbusters like THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA, MAMMA MIA! and WICKED, making the limited number of theaters available even more scarce. So, how does a theatrical producer get their show on Broadway? The process can begin months or even years in advance. Nick Scandalios, Executive Vice President of The Nederlander Organization said, “The ability to get a theater is at a premium now. There is no set process for booking a theater. The fact is most producers know all of the theater owners. Sometimes, it just takes a phone call.”
Scandalios explained that because of the tightness of the market, many factors come into play. “It’s simple supply and demand economics.” Beyond having an available theater, it is vital to understand the size and scope of a production. Some theaters are better for plays than musicals. If a production is a large, technically-oriented spectacle, producers will need a larger stage and larger capacity in order to sell enough seats to hopefully break even and, eventually, make a profit. If a show is smaller in scale, one of the smaller Broadway houses like the Helen Hayes Theatre or Booth Theatre might be the perfect match – assuming it is available.
“Theater owners do things based on relationships and timing,” said Scandalios. “All theater owners want to minimize the dark time of a theater. It becomes a symbiotic dance with producers.” For example, when a new show is far enough along in the creative process, producers may need to know the final destination in order to help raise money for the production. In some cases, knowing where the show will play may make it easier to find investors.
If a show has run its course and is no longer selling enough tickets, steps are taken to determine if the show is still viable, or if it should close – making space available for another production to open. Because of the high demand for theaters, Scandalios explained that “there is an ongoing conversation between theater owners and producers regarding the closing of a show. It is a delicate dance to keep everyone feeling good about the production in question.”
In the end, when one production shutters, another one is ready to move in and open, and that is exactly how theater owners, like Scandalios, want it. “Having more theaters open all the time is better for everyone because that means the industry is healthy, and New York City must also stay clean and safe for our business to remain healthy.”
For a complete listing of Broadway theaters, please visit the League of American Theatres and Producers website.
By: Todd Stuart
