Broadway Hanging On, So Far, in Slow Economy

The crowds still snake down to the statue of George M. Cohan that stands guard in the middle of Times Square. They patiently wait in the hot summer sun to buy theater tickets, most at a 50% discount, at the orange-and-white ticket booth run by the Theater Development Fund.

“This summer is mirroring last summer almost exactly to the ticket--extremely busy,” said treasurer Jim Gatens, a 28-year veteran of the booth. “We are doing between 42,000 and 44,000 seats a week.”

Attendance at Broadway shows has dropped slightly this summer, indicating that a sagging economy and a drop in business if not tourist travel have hurt a bit. Still, according to Variety, grosses for the first nine weeks of this summer season stand at $118.6 million, up from $118.2 million for the 2000-2001 season--boosted by the huge box-office success of “The Producers,” which won a record 12 Tonys this year.

The attendance dip occurred after a year in which a record 11.9 million theatergoers attended a Broadway show. “Roughly nine weeks into the new season, we are off by about 3%,” said Jed Bernstein, head of the League of American Theatres and Producers. “To be off by only 3% from last year’s record-setter means the summer is staying fairly strong.”

But more bad economic news could hurt theater attendance.

“The grosses are holding steady, but the advances are down,” said David Stone, producer of the long-running, off-Broadway hit “The Vagina Monologues.” “People aren’t booking in advance as much. They are still buying tickets. The scarier thing is what is going to happen in September.”

“We are far from a panic situation, but it certainly bears watching,” Bernstein added. “It means keeping the marketing pressure on. Sometimes you get a summer where you can rest a little bit on the momentum from the Tonys and other things. I don’t think this is one of those summers.”

The depth of the summer box office has been provided primarily by three shows: “The Producers,” “The Lion King” and the revival of “42nd Street.”

The first two are sold out for months in advance. The third benefited from an impressive appearance on the nationally televised Tony Awards and from winning the best musical-revival Tony.