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In the 2022-2023 Broadway season, the first full season since theaters were closed due to the pandemic, audience numbers were down by 17 percent from 2018-2019, according to a study released Monday by the Broadway League.
This came as the season included high-grossing shows, such as Sweeney Todd, starring Josh Groban and Annaleigh Ashford and Funny Girl starring Lea Michele. That said, 2018-2019 was a record year for Broadway attendance and grosses. And the audience that returned after the theatrical shutdown was younger and more diverse.
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As has been noted by members in the industry, suburban theatergoers, which had been a key audience segment, have been slow to return post-pandemic, with 14 percent of overall admissions coming from this segment in the 2022-2023 season, marking the lowest number on record in 23 years of the survey.
Industry members have theorized that the reluctance to work from offices in the city, which may have meant suburbanites were more likely to attend Broadway shows during the week, has contributed to the downturn in suburban admissions. This segment has made up between 14.6 percent to 21.2 percent of the audience since the 2006-2007 season.
Senior citizens, another key audience segment, were also slow to return to the theater, while younger people returned at a higher rate. This led to an average age of 40.4 for the Broadway theatergoer, which was the youngest in the past 20 seasons.
Another key change in the 2022-2023 report was the racial makeup of audiences. Twenty-nine percent of attendees identified as Black, Indigenous or People of Color, which is the highest number to date, with Black theatergoers representing the largest percentage increase from the 2018-2019 season. The Broadway League has theorized this is due to greater outreach and more plays starring and written by people of color, including that season’s revivals of Between Riverside and Crazy, The Piano Lesson and Topdog/Underdog and the new play Fat Ham. However, some of the season’s shows, including Ain’t No Mo’, which was written by and starring people of color, posted quick closings amid an environment that they say favored known brands or celebrities.
Still, a younger and more diverse audience will likely help the industry as it continues its rebound from the pandemic. As of last week, Broadway attendance for the 2023-2024 season to date was up 2.4 percent from the prior season.
In the 2022-2023 season, the Broadway audience remained mostly female, representing 65.4 percent of all admissions, college-educated and wealthy, with an average household income of $271,277. The strongest motivating factors for show selection were the music and personal recommendation.
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