Filled Broadway seats hit pre-pandemic levels in first full season since Covid
Cast members perform during "Moulin Rouge! The Musical" on Broadway at the Al Hirschfeld Theatre on May 11
By Nicki Brown, CNN
(CNN) — Filled Broadway seats reached pre-pandemic levels in the 2022-2023 season — which is the first full season of shows since Covid first forced theaters to shutter, The Broadway League announced Tuesday.
“Broadway is making a strong rebound as audiences are returning to New York City to experience extraordinary live theatre,” Charlotte St. Martin, the president of the industry’s national trade association, said in a statement.
A total of 88.4% of Broadway show seats were filled in the 2022-2023 season, the League’s statement said. That’s comparable to the 89.7% in the 2018-2019 run, which was the the last full season pre-Covid.
The most recent Broadway season attracted nearly 12.3 million people to 40 new productions and 35 continuing productions, and it grossed about $1.6 billion, the League added.
Before Covid hit stateside, Broadway had been enjoying a strong run: That last 2018-2019 season attracted record attendance of 14.7 million and grossed a record $1.8 billion.
But then, in March 2020, the pandemic forced all 41 Broadway theaters to close. The first full-capacity Broadway performance after the shutdown was in June 2021, and several major productions returned in September 2021, but it wasn’t until the 2022-2023 season that Broadway made a full return.
The-CNN-Wire
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