🔒CT theater audiences return for Broadway hits, but ‘middle-of-the-road’ shows create ticket-sale challenges

Post-pandemic audiences are returning in various degrees to Connecticut’s largest presenting houses — The Bushnell in Hartford, Palace Theater in Waterbury and Shubert Theatre in New Haven.

The new concern among venue leaders is how to keep the now more-selective theatergoers coming.

“Much of our traditional Broadway audience returned this spring,” said David Fay, CEO of The Bushnell.

But it didn’t look so good at the start of the 2022-23 season, he said. “We began the season (last fall) with three weeks of ‘Hamilton’ at a time when we were still masking, testing and doing other pandemic-related stuff.”

Fay said the return of Broadway scored relatively well, but because The Bushnell, with its 2,800-seat capacity, projected pre-pandemic attendance levels and ticket sales for “Hamilton,” the theater ended up half-a-million dollars in the hole on that production.

“We thought, ‘Wow, if this is going to be the harbinger of the season, it’s going to be a tough year, so fasten the seatbelts,’” he said.

But audiences returned in force at the start of 2023, with the arrival of the Broadway smash “Six,” followed by a series of fresh Broadway shows including: “Tina: the Tina Turner Musical,” “Ain’t Too Proud,” “Jagged Little Pill,” and “To Kill a Mockingbird,” with Richard Thomas, which broke box-office records for a nonmusical play.

“‘Six’ turned the corner for us,” said Fay, “and for every show after that, we exceeded our budget projections by a couple hundred thousand.”

The Bushnell’s Broadway series attendance during the 2022-23 season was up 60% to 168,888, while revenues increased 59% to $14.9 million.

Fay attributes the turnaround to a windfall of top shows that finally hit the road after the pandemic.

“There was just a lot more product and a lot of it appealed to a slightly younger audience,” he said. “And that younger audience came in droves.”

Fay foresees that wave of hot shows with pop music appeal continuing during the 2023-24 season, which begins in October.

It will include Connecticut touring premieres of musicals like “Moulin Rouge,” “Frozen,” “The Cher Show,” and “Beetlejuice.”

Though the Broadway series makes up a large part of its box office, attendance and revenues from other shows The Bushnell presents have not yet come back to the same degree, Fay said.

Overall, The Bushnell recorded about a $350,000 surplus during its 2023 fiscal year, but much of that was the result of federal stimulus money, which will be decreasing over the next two years, he warned.

Fay said he is also concerned about the 2024-25 season, when the number of must-see Broadway hits, which fill the coffers and boost subscriptions, is significantly smaller.

“There are really good quality shows out there, but it’s the quantity of quality shows that’s not there. That’s because the (Broadway hit-show) pipeline got shut down for a couple of years,” he said. “I don’t think there will be a single show for the (2024-25) season that will gross more than a million for us.”

Tried and true

Audiences, however, have not returned to the same degree at the Shubert or Palace, which usually present major shows well after The Bushnell.

Anthony McDonald, executive director of the Shubert Theatre, said around 57% of audiences returned for the 2022-23 season compared to pre-pandemic levels.

The theater showed attendance “slightly up” this past season compared to the previous one: 25,712 for six Broadway productions in 2022-23 vs. 15,799 in 2021-22 for five shows. Revenues rose, too, from $1.3 million to $1.9 million.

Though people’s pandemic fears are mostly over, McDonald said the challenge now is attracting audiences whose leisure habits have significantly changed.

It’s a matter of presenting shows that will bring people back to the theaters, and McDonald said he’s betting on tried-and-true productions that have done well in the past.

“The Book of Mormon,” which had a longer run than usual last March, filled 93% of the theater’s 1,600 seats. “Blue Man Group,” in January, and “Jesus Christ Superstar,” in April, also did well with the theater selling out 80% or more of seats.

The new season, which begins in November, will again be centered on familiar titles such as “Annie,” “Chicago” and “Stomp,” along with newer solid hit shows such as “Come From Away” and “Hadestown.”

The outlier in the mix is the Broadway production of “Company,” a revival that is making its Connecticut premiere at the Shubert.

People seem to be attracted to the new lineup. With an earlier launch of new season subscriptions and a fresh marketing plan, McDonald said the Shubert has seen 40% growth in subscriptions and renewals.

“Things are starting to go in the right direction,” he said.

Beyond this upcoming season, McDonald hopes to attract one or possibly two Broadway productions that will mount and launch their tours at the theater, thanks to recently passed tax credit legislation that incentivizes shows to prepare their tours in Connecticut.

But McDonald notes that he is also obliged to fulfill the theater’s mission of presenting more diverse programming that may not initially do as well.

“When you’re trying to reach new audiences, they don’t know or trust you, and you may not know what they’re really looking for,” he said. “But it has to start somewhere.”

One and done

Like his colleagues, Frank Tavera, CEO of Waterbury’s Palace Theater, was concerned about the weak audience numbers last fall, which showed only 70% of theatergoers returning compared to pre-pandemic levels.

“But from where we started last fall to where we ended this summer is vastly different,” he said. “We saw there was huge (pandemic) hesitancy then, and the fall was really tough.”

When COVID restrictions were lifted, crowds began to return to a greater degree, depending on the appeal of individual shows, Tavera said.

The Palace’s attendance during the 2022-23 season rose 26% to 17,320, while revenues were up to $1.1 million.

“Blockbuster titles that traditionally sell well will always sell well, but if you do a middle-of-the-road show like ‘Sound of Music,’ the temperature is already a little bit weak, and if you add some of that remaining pandemic hesitancy — not to mention the fact that people are used to staying home — all off those factor in the attendance decision-making. The middle-of-the road titles will be the ones at the greatest risk for us.”

The 2,900-seat Palace’s new season, which begins in October, will include “Pretty Woman,” “To Kill a Mockingbird,” “On Your Feet! The Story of Emilio & Gloria Estefan,” “Jesus Christ Superstar,” “The Book of Mormon” and “Mean Girls.” There’s also one nonmusical, “The Kite Runner,” which is not being presented anywhere else in the state.