Attendance figures at New York City’s Broadway theaters rose nearly 45% this past season from the year before, indicating a return to pre-pandemic levels, according to numbers released Tuesday.
For the 2022-23 season, Broadway attendance reached 12.28 million, according to the Broadway League, a trade organization for the theater industry. The season, which runs from May 2022 to April 2023, marks the first full season since returning from Broadway. Covid-19 is global.
Those numbers were a significant increase from the shortened 2021-22 season, which saw attendance reach 6.73 million, the Broadway League said.
There was Broadway off From March 2020 to September 2021 for about a year and a half by the epidemic.
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The 2022-23 season saw Broadway box office grosses total $1.578 billion, up from $845 million per Broadway league the previous year.
88.4% of seats are filled for 11,506 performances of the 2022-23 season, the Broadway League added.
“Broadway is making a strong comeback as audiences return to New York City to experience extraordinary live theater,” Broadway League President Charlotte St. Martin said in a statement.
For comparison, in 2018–19, attendance reached 14.77 million and box office totals of $1.829 billion, both Broadway records.
Broadway opened 40 new shows last season, including 35 returning productions. According to the Broadway League, 15 of these new shows were musicals and 24 were plays. Last month, “The Phantom of the Opera,” the longest-running show in Broadway history, took place ultimate performance. The show has been on Broadway since January 1988.