NYC Transit Strike Singes Broadway, Burns Off-Broadway Shows

While the full effects of the three-day New York City transit strike may not be fully known until next week, Broadway emerged from the shutdown with only minor financial hardship, according to Alan Cohen, a spokesperson for the League of American Theatres and Producers.

Wednesday matinee performances on December 21 were hardest hit, with a no-show rate of approximately six percent. “I think people became aware of the difficulty of getting in and out of the city, especially during rush hour, and stayed home,” says Cohen. For the evening performances of December 20-22, there was a slightly higher than normal volume of calls for ticket exchanges, and no-shows were in the one to three percent range, a small jump from usual levels. However, additional walk-up business made up for much of the shortfall, adds Cohen.

Audiences who did make it to the Wednesday matinee of Spamalot got a special treat: Co-author and original Monty Pythonite Eric Idle emerged from the audience to entertain the crowd while the cast awaited the arrival of star Hank Azaria, who was stuck in traffic.

As might have been expected, Off-Broadway productions — especially those that were already having trouble getting audiences — were hardest hit by the strike. A few shows cancelled some performances, such as Apparition at the East Village’s Connelly Theater and the just-starting Newsical at the Village Theatre on Bleecker Street. Yet the house was full for the Wednesday night performance of Dog Sees God at the Century Center for the Performing Arts in Union Square.

Other shows offered special deals for last-minute patrons — e.g., $30 tickets to In the Continuum and Five Course Love, both located in Greenwich Village. A real bargain for theatergoers was the $10 rush tickets offered for the Second Stage production of The Little Dog Laughed, Douglas Carter Beane’s new play about the hyprocisy of Hollywood. Like other subscription-based houses, Second Stage had many regular patrons call to cancel their tickets, since it’s traditional policy is to allow date changes for any reason; but many others took advantage of the reduced-price offer, according to the show’s press agent, Tom D’Ambrosio.

Sales at the TKTS booth in Duffy Square were down approximately 20 percent from last year’s pre-Christmas week, says spokesperson David LeShay. However, he notes that the drop might not have been completely attributable to the strike, citing such other factors as the unusually cold weather.