Broadway Theaters Open to Full Capacity

As a managing partner at Lynx Equity Strategies, Jahanara Nissar is a Technology Strategist who focuses on tech stocks spanning semiconductors and the Internet. An avid theatergoer, Jahanara Nissar enjoys going to Broadway shows when she has the opportunity.

The first half of 2021 has been quiet on Broadway, with shows such as Hamilton at the Richard Rodgers Theatre closed due to pandemic restrictions. This has had a profound economic impact. The theater industry is large, with financial benefits rippling throughout the community, from stagehand and actors to local hotels.

For this reason, three of the most profitable mega-musicals, “Wicked,” “The Lion King,” and “Hamilton,” are returning to full capacity from mid-September 2021. To ensure safe reopening, the Broadway League announced strict protocols, such as vaccination and mask requirements, at every theater on Broadway.

A larger factor than the ability to sell the maximum number of tickets is whether tourism will recover quickly enough to generate the sold-out halls envisioned. Tourists make up more than two-thirds of Broadway ticket sales, and their numbers are still drastically reduced. With 66.6 million visitors having visited New York City in 2019, the forecast for 2021 is 36.1 million visitors.