The Shows Must Go On (and On!): One Writer Tackles the Busiest Week on Broadway

On Broadway, April is a time for the 20-something city blocks it covers to put on as much mega-watt glamor as it typically reserves for its stages. The reason? Cutoff for Tony Award eligibility comes near the end of the month; this year being April 25. Think of it as a parallel to the way “Oscar movies” come out around the holidays, so they’re fresh in voters’ minds in time for the ceremony.

The difference here is that the theater world has no Tellurides, no Cannes, no Torontos. There’s no globetrotting festival circuit for shows to rack up goodwill on their way to the big premiere. A few weeks of previews, an out-of-town tryout, maybe—but things can still change before they’re “frozen” into the finished work that’s offered up for consideration.

In short, audiences (and the darling critics among them) are gifted—or cursed, depending on how you look at it—with a maelstrom of new shows every April, and this year is particularly frenzied: there are 12 openings in a nine-day final stretch beginning April 17. This means 12 sets of red carpets, curtain call speeches, after-parties, and lots of publicity in a little over a week.

I’ve been covering New York theater for four seasons (plus, of course, being spiritually attuned to the ones that came before) and had never seen something like this. The ups: so much attention paid to Broadway. The downs: each show must fight for individual love; enough to draw crowds, earn good reviews, and hope the flurry of new productions doesn’t wear out audiences who will need to stay engaged long after the Tonys if they are to survive.

The industry’s still shaken up from the pandemic, attempting to recover its pre-lockdown audiences and keep them coming. This means that, for its guests, Opening Season will be glitzier, stuntier, and more celebratory than ever.

For me, it means I’ll be running around Midtown Manhattan, darting from carpet to curtain to cocktail—not always in that order, or for the same show—trying to capture some of the magic that’s spilling off the stages this season. (On top of my commitment to review a handful of these productions, and juggle an unrelated day job, mind you). Armed with a phone, notebook, and rotating set of press passes, I’ll provide a sense of what Broadway is like for its casts, crews, devoted fans, and drop-in celebs during this magical, maniacal time.

Wednesday, April 17