Few Musicals On Broadway This Season!

Coming out of the pandemic, Broadway was awash in new musicals. Fourteen opened during the 2024-25 season, and 15 the season before that.

But almost all of them were flops, and the industry took note.

This past season, only six new musicals opened, two of which (“The Queen of Versailles” and “Beaches”) quickly imploded.

The anemic stretch seems likely to continue.

Just two new musicals have announced Broadway runs before the end of the year: “Wanted,” about a pair of outlaw sisters, and “Galileo,” about the astronomer accused of heresy.

It didn’t have to be this way.

Circling Broadway, hoping for a place to land, are musicals featuring the songbooks of Prince and Dolly Parton; musicals about murder and mythology; musicals encouraged by runs Off Broadway, at regional theaters or in London.

So what happened? How did the new musical — long Broadway’s fundamental building block — become so scarce that the New York Drama Critics’ Circle opted to forgo an award this year for best musical. (NYT)

Some things change. Some remain the same.

I hope musicals make a comeback!