News and notes from around the interweb:
- It’s too expensive to travel to New York, and that’s killing Broadway shows. And this is largely a policy choice.
This article was interesting but misses a key factor: NYC banned construction of new hotels, largely banned Airbnb, and filled up tens of thousands of hotel rooms with illegal immigrants instead of tourists. Policy choices to make hotel rooms scarce are bad for theater. https://t.co/K64i3j039T
— Josh Barro (@jbarro) September 23, 2025
- The American Airlines employee/family ‘AA20’ 20% discount now extends to cash and miles upgrades.
- Border patrol arresting Uber drivers at Chicago O’Hare
- Works for anyone with an ex- named Logan, too.
- What’s grosser than gross?
- American Airlines hiring Hebrew speakers, maybe they’ll finally return to Tel Aviv after two years…
AA flight attendant openings, languages:
Greek, Italian, Dutch, Hungarian, Czech and Hebrew.
jobs.aa.com/go/Flight-At…
— JonNYC (@xjonnyc.bsky.social) October 16, 2025 at 4:46 PM
NYC, and Broadway, are doing just fine; though, there may be a strike soon, because the shows workers do need healthcare. Rest assured, the good shows are still packed. Recently saw Waiting for Godot with Keanu Reeves and Alex Winter; let’s just say, it was an… excellent adventure.
Oh please. That article came out in the middle of Broadway negotiating with the union. Broadway is not dying. Every show is packed and ticket prices are through the roof. Related story, congestion pricing did not kill Broadway either.
Knowing Ryanair they probably will send that person an annual licensing bill for using their name.
Are you guys kidding? It’s dying. New shows are closing within months of opening. The article cited fact.
Just because wicked and lion king are doing well means little for the overall health of Broadway.
It is currently cheaper to fly RT from Europe to NYC, than it is for 1 night in a hotel there. The average night for a hotel is now around $500 in the off-season. Insanity.
apparently the “but the flight is full so they must be making money” argument applies to theater as well.
just wait until the mayoral frontrunner reallocates even more wealth. It’s no wonder Florida’s economy is growing so much. and every state up and down the east coast. and even a few further inland
It’s only going to get worse when that woke Hamas Marxist becomes mayor.
@Tim first of all, the mayor of NYC has no ability to raise income taxes
second, Broadway attendance is driven by tourists, which would not be affected by NYC income taxes
third, reallocating wealth mean there are _more_ people that could go to the theatre.
@ Beachfan — Just because it is on FoxNews doesn’t make it a fact! More likely, the opposite.
If Broadway has any attendance problems it is from greed. The prices are absurd. Even after paying to cross the ocean in a lie flat and a room at the Park Hyatt, it is cheaper to see a show in West End.
Ok – facts! Last season was the highest grossing revenue in Broadway history and the second best for attendance (91.2% of all seats filled – airlines would be happy with that load factor, yes?). Not every show is going to be a hit (and if you put equity dollars behind Boop! the musical, you deserve to lose money). Plenty of shows open and close within the first year – that’s typical. Also typical – businesses often complain about profits when they are in negotiations with their workers about compensation.
I’m certainly not thrilled about the mayoral election and some recent trends in the city, but folks have been predicting the death of NYC forever, and… surprise, it’s still here! NYC tourism numbers are far from falling off a cliff. Pre-pandemic record was 66.6m and got 64.5m last year, second highest ever. May or may not be flat to slightly positive in 2025 but we will see, and policy decisions at the federal level impacting international tourists coming to the US have a lot more to do with it than anything a NYC mayor can control. And we’ve got the world cup coming in 2026 (26 matches plus the final), so, uh, there will be just a bit of international tourism next year in the region.
Lots of comments and people making statements claiming those are facts but without proof.
So, just a basis chart showing the current status of all Broadway shows. The average attendance percentage for last week shows a figure of 94.15%, which isn’t dying. As far as the number of shows which closed/failed without giving a historical perspective of that figure over, let’s say, the past 30 years is meaningless. An argument could perhaps be made that producers were mounting shows that people just didn’t want to see.
https://www.broadwayworld.com/grosses.cfm
Broadway theatre seats are so cramped that they make low cost airline coach seems spacious.
There’s always a bunch of people who imagine NYC isn’t the hell hole it is. Maybe after the voters commit the city to the path to hell after they elect the Madmani, we’ll see tourists do the smart thing and go elsewhere.
Newsweek cited a survey of New Yorkers that “found that 34 percent were actively considering leaving the city. A further 32 percent said they were open to the idea of moving away, but not currently actively considering it.”
It’s the shows. They are not good. Prices are expensive. Too much bridge and tunnel crowd. Want to see quality theater, at reasonable prices, in a more enjoyable setting? London.
Trans people and the Bad Bunny Super Bowl halftime show have also negatively impacted Broadway
lol no.
Motels in Queens and Long Island being leased as short-term housing for migrants is not keeping tourists away from Broadway.
It’s the $300 tickets for jukebox musicals based on 80s sitcoms and random dead celebrities that is killing Broadway.
Just because Josh Barro tweeted it, doesn’t make it true and worth reporting as news. Dude is a right-wing nepo baby from Los Angeles. He has no credibility.
@Peter
Ryanair did share this on their social media with the added comment: “no, you can’t have free flights”
@IsaacM – ha, let them off with a warning 😉