United States | Ya got trouble

Broadway is struggling to find its rhythm after the pandemic 

The Great White Way is looking slightly less great 

Josh Gad as ‘Bud’ and Andrew Rannells as ‘Doug’ in Gutenberg! The Musical!
Photograph: Matthew Murphy
|Times Square

Times Square is a bit different these days. Although the ticket touts and Elmo impersonators still jostle tourists, something is missing: for the first time since the 1970s, there are no Andrew Lloyd Webber shows on Broadway. The musical-theatre titan’s latest Broadway offering, “Bad Cinderella”, flopped (much as the original production had done in London), closing after just 85 performances. And after 35 years, the chandelier fell on “The Phantom of the Opera” for the final time. Higher running costs after the pandemic took it to the point of no return.

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This article appeared in the United States section of the print edition under the headline “Ya got trouble”

From the January 13th 2024 edition

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