Summer Openings: Blessing or Curse?

I can't remember a summer with so many Broadway openings like there are this year. Two plays and three musicals. Three new musicals! That's almost half of the new musicals of the entire last season.

But with summer openings comes the familiar cry, "Summer shows will have no audience!" Or "Summer shows are always flops!" Neither is necessarily true - low audience rates happen sporadically throughout the season, and a flop can happen any time (American Psycho, Tuck Everlasting, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and Bandstand all opened in the coveted "late spring.") So how do summer shows do compared to other calendar seasons? Well, fewer shows open then, so the number is already low.  But are they any more likely to flop? I thought I'd look at long-running shows and see.

Broadway shows that have run over 1,000 performances:

• all time: 118   
• opened during the months of June, July and August: 12 
• the very first Broadway show to reach 1,000 performances opened in August
• Tony Awards: 46, including 1 Best Play and 6 Best Musicals
• Pulitzer Prizes: 2

Numbered by current performance number rank:

June 14, 2011
105. Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark – 1,066 Performances

June 10, 1982

81. Torch Song Trilogy – 1,222 Performances – 2 Tonys including Best Play

August 6, 2015

80. Hamilton – 1,237 Performances (as of July 22, 2018) – 11 Tonys including Best Musical – Pulitzer Prize

August 26, 1918

76. Lightnin’ – 1,291 Performances

This comedy from almost 100 years ago, ran for exactly 3 years - including summers, before air conditioning - and was the very first Broadway show to reach 1,000 performances. Pictured above is the playwright and star, Frank Bacon. It was later made into two movies, including one starring Will Rogers!

June 17, 1969

71. Oh! Calcutta! (Original) – 1,314 Performances

August 10, 1987

65. Me and My Girl – 1,420 Performances – 3 Tonys

June 19, 1978

50. The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas – 1,584 Performances – 2 Tonys

August 21, 1983

44. La Cage aux Folles (Original) – 1,761 Performances – 6 Tonys including Best Musical

July 31, 2003

24. Avenue Q – 2,534 Performances – 3 Tonys including Best Musical

August 15, 2002

22. Hairspray – 2,642 Performances – 8 Tonys including Best Musical

August 25, 1980

14. 42^nd Street (Original) – 3,486 Performances – 2 Tonys including Best Musical

July 25, 1975

7. A Chorus Line – 6,138 Performances – 9 Tonys including Best Musical – Pulitzer Prize