Each year on the first Sunday after New Years (January 6th this year), a large number of Broadway shows close. Some limited runs, some Holiday shows, but the balance are shows that profited during the financially-lush Christmas season but not into the stark month of February.
I'd say this year is no different, but among all the shows closing in January only 4 are actually closing on that January 6th date. Some close on December 30th, a few (Anarchist, The Performers) didn't make it to Christmas at all, and a handful of others are closing a few weeks after that standard January 6th date. And still you have others--Picnic, The Other Place, Cat On A Hot Tin Roof--with limited runs that have either just started previews or are about to, and won't open until January. Perhaps I've always assumed that the time between December 31st and the first Sunday after New Years was more financially worthwhile than it really is. And perhaps there's something keeping tourists around more through January 20th than the rest of January and February (Martin Luther King weekend?).
I admit haven't been paying much attention to Broadway this season. On a whole I'm quite less interested in the new autumn stuff than usual, and you can sort of see the general theatre-going audience feel that way as well:
The Anarchist- Annie
- The Book of Mormon
Bring It On(Dec 30)Chaplin(Jan 6)- Chicago
A Christmas Story(Dec 30)DeadAccounts (Feb 24)Elf(Jan 6)- Evita
Glengarry Glen Ross(Jan 20)Golden Boy(Jan 20)Grace(Jan 6)The Heiress(Feb 10)- Jersey Boys
- Lion King
- Mamma Mia
- Mary Poppins
- The Mystery of Edwin Drood
- Newsies
- Nice Work If You Can Get It
- Once
The OtherPlace (Feb 2)The PerformersPeter and the Starcatcher(Jan 20)- The Phantom of the Opera
- Rock of Ages
Scandalous(Dec 9)- Spider-Man
War Horse(Jan 6)Who's Afraid of VirginiaWoolf? (Feb 24)- Wicked
In past years I've "half" crossed out shows that seemed like they still had a chance to announce a closing. But looking at the past week's percentages and grosses for non-crossed-out shows, the lowest-scoring are Mamma Mia, Chicago, Evita, Mary Poppins, Phantom and Spider-Man, all in the 60-something percent capacity range. Really, the only one of those I might guess has a shot of closing this winter is Evita, which loses Ricky Martin, Elena Roger and Michael Cerveris on January 26th, with no replacements announced as of yet.
Usually it's nice to see that those strikeouts are just making room for more new exciting stuff, but aside from wanting to Matilda solely based on Kevin Daly's high praise, I think I'm going to tune out of this upcoming Spring as much as I tuned out on the past autumn.