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:

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.