Broadway Heads Towards A Record of 41 Theatres Occupied

Barring any mishaps or last minute unscheduled show closings, the opening of Call Me Izzy at The Studio 54 Theatre on May 24, 2025 will mark the first time since 1950 that 41 Broadway Theatres have been open with a show performing, despite some incorrect stories that this magical number of 41 has already been recently been achieved. The list of the scheduled shows and the theatres for that date are:

1. & Juliet — Stephen Sondheim
2. Aladdin — New Amsterdam
3. Boop! The Musical — Broadhurst
4. Buena Vista Social Club — Schoenfeld
5. Cabaret at the Kit Kat Club — August Wilson
6. Call Me Izzy — Studio 54
7. Chicago — Ambassador
8. Dead Outlaw — Longacre
9. Death Becomes Her — Lunt-Fontanne
10. Floyd Collins — Vivian Beaumont
11. Glengarry Glen Ross — Palace
12. Good Night, and Good Luck — Winter Garden
13. Gypsy — Majestic
14. Hadestown — Walter Kerr
15. Hamilton — Richard Rodgers
16. Harry Potter and the Cursed Child — Lyric
17. Hell's Kitchen — Shubert
18. John Proctor is the Villain — Booth
19. Just In Time — Circle in the Square
20. Maybe Happy Ending — Belasco
21. MJ — Neil Simon
22. Moulin Rouge! The Musical — Al Hirschfeld
23. Oh, Mary! — Lyceum
24. Operation Mincemeat: A New Musical — Golden
25. Othello — Ethel Barrymore
26. Pirates! The Penzance Musical — Todd Haimes
27. Purpose — Hayes
28. Real Women Have Curves: The Musical — James Earl Jones
29. Redwood — Nederlander
30. Six: The Musical — Lena Horne
31. Smash — Imperial
32. Stephen Sondheim's Old Friends — Friedman
33. Stranger Things: The First Shadow — Marquis
34. Sunset Blvd. — St. James
35. The Book of Mormon — Eugene O'Neill
36. The Great Gatsby — Broadway
37. The Last Five Years — Hudson
38. The Lion King — Minskoff
39. The Outsiders — Jacobs
40. The Picture of Dorian Gray — Music Box
41. Wicked — Gershwin

Erroneous Stories From Playbill And Others

Popular sites like Playbill and the Museum Of Broadway have reported (without evidence) that 41 Broadway theatres were occupied in April 2018, but that is not factually correct. A quick check of the Broadway Grosses data on Broadway World for these dates confirms that this did not happen.

In April 2018, Broadway came very close to — but not fully — having all 41 theatres occupied. The week ending April 8, 2018, 39 theatres were occupied.

Some websites have reported that  41 theatres were occupied in March 2010, but this is also an incorrect statement.

This Is Not The First Time For 100% Broadway Theatre Occupancy

Although this IS the first time in recent history for all 41 Broadway theatres to be occupied, this will not be the first time that Broadway has had 100% occupancy of the theatres that are not under renovation. Broadway has reached the 100% occupancy level on the following dates after 1980.

• April 2017

How Many Broadway Theatres Through The Years:

Over the years the number of Broadway theatres has waxed and waned, so how many Broadway theatres have there been through the years?

• 1900: ~20–25 Broadway theatres
• 1920s (Broadway's Golden Age): ~70 theatres (Broadway's peak in number)
• 1930s (Great Depression): Dropped to 50 theatres as the theatres were closed down or sold
• 1940s: Stabilized around ~40–50 theatres
• 1950s: ~40–45 theatres (some closures, television’s rise)
• 1960s: ~40 theatres (urban decline affected Times Square)
• 1970s: ~39 theatres (many theatres struggling financially)
• 1980: 39–40 active theatres (Times Square Church Changed From a Theatre to a church)
• 1990: 39 active theatres
• 1995: 39 theatres (some theatres were under renovation)
• 1998: Opened the new Lyric Theatre (then Ford Center), slight increase
• 2000: 39–40 theatres
• 2010: 40 theatres (steady, Hudson Theatre still inactive)
• 2017: 41 theatres (Hudson Theatre reopened after major renovation)
• 2018–2020: 41 active theatres (Palace Theatre closed for major TSX redevelopment in 2018, but counted as still existing)
• 2020–2021: COVID-19 shutdown (Broadway theatres closed for 18 months)
• 2022: 41 reopened Broadway theatres (Palace still under renovation but overall 41 still recognized)
• 2025: 41 theatres open (Palace Theatre officially reopened May 2024)