Thanksgiving Day Returning To A Real Holiday

Broadway shows will be operating on a modified performance schedule during the Thanksgiving week of November 21-27, 2016. This year, five Broadway shows are playing on Thanksgiving Thursday, which is at odds with the current US trend of returning Thanksgiving day back to a ubiquitous holiday for all.

In an about-face, most major retail outlets have changed their store strategy this year to match the consumer desire to return Thanksgiving day back to a holiday and will now all be closing on November 24th, in observance of the turkey and trimmings holiday.

Black Friday Just on Friday

It is expected that most minor stores will soon follow suit, bringing Black Friday shopping back to being on just the Friday after Thanksgiving, a first in many years. Broadway is often slow to adopt new thinking and the decision to open some Broadway theatres on Thanksgiving is mostly mired in revenue decisions, with little sentimentality for the season.

Five Broadway shows are throwing caution to the wind and currently scheduled to open up on Thanksgiving Day 2016, these include A Bronx Tale, Chicago, Natasha, Pierre & The Great Comet of 1812, Paramour and Waitress. Eight Broadway shows have scheduled a whopping nine performances in the Thanksgiving week, one more than usual. Those shows include Aladdin, Book of Mormon, Lion King, Chicago, Wicked, Matilda, Oh Hello and School of Rock. Surprisingly, none of these shows will be having a Thanksgiving Day performance, despite their hectic nine show schedule.

Broadway Thanksgiving Performances Often Dictated By Sales

The Thanksgiving performance schedule change can be tough on shows that are at the bottom of the sales curve. One such show, On Your Feet has scheduled eight performances during the Thanksgiving week, with no performance on Thanksgiving day. The show has struggled to sell well and often hits below 60% capacity, consistently the lowest on Broadway.

This is down to less-than-stellar marketing and the size of the theatre. At 1611 seats, the Marquis Theatre may be too large for this production. This leaves the box office with over 40% of the ticket inventory unsold, even after heavy discounting at the Times Square Booth.

Poor Marketing With Daily Deals

On Your Feet has tried to bring Latinos to Broadway, but has been marketing in all the wrong places. In a desperate bid for that demographic, and with its love of daily deal websites, like Groupon and Living Social, On Your Feet may have terminally damaged their brand through the get-rich-quick schemes of the daily-deal websites that will often permanently associate a brand with less-than-stellar quality, long after the actual offer is over.

This sets up low customer expectations and poor brand loyalty, which is at odds with the Broadway show model of a higher price point and premium live entertainment. Think Costco cider compared to French Champagne. Not to say On Your Feet isn't entertaining, because it is, but it's long association with Groupon has given it no quarter for long-term Broadway success. It may do better on the road, but only if it sheds its penchant for daily deals and gets a real theatre following, instead of the jukebox musical bargain hunters. An appropriately sized theatre may also help, because this show is no Lion King.

Long Running Shows Handle The Holidays With Ease

Established Broadway Shows Take Thanksgiving in Their Stride Established shows like Phantom and Fiddler on the Roof, take the holiday break in their stride and do an extra show to make up for the loss of a performance date. Hamilton and most other Broadway show successes are canceling their performances on Thanksgiving Thursday and making up another show on Black Friday.

That day will now have a dizzying 57 performances of 33 different shows all on that one day and all contending with the busiest shopping day of the year. Another show of note is The Illusionists, which is now scheduled to do seven performances over three days, another first on Broadway. Thanksgiving Week on Broadway is shaping up to be as complex as some of the actors that are now appearing.

Broadway Performance Schedule Thanksgiving 2016
LEGEND: Red Strikethrough Dates= Canceled Broadway performance Green Bolded Dates= Extra performance to make up for missed performances Blue Italics= Different curtain time than the normal schedule
Broadway Show	Mon. Nov. 21	Tue. Nov. 22	Wed. Nov. 23	Thu. Nov. 24	Fri. Nov. 25	Sat. Nov. 26	Sun. Nov. 27
Aladdin	CLOSED	7pm	1pm 7pm	CLOSED	2pm 8pm	2pm 8pm	3pm
Beautiful	7pm	7pm	2pm	7pm	2pm 8pm	2pm 8pm	3pm 7pm
The Book of Mormon	CLOSED	7pm	2pm 7pm	7pm	2pm 8pm	2pm 8pm	2pm
A Bronx Tale	8pm	8pm	8pm	CLOSED	2pm 8pm	2pm 8pm	CLOSED
Cats	8pm	7pm	7:30pm	CLOSED	2pm 8pm	2pm 8pm	3pm 7pm
The Cherry Orchard	7pm	8pm	2pm 8pm	8pm	8pm	2pm 8pm	2pm
Chicago	8pm	8pm	8pm	8pm	2:30pm 8pm	2:30pm 8pm	2:30pm 7pm
The Color Purple	7pm	7pm	2pm 7pm	CLOSED	2pm 8pm	2pm 8pm	3pm
Dear Evan Hansen	8pm	8pm	2pm 8pm	7pm	8pm	2pm 8pm	3pm
The Encounter	CLOSED	7pm	2pm 8pm	7pm	2pm 8pm	2pm 8pm	3pm
Falsettos	CLOSED	7pm	2pm 8pm	7pm	2pm 8pm	2pm 8pm	3pm
Fiddler on the Roof	CLOSED	7pm	2pm 8pm	8pm	2pm 8pm	2pm 8pm	3pm
The Front Page	CLOSED	7pm	2pm 8pm	7pm	2pm 8pm	2pm 8pm	3pm
Hamilton	CLOSED	7pm	2pm 8pm	7pm	2pm 8pm	2pm 8pm	3pm
Heisenberg	7pm	7pm	2pm 7pm	8pm	8pm	2pm 8pm	2pm
Holiday Inn	CLOSED	8pm	2pm 8pm	8pm	2pm 8pm	2pm 8pm	2pm
The Humans	CLOSED	7pm	2pm 8pm	7pm	2pm 8pm	2pm 8pm	3pm
The Illusionists	CLOSED	7pm	CLOSED	7pm	3pm 8pm	11am 3pm 8pm	1pm 6:30pm
In Transit	8pm	8pm	2pm 8pm	7pm	2pm 8pm	2pm 8pm	3pm
Jersey Boys	CLOSED	7pm	2pm 7pm	7pm	2pm 8pm	2pm 8pm	3pm
Kinky Boots	CLOSED	7pm	2pm 8pm	7pm	2pm 8pm	2pm 8pm	3pm
Les Liasons Dangereuses	CLOSED	7pm	2pm 8pm	7pm	2pm 8pm	2pm 8pm	3pm
The Lion King	CLOSED	7pm	2pm 8pm	CLOSED	2pm 8pm	2pm 8pm	3pm
Matilda	7pm	7pm	2pm	CLOSED	2pm 8pm	2pm 8pm	3pm
Natasha, Pierre & The Great Comet of 1812	CLOSED	7pm	2pm 8pm	7pm	8pm	2pm 8pm	3pm
Oh Hello	8pm	8pm	8pm	8pm	8pm	2pm 8pm	3pm 7pm
On Your Feet!	8pm	7pm	8pm	7pm	2pm 8pm	2pm 8pm	3pm 7pm
Paramour	7pm	7pm	CLOSED	5pm	8pm	3pm 8pm	2pm 7pm
Phantom of the Opera	8pm	7pm	2pm 8pm	2pm 7pm	8pm	2pm 8pm	CLOSED
School of Rock	7pm	7pm	2pm 7pm	CLOSED	7:30pm	2pm 7:30pm	1pm 6pm
Something Rotten!	7pm	7pm	2pm 8pm	7pm	8pm	2pm 8pm	3pm
Waitress	CLOSED	7:30pm	2pm 7:30pm	7:30pm	8pm	2pm 8pm	3pm
Wicked	CLOSED	7pm	2pm 7pm	8pm	2pm 8pm	2pm 8pm	2pm 7pm