How to Dance in Ohio

2015 HBO Documentary

How to Dance in Ohio is a heart-filled new musical based on the Peabody Award-winning HBO documentary of the same name. The show explores what it means to belong, the courage it takes to put yourself out in the world, and the human need to connect.

2022 Run In Syracuse

The musical had a previous run in 2022 at the Syracuse Stage in central New York, where it received critical acclaim before being closed due to illness.

The Hal Prince Connection

The famed director and producer Hal Prince was initially attached to the project; before he died in 2019.

Show Sets Closing Date

How to Dance in Ohio is closing February 11, 2024. The new neuro-divergent coming-of-age musical opened at the Belasco Theatre December 10 2023 after beginning previews November 15, 2023. At the time of closing, the musical will have played 27 previews and 72 regular performances. This show should have had a better run than this, as the show was uplifting and entertaining.

Why Did How to Dance in Ohio Close on Broadway?

The show closed due to terrible ticket sales and some awful marketing strategies. The show just could not seem to get a fan-following and ended up finding itself in the bottom two of all Broadway shows in terms of gross ticket sales. This is a very rough financial place to be in, especially when all Broadway (non-musical) plays were able to beat it. Traditionally, plays are the lowest revenue generators on Broadway and its shameful to come in last, with such a good show.

Sickness In The Cast Led To Show Cancellations

It also did not help that COVID-19 in the cast lead to some show cancellations that also did not help its bottom line. The show unfairly received some negative feedback over this, even though such situations are out of their hands.

Poor Ticket Sales and Bad Marketing

The show did not even break even in the busiest week of the year and only cracked $536,440 in the holiday week of 12/31/23, which is about $250,000 below its weekly operating cost. The amount of tourists in New York City during the Christmas holiday break tends to floats all boats on Broadway (even the bad ones), and the failure of this show at 84% of capacity and an average of $81.13 average ticket price, doomed the show.

Show Failed To Sell Tickets

The show should have been at 100% capacity and over $120 average ticket price to just break even. Investors took a bath on this show and are not likely to try a show like this again on Broadway. The marketing for this failed to engage customers and drive anyone to to the show.

Show Made Losses For Investors

It is estimated that this show lost $1.8 Million in investment money, although these figures are not made public, a quick analysis of total Broadway grosses, length of play, theatre rental cost, the number of actors, amount of scenery and overall union costs and payoffs leads us to that number.

You won't find people like Playbill's Meg Masseron and Margaret Hall or BroadwayNews's Ruthie Feirberg giving you this kind of financial breakdown to the reasons a show failed, because they are not real journalists - they just love their fluff news! Cat stuck up a tree? contact Ruthie Feirberg!