When is the Broadway season?
 

I thought new shows opened in the fall, but I'm eyeing a play that is scheduled to open in spring of 2011. Is this weird; wouldn't they rather time it to precede the Tonys?

They time it to precede your ticket purchase. The days of the fall season are long gone.

"wouldn't they rather time it to precede the Tonys? "
Well, yes.

The TONY awards are in June (just announced this year's nominees) so a play opening Spring 2011 woulds be one of the later plays eligible for a TONY that year.

Very fews shows open over the summer, so the season is effectively September-May. Keep in mind that unlike the Oscars where hundreds of films vie for a few nominations, there are relatively few Broadway shows that open each year, and they divide them into categories such as play, musical and revival, so the competition for TONY award is nothing like the Oscar race.

Lots of trouble for new shows finding theaters to move into. So theater season is more about available space these days:

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/02/theater/02stages.html

Off Broadway has great options right now.

> the season is effectively September-May

Yes, that's what I thought, and therefore couldn't figure out why a show would open in the spring...I didn't think many great shows ran through the summer unless it was a hit the preceding season, and opening in the spring wouldn't give it enough time to be so.

"I didn't think many great shows ran through the summer unless it was a hit the preceding season, and opening in the spring wouldn't give it enough time to be so."

Shows do run all summer. It's not as if they shut down, so that something that starts in the spring may or may not be a hit, but often will run through the summer just because the theater isn't booked for something else,or they've sold enough advance tickets, or the producers expect it to be big with tourists who make up the bulk of summer theatergoers.

Sometimes shows open at seemingly random times because there's a big star who's available a certain time only before a prior TV or movie committment.

The nominations for the Tonys have little to do with commercial success, so there's no negative effect there by opening late in the "season". If anything, conventional wisdom holds that since people have short memories, shows that open late may have a better than average chance. Shows that open in September could be long closed by the time the nominations happen. Since winning an award can sometimes save a show that's not doing well, maybe the idea is to open as close to Tony time as possible,hope for a nomination and win, and hope that keeps the show going.

Besides, as christabir points out, there are some practical factors at work, too. Not enough "Broadway" theaters out there. And openings are often delayed by things that need to be revised after out of town trials don;t go well, or if there's a problem with a lead actor (anything from a unexpected pregnancy to a broken leg to an uncooperative star).
Sometimes there are problems with the theater itself or the stage or equipment--well it's a wonder that any show ever opens!

One added note: The slow season for Broadway is the January through March period. The summer months can be very lucrative for shows, so opening just before that season (i.e., opening in the spring) doesn't mean that it won't have time to build into the hit category.

Thanks everyone. I can't wait for my trip to NYC next spring. (and January, and perhaps this August...)

The season Howard points out, Jan - Mar, is also the "Season of Savings". You can get half price tix through the box office and not have to wait on the tkts line and hope there's tix available. We try to take advantage of it. The promotions start running in Dec, historically.