And by cold winter, I mean the cold economic winter of the last several years . . . not this cold, snowy thing that NYC seems to be stuck in this year.

Yep, the end of Quarter 3 of the Broadway season is upon us, and, well, to quote a Gershwin tune . . . things are looking up!

At the end of Q2 last November, gross was up 1.1% and attendance was up 1.8% over the prior season.

At the end of Q3, our gross is up a whopping 2.3% over the previous year (thank you holiday season and Spider-Man), and attendance stayed put with a solid 1.8% increase.

We still have a lot of shows out there, with 6.7% more playing weeks this year than last, which means that some of the smaller shows with less reach may be struggling since the grosses certainly aren’t up that much . . . but overall we’re headed in the right direction as we usher in our bountiful Spring!

We’ve got a lot of big budget musicals that are about to be born . . . and those musicals should bring dollars and bodies.  So expect the gross increase to stay above the 2% mark in Q4 and expect the attendance to break the 2% barrier for the first time in a loooong time.

And can you believe it?  We’re entering the final 13 weeks our season.  Already!  It’ll be Tony Award time before you know it!  (Staffers – we better start working on our party!)

But just like the final few months of an election, this is where the fun begins.