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Commentary By Nicole Gelinas

Broadway Sings New York’s Blues as Crime, Costs Slow Post-COVID Comeback

Cities, Public Safety Crime Control, New York, New York City

The Trump verdict last Thursday overshadowed a far more disturbing portent for New York: yet another daytime attack in the heart of Times Square, the second in a monththis time a machete assault outside a McDonald’s at 45th and Broadway.

New York’s failure to control crime — regular crime, not Trump crime — is slowing its tourism recovery, as new statistics from Broadway’s theater industry show.

Like New York overall, Broadway is having a slow rebound from the COVID-19 pandemic.

Just ahead of the Tony Awards in mid-June, the Broadway League has released annual stats for the playing year that ended last month.

Through May, annual attendance was 12.3 million people — nearly 17% below the 2018-19 level of 14.8 million. Revenue was down 16%, to $1.5 billion.

Though a few blockbuster shows — “Merrily We Roll Along,” “Hamilton” and “The Lion King” (still) — command nosebleed ticket prices of $200 and up, costs overall aren’t deterring visitors.

Continue reading the entire piece here at the New York Post

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Nicole Gelinas is a senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute and contributing editor at City Journal. Follow her on Twitter here.

Photo by Mairo Cinquetti/NurPhoto via Getty Images