In January, Playbill, Anthony Rapp, and Mischief Management joined forces to throw the first ever BroadwayCon—the theatre world’s answer to Comic Con. We knew that fans from around the globe needed a venue to join together as a community to celebrate the magic of Broadway. Still, we had no idea that the turnout and atmosphere of BroadwayCon 2016 would exceed our wildest expectations.

Over 5,000 theatre fans came to the sold-out Hilton Midtown from across the country and as far away as Australia, New Zealand, Central and South America, Asia, the U.K. and France. Fans braved the second-largest snowstorm in New York City history to see Lin-Manuel Miranda, Sara Bareilles, the Rent 20th Anniversary Reunion, Jonathan Groff, Brian d’Arcy James, Christian Borle, Michael Riedel, Diane Paulus, Bernie Telsey, Bartlett Sher, Celia Keenan-Bolger, Alice Ripley, Seth Rudetsky, Faith Prince, Phillipa Soo, Michael Cerveris and dozens more Broadway celebrities, industry insiders and notables. Snow proved to be no match for the passion of thousands of loyal fans.

In addition to being up close and personal with a variety of Broadway stars, creators and industry insiders, attendees also enjoyed panels, performances, workshops, keynotes, autograph and photo opportunities, concerts, meet-and-greets, and Q&As. The thriving marketplace of dozens of vendors was buzzing throughout the weekend, with the Playbill Store selling out of its stock by the end of the 3 days. Attendees came in costume as Elphaba, Sweeney Todd and other classic Broadway characters, and joined together for sing-a-longs until late at night. The atmosphere was nothing short of electric.

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Given the smashing success of the 2016 version, Playbill in partnership with Mischief Management is happy to announce the second annual BroadwayCon on January 27-29, 2017. This time, the Javits Center will host an even larger gathering of more than 15,000 anticipated theater devotees. With over 200 guests expected to participate, there will be no shortage of opportunities for fans to interact with actors, musicians, dancers, choreographers, directors, producers, writers, designers and more.

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So far, stars such as BroadwayCon co-founder Anthony Rapp, Kelli O’Hara, Cynthia Nixon, Christopher Jackson, Christine Ebersole, Santino Fontana, Norm Lewis, Ana Gasteyer, LaChanze, Des McAnuff, Seth Rudetsky, Blake Ross, Jonathan Groff, Celia Keenan-Bolger, Lena Hall, Lisa Howard, Lorin Latarro, Laura Osnes, Lesli Margherita, Alex Brightman, Jenn Colella, Christopher Gattelli, Marc Kudish, Geneva Carr, Beowulf Boritt, Kathleen Marshall and Max von Essen will be appearing, with many more to be announced over the coming months.

Tickets are open to the general public Monday, April 11 at 1PM. Tickets can be purchased by visiting broadwaycon.com. A pre-sale, beginning Friday, April 8 at 1PM is also available via email to those who attended last year.