Several Broadway productions recently announced that their Tuesday evenings performances will begin at 7 rather than 8 PM. The list of "Tuesdays at 7" participants follows:
42nd Street beginning Sept. 2, 2003
Aida beginning Sept. 2, 2003
Beauty and the Beast beginning Sept. 2, 2003
Cabaret beginning Oct. 28, 2003
Fame on 42nd Street beginning Oct. 7, 2003
Gypsy spring date to be announced
Hairspray beginning Sept. 9, 2003
Henry IV beginning Oct. 28, 2003
The Phantom of the Opera ongoing
The Producers beginning Sept. 2, 2003
Six Dance Lessons in Six Weeks beginning Oct. 7, 2003
Urinetown: The Musical beginning Sept. 2, 2003
Wicked beginning Nov. 4, 2003
On Tuesday evenings the TKTS booth in Times Square will open one hour earlier — at 2 PM — to accommodate the early curtain. Additionally, the Broadway Bell — which usually plays "Give My Regards to Broadway" at 7:45 PM each night — will play the famed tune at 6:45 PM Tuesday evenings. And, several restaurants in the theatre district will offer "Tuesdays at 7" dinner specials or post-theatre dessert menus. Other discounts available to theatregoers can be found by visiting www.tuesdaysat7.com.
In an effort to attract families to New York theatre during the winter months — a time when ticket sales generally slump — several Broadway shows began offering a 7 PM curtain time (Tuesday evenings only) Jan. 7, 2003. Originally scheduled through March 25, the program was extended into the spring.
Chris Boneau, of the Broadway press agency Boneau/Bryan-Brown, told Playbill On-Line last year, "The idea was to encourage people to come to the theatre on Tuesday nights . . . to drive [what is traditionally] a lower-attended evening of theatre. The research shows that people would really go to the theatre on a night if they didn't always have to go at eight o'clock. Unfortunately, we're not like London, where you check the paper to see what time the curtain times are [because] they're wildly different. People are so accustomed to eight o'clock curtains . . . so the idea was to get a lot of shows involved." Boneau explained, "Both Roundabout and Manhattan Theatre Club have early curtain evenings, and they're very popular. So, it's not a brand-new idea, it's just an idea that's new to Broadway. What it requires is a marketing effort behind it, so that everyone's not running around Times Square not knowing what time to be there . . . That's why we're calling it 'Tuesdays at 7.'"
