Why do Broadway audiences consist of really old people?

To drive you nuts, OP. They're all thinking about you, all the time.

They're trying to get away from their annoying, useless, needy children and grandchildren for the evening, OP.

Children and grandchildren don’t force them to go. Old people’s children and grandchildren are there because the olds paid for the tickets. Unless you’re Kevin Sessums, in which case you grifted them. Old people, by and large, are the ones who have the money and can afford to buy them.

It’s a nice day, OP. Go outside and play instead of coming here and bitching about a group you’ll one day be part of, if you’re lucky enough to live that long.

Those old folks keep alot of shows running as do the dreaded tourists. Without them Broadway would be more dismal than it already is.

Because they live for the legitimate theater!

Maybe they thought sitting in a seat watching a show is one of the few forms of entertainment still available to them.

Maybe younger people aren't buying tickets because most modern musicals seem cornier than Carol Channing's excrement.

They attend because, unlike you, they can ignore and forgive what they find to be petty nuisances when they seek public entertainment, in the fashion of their families and cultures.

But then they are the New Yorkers among the people who live in New York City.

Old people are the ones who don’t dress in t-shirts and cut offs, old people are not the ones hollering and standing on the seats in the THEATER these days. Young people have ruined the theater experience.

Hey! I went to Broadway recently (I think it was Broadway) and I was singing and dancing and vaping and I managed an over the clothes handy! Sure, I’m a grandmother, but I’m only 36! Hardly old!!

Old people also do not text during the performance and check their text messages, lighting up the darkened theater. They also don't carry armfuls of snacks and drink to their seats and eat noisily as if they were at a baseball game. Also, most have shrunk, so it's much easier to see over them.

Old people can afford to pay $500+ for an orchestra seat to a hit Broadway show like MERRILY WE ROLL ALONG.

But I'm old, and I REFUSE to pay that kind of money for any show.

^ I had a perfect orchestra seat to see Evita early in the run in 1980 - price $21. No, inflation does not explain the vast increase.

b/c the tickets are like $300 a pop

OP, I'm sure you tell yourself that you're not racist or sexist but you somehow believe it's ok to ageist.

An orchestra seat for Chicago in 1975 was $17.50 and people thought that was outrageous.

R15 I remember that, when orchestra seat prices hit $17. It seemed insane.

$17 in 1975 would be $97 today. But the average person had fewer expenses back then...no cell phones, computers, cable, Netflix and all the other subscriptions every month, so you could splurge now and then on something like a B'way show. There are so many options now on where you can spend your money.

Follies!

What a strangely cruel post OP.

Leave the elderly alone. God forbid a row has to stand up for 3 minutes and let an older person get by to sit down for a Broadway show. And god forbid you have to see a scooter or some hearing aides. I go to the theater regularly in NY and I’ve never seen anyone give one fuck about allowing an older person the time or space to get around. If anything, people usually go out of their way to accommodate. Because they have empathy and aren’t raging assholes.

I love seeing the elderly out and about. Nothing makes me sadder than older people feeling lonely and invisible.

Great thread, OP. I love reading the responses as an EG who still enjoys Broadway - mostly matinees at my age -and am very happy to read that my attendance is not a burden.

This site loves to make fun of old people. I'm shocked this thread didn't get more love.

This site loves to make fun of people like OP. I’m shocked he didn’t realize that before having to apologize.

Because after selling our three million dollar homes to Gen Xers we have extra cash to throw around after we get home from the office.

Troll