Every week somebody asks me the same thing, usually while trying to book a dinner reservation they’re scared to miss: how long is a Broadway show? The short answer is about two and a half hours for a musical and anywhere from ninety minutes to three hours for a play. The real answer is that the clock is part of the show, and you should know how it works before you buy.
The usual running times
A full-size Broadway musical generally runs somewhere around two and a half hours, and that number includes an intermission of about fifteen minutes. Some run shorter, a few of the big story musicals push close to three hours. Plays are all over the map. The tight, intense ones run ninety minutes to an hour forty-five with no intermission at all, and the big serious dramas with two intermissions can go well past three hours.
The exact figure for any production is not a secret. The show’s official website lists the running time, the box office will tell you, and it’s usually printed on the ticketing page next to the age guidance. Look it up. It’s the one number in this business that’s posted in plain sight.
What time the curtain goes up
Evening curtains on Broadway mostly land at 7 or 8 p.m., with a few houses at 7:30. Some shows go up at 7 on weeknights so people can get home on a work night, then shift to 8 on the weekend. Your ticket tells you which. Believe the ticket, not your memory of the last show you saw.
Doors usually open about half an hour before curtain. Use that half hour. There’s a security bag check at the door, a line for the restroom that only gets longer, and an usher who has to walk you to row M in a house built before anybody worried about legroom. Arrive at the posted time and you’ll spend the overture climbing over strangers’ knees.
Matinees, and the eight-show week
The standard Broadway week is eight performances. The common pattern is evening shows most nights, with matinees on Wednesday, Saturday and Sunday afternoons, usually around 2 p.m. Saturday is often a two-show day, which means the company does a matinee and then does the whole thing again that night. Respect them for it.
Every show also takes a night off, and that night is called “dark.” Monday is the traditional dark night, which is why so much theater talk happens over Monday drinks. But plenty of shows pick a different dark day, so never assume. Check the performance calendar on the show’s site before you build the trip around it.
Planning around the clock
Here’s how I’d use all of this, mija. If you’ve got a 7 p.m. curtain and a two-and-a-half-hour musical, you’re out around 9:30 and you can still eat after. Book dinner before an 8 p.m. curtain only if the restaurant is close and you tell your server you’ve got a show. Every waiter in Midtown knows that phrase and will bring the check before you ask for it.
For a ninety-minute play with no intermission, go to the restroom before you sit down. Nobody’s stopping the show for you. And for a three-hour drama on a work night, pick the matinee, honestly. You’ll have the energy for it in the afternoon and you’ll be home before your neighbors start their evening.
One more thing on timing: being late costs you more than a few minutes. Late arrivals are usually held at the back until a break in the action, which can mean watching the first scene on a lobby monitor, or not at all. We cover the rest of the manners in our etiquette guide. The short version is to get there early.
So: two and a half hours, give or take, eight times a week, dark one night. Know your curtain time, know your running time, and plan the rest of the evening around the show.
