Entertainment & Entrepreneurship

The Broadway League announced the financial statistics for the official end of the 2008-09 Broadway season which runs from May 26, 2008 to May 24, 2009. Although attendance was slightly down, revenue increased by 0.6% despite the recession to a record $943.3 million.

According to the League, paid attendance at Broadway shows was 12.15 million, as compared to 12.27 the season before.  This season, 43 shows opened (10 new musicals, 8 new plays, 4 musical revivals, 16 play revivals, and 5 special performances), which is the highest number of shows since the 1982-1983 Season when 50 productions opened.

The Broadway League is the national trade association for Broadway producers and theaters, including "theatre owners and operators, producers, presenters, and general managers in New York and more than 240 other North American cities, as well as suppliers of goods and services to the theatre industry."  

The Tony Awards were created by the American Theatre Wing, which now presents the award in conjunction with The Broadway League.