Night on Broadway 2019

As of December 3rd 2018, Night on Broadway 2019 has been officially canceled and according to their website, will return in 2020. As a part of the organizing committee since the beginning, LAHTF was notified early last week of the cancelation, and will look forward to being involved once again in the planning for the next event. Producing Night on Broadway is a herculean task, involving coordination of multiple city departments, performers, building and theatre owners, and for-profit and non-profit groups like LAHTF. The success and growth of the annual festival is in large part due to the working relationships built up over the last 5 years with the city’s Bringing Back Broadway team. It would be close to impossible for a new team to step in and take over, less than 2 months before the event. Instead of focusing on the reasons for the cancelation of this one event we prefer to take a broader view.

While we are sad to see the January 2019 Night on Broadway rescheduled, our ultimate goal is to make every night a “Night on Broadway”. The L.A. Historic Theatre Foundation’s vision from the beginning has not been just to do an annual free event, we believe the future of the Broadway Historic Theatre District is to have all theatres activated EVERY WEEK, with live shows, concerts, movie events, etc. Broadway can once again be an entertainment district with something for everyone, just as it was a century ago.

With the largest collection of historic movie palaces and theatres in the world, this was the original heart of the entertainment industry and with all of the talent in Los Angeles, Broadway has the capacity to once again be a thriving hub for the performing and visual arts. It will take owners and operators willing to take more risks, and most importantly, the community needs to support the arts being presented. Even without Night on Broadway, there are regular shows at the Orpheum, Palace, Los Angeles, Theatre at Ace Hotel, Mayan, Belasco and Regent Theatres. In addition, the Million Dollar and State Theatres are fully capable of putting on shows at any time.

So why aren’t there more events on Broadway? The theatre business is not easy, it’s hard to know until the day of the event if you will sell out or not. Fewer people buy tickets in advance these days, sometimes just showing up at the last minute. That means promoters and producers are taking a gamble each and every time they put on an event. What can the community do? Simple, buy tickets and attend shows, tell your family and friends, bring them downtown to see a show. Guaranteed, the more successful shows we have, the more shows there will be.

In addition to the theatres, Downtown has a tremendous wealth of world class restaurants and clubs. Why wait for an annual festival to come downtown, there are plenty of reasons to make the trip any day of the year! The more people shopping and dining, the more potential audience members, the more shows in theatres! We have seen thins over and over in cities across the country.

Bringing Back Broadway has helped bring much needed attention to this important street, and in the past decade we have seen a lot of progress and activation. There is still a lot more to do, and LAHTF will be there on the front lines, doing our best to preserve, protect, restore and sustain the Historic Theatres of Los Angeles County as we have for the past 30 years.