Twenty-Five Percent Increase Marked in NYMF '05 Attendance

By: Oct. 27, 2005
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The 2005 New York Musical Theatre Festival completed its sophomore effort with a 25% increase in audience attendance over last year and extended runs doubling those of '04.

The 2nd Annual New York Musical Theatre Festival (NYMF), which ended its run on October 2, 2005, saw turnout increase by more than 25% over last year.  Attendance at NYMF 2005 was at 90% of capacity, with sold-out performances for 88% of Festival shows.  More than half of this year's productions played to capacity houses for their entire runs, prompting NYMF to add performances as early as three days into ticket sales.  Ten productions extended their Festival runs this year – twice as many as during the inaugural Festival.

"The 2005 Festival launched with a torrent of favorable notices in both consumer and industry press leading to high visibility within the theater community and the theater-going public," according to press notes.  "The success of last year's Festival (Altar Boyz, The Great American Trailer Park Musical, Captain Louie, [Title of Show], etc.), coupled with NYMF's ambitious efforts for 2005 (Nerds:// A Musical Software Satire, Plane Crazy, The Big Time, The Ballad of Bonnie and Clyde, etc.), culminated with the creation of a televised half-hour WPIX/WB11 program chronicling the labors of the Festival.  The special report aired on September 24, 2005.  Reviewers' response to the Festival's productions was again favorable and many of this year's participants are negotiating further runs."

"We knew there was a need for something like NYMF so that writers could advance their work in a low-risk environment," said Executive Director Kris Stewart, "but based on the attendance growth we've experienced in the second installment of the Festival, it seems we have much to offer the general audience as well."

Dedicated to discovering new work and new artists, The New York Musical Theatre Festival celebrates the diversity, creativity, and future of musical theatre. NYMF is a flagship program of the National Music Theater Network, a 501(c)(3) not-for-profit organization, and is America's largest annual musical theatre event. NYMF is produced in association with Cadillac and Virgin Megastores and proudly supported by amNewYork, Village Voice, WB11, Receptasign, King Displays, WNYC, Reuters Financial, Niaterra, Rosco Lighting, Scharff Weisberg, Dodger Stages, TheaterMania.com, BroadwayWorld.com, Broadway.com, KPMG LLC, Izze, Manhattan Living, HX, Zero In Media, Panasonic Astrovision, Next, BroadwayBox.com, HotNYCdeals.com and TheMenEvent.com.  For more information, visit www.nymf.org.

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