ABSTRACT
Brighton Beach Memoirs was the last play to run over 1,000 performances on Broadway, and this final chapter assesses the cultural and economic factors that contributed to the decline of the long-running hit play. The “Disneyfication” of Broadway, increased tourism, and the ascent of regional theatres shifted the ways in which Americans see popular plays. At the same time, I trace the popularity of theatrical spectacles imported from Britain and argue that these “mega-plays” point toward a new model for the long-running hit, with particular attention paid to Harry Potter and the Cursed Child (2018). Some commentators have already predicted that this epic tale about the internationally renowned boy wizard, which opened on Broadway exactly 100 years after Lightnin’, is destined to run over 1,000 performances.
