Broadway in Bryant Park wraps its 26th annual summer season on August 13 with a free lunchtime concert on the Midtown Manhattan lawn, closing out a four-week run that brought casts from more than 20 current Broadway productions to a public stage at Sixth Avenue between 40th and 42nd Streets. The finale, hosted by 106.7 LITE FM’s Helen Little, features performances from The Book of Mormon, The Great Gatsby, Heathers: The Musical, Heated Rivalry: The Unauthorized Musical Parody, and Buena Vista Social Club, with a pre-show set from students at AMDA College of the Performing Arts. The series ends during a record-setting stretch for Broadway, with the 2025-2026 season having grossed an all-time high of $1.91 billion.
Key Takeaways
- The August 13 season finale features performances from The Book of Mormon, The Great Gatsby, Heathers: The Musical, Heated Rivalry, and Buena Vista Social Club, hosted by 106.7 LITE FM’s Helen Little.
- The 2026 series ran every Thursday from July 23 through August 13, with performances from 12:30 to 1:30 p.m. and the lawn opening at 11 a.m.; all events were free with first-come, first-served seating.
- More than 20 Broadway productions participated across the four-week run, including Wicked, Hadestown, Moulin Rouge! The Musical, Aladdin, Chicago, SIX, Schmigadoon!, MJ, and The Outsiders.
- The series closes during a record Broadway season: the 2025-2026 season grossed $1.91 billion, with play attendance rising from 2.87 million to 3.32 million and houses running at 90.8% capacity.
- New York State added $150 million to its theatrical production tax credit in the FY2027 budget, bringing total state investment in the industry to $550 million.
- The 2026 season was presented by AMDA College of the Performing Arts, iHeartRadio Broadway, and Ricola, with additional support from MJHS Health System, LifeVac, and the Livestrong Foundation.
Four Thursdays, Four Hosts, and a Rotating Cast of Broadway’s Current Season
The format of Broadway in Bryant Park has remained consistent across its 26-year history: every Thursday during a four-week summer window, casts from current Broadway productions perform selections from their shows on a stage set up on the Bryant Park lawn. Each week features a different 106.7 LITE FM host and a different rotation of six shows, giving audiences a sampler of the current Broadway season in a single lunchtime hour. No tickets are required. No lottery. No reservation system. Audiences show up, find a spot on the grass, and listen.
The 2026 season opened on July 23 with Delilah hosting performances from & Juliet, Hadestown, Just in Time, Maybe Happy Ending, Moulin Rouge! The Musical, and The Lost Boys. Bryant Park’s programming page listed the July 30 lineup as Aladdin, Chicago, SIX, The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee, Titanique, and Wicked, hosted by Cubby and Christine. The August 6 edition, hosted by Rich Kaminski, featured MJ, The Outsiders, Operation Mincemeat, Schmigadoon!, Two Strangers (Carry a Cake Across New York), and Little Shop of Horrors.
Each week also opened with a pre-show performance from students at AMDA College of the Performing Arts, one of the series’ presenting sponsors, giving performing arts students a platform in front of the same Midtown audience that moments later would watch Tony Award-winning casts perform.
The August 13 finale brings The Book of Mormon, one of Broadway’s longest-running musicals, alongside The Great Gatsby, a newer production, and Buena Vista Social Club, which draws on the music and story of the Cuban ensemble that became a global cultural phenomenon. Heathers: The Musical and Heated Rivalry round out the final lineup, offering a range that stretches from established hits to cult favorites.
A Free Series in the Middle of a $1.91 Billion Season
The series closes during a period of documented strength for the Broadway industry. The Broadway League reported that the 2025-2026 season set an all-time gross record of $1,910,903,835, surpassing the prior season by 0.96%. The season welcomed 14,577,322 theatergoers across 13,416 performances, with an average ticket price of $131.09 and houses running at 90.8% capacity. Play attendance rose from 2,875,162 to 3,316,722, while musical attendance declined slightly. The season opened 35 new productions: 12 musicals, 21 plays, and two specials.
Those numbers reflect an industry that has moved past its pandemic-era recovery phase and into a period where demand for live theater in New York City is consistently producing record revenue. The average ticket price of $131.09 represents the economic reality of attending a Broadway show, which is part of what makes a free outdoor series like Broadway in Bryant Park function as both a cultural event and a form of access. For the office workers, tourists, and residents who fill the lawn each Thursday, the series offers exposure to productions that carry price tags that can exclude casual theatergoers.
The connection between Broadway in Bryant Park and the industry’s broader financial health runs through the same ecosystem. Performers who take the Bryant Park stage return to their evening performances at theaters blocks away. Shows that generate audience interest on the lawn convert that interest into ticket sales. And the event itself reinforces the cultural centrality of live theater to New York City’s identity, a positioning that has tangible economic consequences.
New York State Puts $550 Million Behind the Industry
The state government has matched the industry’s momentum with public investment. The New York State FY2027 budget included a $150 million increase to the New York City Musical and Theatrical Production Tax Credit, bringing the state’s total commitment to the program to $550 million. Empire State Development administers the credit, which is designed to incentivize theatrical production in New York City by offsetting a portion of eligible production costs.
The tax credit program functions as infrastructure investment. Productions that qualify for the credit spend money on venues, labor, materials, marketing, and services throughout the city. The Broadway industry supports an ecosystem of employment that extends well beyond performers to include stagehands, musicians, designers, box office staff, ushers, marketing professionals, and the hospitality and restaurant businesses that serve pre-show and post-show audiences in the Theater District.
Broadway in Bryant Park sits at the intersection of that ecosystem and the public. The series costs nothing to attend, operates on public parkland, and is presented by a commercial radio station (iHeartMedia’s 106.7 LITE FM) in partnership with corporate sponsors. It is, in structural terms, a marketing vehicle for the Broadway industry and its individual shows. But for the audiences who spend their lunch hour on the lawn, the framing is simpler: live Broadway performances, outdoors, for free, in the middle of a New York City summer.
What 26 Years of the Series Reflects About the City
Broadway in Bryant Park launched in 2001, a year that tested every assumption about New York City’s cultural resilience. The series has run every summer since, surviving economic recessions, a pandemic that shuttered Broadway for 18 months, and the annual logistical challenge of staging live performances in a public park during the hottest weeks of the year. Its 26th edition, closing on August 13, represents the kind of continuity that defines institutions in a city where most cultural programming operates on shorter cycles.
The series has also evolved alongside Bryant Park itself. The park, which underwent a transformation from a crime-ridden space in the 1980s into one of Midtown’s anchor public amenities, now hosts a year-round calendar of free programming that includes film screenings, fitness classes, and reading rooms. Broadway in Bryant Park is the theatrical cornerstone of that calendar, drawing the largest regular crowds of any recurring event in the park’s summer schedule.
For the shows that participate, the exposure is direct. Performers stand on a stage in the middle of the city’s commercial core, surrounded by office buildings, hotels, and the foot traffic of Sixth Avenue, and sing the numbers that define their productions. There is no curtain, no darkened house, and no ticket stub. The audience is whoever decides to sit down. That openness is the series’ defining characteristic and the reason it has endured for more than a quarter century.
FAQs
What shows are performing at the Broadway in Bryant Park finale on August 13?
The August 13 season finale features performances from The Book of Mormon, The Great Gatsby, Heathers: The Musical, Heated Rivalry: The Unauthorized Musical Parody, and Buena Vista Social Club. The event is hosted by 106.7 LITE FM’s Helen Little, with a pre-show from AMDA College of the Performing Arts. Performances run from 12:30 to 1:30 p.m., with the lawn opening at 11 a.m.
How much do Broadway in Bryant Park performances cost?
All Broadway in Bryant Park performances are free. No tickets, reservations, or lotteries are required. Seating on the lawn is first-come, first-served. Bryant Park recommends bringing a blanket (no plastic ground coverings permitted), dressing for warm weather, and bringing water. The park is located at Sixth Avenue between 40th and 42nd Streets, with entry through the Fountain Terrace at 41st Street.
How did Broadway perform financially in the 2025-2026 season?
The Broadway League reported that the 2025-2026 season grossed a record $1.91 billion, surpassing the previous record by 0.96%. The season saw 14.58 million attendees across 13,416 performances, with an average ticket price of $131.09 and houses running at 90.8% capacity. Play attendance rose by approximately 441,000 compared to the prior season, while the season opened 35 new productions.
