Are shorter runtimes the future?

I, like many of my colleagues who work in nonprofit theatres across the country, have been particularly interested in audience behaviors and trends post-pandemic. In planning for a post-pandemic season of programming, every artistic team in America was asking the same questions:

How will the pandemic and its associated period of isolation/social withdrawal affect patrons’ interest in returning to the theatre?

What types of shows will people be hungry to see?

What trends in audience behaviors will become permanent?

Anyone being completely honest would tell you they didn’t exactly know. How could they? One thing, however, was certain: the American theatre was in for a period of tremendous and perhaps lasting change.

ATTENTION EROSION & THE AMERICAN THEATRE

At the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, young people in particular flocked to a popular new social media platform, TikTok. Heard of it? The groundbreaking app featured a feed of short and snappy videos (usually 30-60 seconds or less) catered to each user’s individual interests. The pandemic fired off TikTok’s historic growth from an approximate 500 million users in December 2019 to more than 1 billion users by 2021, with an increasingly wider age range of users. TikTok’s emergence, coupled with the pandemic’s notorious symptom of Netflix binging, helped the world connect during a time of exceptional uncertainty and fear. This 24/7 feed of media and entertainment, however, did more than connect. It expedited the deterioration of our attention spans - known as “attention erosion.” While specifically connected to digital media, the effects of this behavioral shift are directly translated to the performing arts. The human brain had received a software update in the priming of short and snappy content that theatre producers, writers and artists were forced to address.

Have you visited the opera recently? I was fortunate to attend the acclaimed English National Opera’s production of The Barber of Seville in 2024. The revival of the decades old staging by Jonathan Miller was everything I expected - grand, melodramatic, visually captivating and LONG. The production lasted approximately three hours but felt significantly longer. Now, if I, a passionate theatre goer and director, became checked out by the terribly uncomfortable theatre seats and repetitive production, certainly an every-day patron would feel that way to the nth degree.

Don’t get me wrong, I feel strongly that preserving art forms is both worthy and vital. One must be willing, however, to preserve the art form AND meet audiences where they are. It is worth noting that several Opera companies and directors are making tremendous efforts in light of this societal trend. I have most recently been intrigued by the work of stage director Mo Zhou, a visionary force in the Opera world who has directed many short operas such as the 2023 world premiere of HER | alive.un.dead (approx. 90 minutes).

If I’m spending a significant sum of money to attend a live opera or theatre production, I ask myself how will it be an experience that is worthy of leaving my home and the wealth of entertainment available from my sofa? Moreover, how will the event respect my time?

It should come as no surprise, therefore, that theatre productions are leaning in the direction of shorter run times. This is especially true for new productions. Think of recent Broadway hits such as Come From Away and SIX which both boast 80-100 minute run times and no intermissions. The run time of the 2025 Tony award winner for Best Musical Maybe Happy Ending? You guessed it... 100 minutes, no intermission.

Then there's Cole Escola's hit new comedy Oh, Mary that has taken Broadway by storm. The run time? 80 minutes, no intermission.

So, two of the most acclaimed productions of the 2025 Broadway season were 100 minutes or less. It should come as no surprise then that these two productions were especially popular with young people. You know - the ones on TikTok?

Interestingly, the average run time for a Broadway musical in the 2025 season was approximately 2.5 hours (Broadway.com, 2025). I know, that doesn't seem to support my case about a trend of shorter runtimes. However, nearly ALL of those shows are either a) long running productions such as The Lion King or b) based on familiar intellectual property (IP). The musical in the 2025 season not based on familiar IP, Maybe Happy Ending? Shorter run time.

Does this trend mean people will no longer flock to a 3-hour production of Les Miserables or The Sound of Music? Of course not. Audiences will always appreciate and admire their long-held favorites, even when preemptively planning their escape from the theatre to the nearest restroom at the 2 hr 40 min mark. Patrons are willing to make the 3-hour commitment to a theatre seat for a production that is intrinsically familiar to them. After all, most people don't attend a production of The Sound of Music because they haven't seen it before. They go to hear familiar music, see characters they know and love and be reminded of a time in their life when they first saw the production or film. Stories like The Sound of Music provide an overwhelming sense of nostalgia for patrons across generations. That's the beautiful thing about chestnut musicals - we'll always have them.

The arc, however, appears to bend towards shorter run times for new shows.