Previews, opening night, and press night
What is the difference between previews, opening night, and press night?
A preview is a paid public performance given before a show is finished, and material is still cut and rewritten between them. Opening night is the performance at which the production is frozen and the press embargo lifts, which is why every review appears at once. Press night is the same event under its British name.
Three dates sit at the front of every Broadway and West End production, and they are constantly used as though they were one. They describe different things, and only one of them is a promise about what you will see.
What is a Broadway preview?
A preview is a full performance, at full length, with the full company, sold to the public — given before the production is finished.
The show you see in previews is a working version. Numbers get cut, scenes get reordered, an ending gets rewritten overnight and installed the following afternoon. The company rehearses during the day and performs the result that evening, which is why the preview period is the hardest stretch of work in a production’s life.
None of this is hidden. Tickets are sold as previews and the theatre says so at the point of sale. What you are buying is an earlier, cheaper, less settled version of the show.
How long do previews last?
About 3.4 weeks. The median Broadway production previews for 24 days before opening night, and the middle half of productions fall between 19 and 28 days.
That consistency is the useful part. A production advertising six weeks of previews is telling you something — usually that it is a large musical, or that it is in trouble — and one advertising ten days is telling you it arrived from somewhere else already working. The full distribution, with the methodology, is in how long Broadway previews last.
Why do critics wait for opening night?
Because reviewing an unfinished production is reviewing something that will not exist by the time anyone reads it.
The convention is not a legal embargo. It is an arrangement: producers invite critics to designated performances near the end of previews, and critics hold publication until opening night, by which point the show is frozen. Both sides get something they want — the production is judged on its finished form, and the reviews land together, on the day the production most needs them.
It breaks down occasionally. A critic who buys a ticket to an early preview and publishes is not doing anything unlawful, and when a production extends its preview period repeatedly, outlets eventually decide the delay has itself become the story.
How much can a show change during previews?
More than most audiences expect, and the changes are not marginal.
Songs are cut. Characters are removed. An interval moves, which restructures both acts around it. The most common change is simply length: a first preview running three hours is frequently a two-hour-forty-minute show by opening night, because twenty minutes came out a few at a time.
The rate of change is front-loaded. Most of it happens in the first half of the preview period, so a late preview is usually within a few minutes of the finished production. If you are choosing when to go, that is the trade: the earliest previews are the cheapest and the least settled.
Is press night the same as opening night?
Effectively yes, and the difference is vocabulary rather than mechanism.
A West End production designates a press night at which critics attend and after which reviews publish. The show is frozen at the same point and the embargo works the same way. The word “opening” is used in London too, but press night is the term that names the function.
One practical difference: West End productions sometimes spread critics across more than one designated performance, because London has more reviewing outlets than a single house can seat in one night.
Should I buy a preview ticket?
If the price difference matters to you, yes — with the understanding of what you are buying.
You get the show earlier and usually cheaper. You risk seeing a version with a scene that does not work yet, and you forfeit the ability to read a review first. For a title you already know you want, previews are straightforwardly good value. For a show you are undecided about, waiting until after opening night buys you information.
One thing a preview ticket does not change is who you see. Casting in previews is the same casting as the rest of the run, including the possibility of a cover going on — the difference between a standby, an alternate, and an understudy applies from the first preview onwards.
The terms, side by side
- Preview
- A paid public performance given before the show is declared finished. The production is still being changed between previews, and the audience is watching a version of the show that may not exist a week later.
- Opening night
- The performance at which a production is officially declared open. The show is frozen, the press embargo lifts, and the reviews that have been written over the preceding days are published.
- Press night
- The British name for the same event. In the West End, critics attend a designated press night — sometimes more than one performance is designated so that reviewers can be accommodated — and reviews appear immediately afterwards.
- Frozen
- The point at which changes stop. From the freeze, the script, score, staging, and design are fixed, and the company performs the same show every night for the rest of the run.
- Out-of-town tryout
- A full production mounted in another city before New York, historically Boston, Philadelphia, or New Haven and now more often a regional non-profit. It does the work previews do, earlier and further from the critics.
- Invited dress
- A final rehearsal played to an invited, non-paying audience before the first paid preview. It exists to find out how the show plays in front of people without selling anyone a ticket to it.
Frequently asked questions
Are preview tickets cheaper?
Often, but not always. Producers discount previews to fill a house for a show nobody has reviewed yet, and a preview seat is frequently the cheapest it will ever be for a title that goes on to become a hit. A show arriving with a star or a built-in audience may not discount previews at all.
Can I post about a show I saw in previews?
Nothing stops an audience member posting, and productions generally accept it. What is agreed rather than enforced is that professional critics hold their reviews until opening night, so that what they publish describes the finished production rather than a version that no longer exists.
Do understudies go on during previews?
Yes, and no differently than during the run. Previews are full performances with a full company, and a cast change in previews is posted the same way it would be at any other performance.
Will the show I saw in previews be the show that opens?
Usually close to it, occasionally not. Changes concentrate in the first half of the preview period, so a late preview is normally very near the finished production, while a first preview can contain a song, a scene, or an ending that does not survive to opening night.
Do previews count as part of the run?
They count as performances the audience paid for and the company was paid for, and Broadway convention quotes them separately: a production reports its previews and its regular performances as two numbers. Our catalog records the first preview date and the opening date rather than performance counts.
Sources
- The Broadway League — production database and opening dates The Broadway League Accessed
- Actors' Equity Association — agreements and contracts Actors' Equity Association Accessed
- Theatreview production catalog Theatreview Accessed
