Broadway's Friend to Families

Broadway's "PG producer" Megan Ann Rasmussen

As an audience member, theatre is best experienced with a child on one side of you, and a grandparent on the other. So says Broadway producer Megan Ann Rasmussen. And she’s on a mission to cultivate more Broadway musicals that engage family audiences. 

The timing of her career jump from a professor of theatre arts and director at Utah Valley University to producing in New York could hardly be more challenging. It was during COVID 19, when the stages were shut down, that she felt a powerful draw to learn the art of producing for the world’s most celebrated stages. She’d been producing on a smaller scale forever, starting at 10 years old when she’d organize her 7 younger siblings into homegrown productions. She’d run a non-profit community theatre in Kaysville, Utah and she’d been President of Theatre for Young Audiences/USA, with a career that included developing theatre curriculum for Salt Lake area youth in underserved populations. Now, she discovered a hunger to employ her talents for making connections and connecting with investors in order to bring more quality productions that welcome families into the national spotlight. So she found a mentor, Andrew Lloyd Webber’s US executive producer, Ken Davenport, and dove head first into learning everything he could teach her. 

Rasmussen did not then know that she was changing careers at a critical juncture for Broadway. New musicals have always been chancy for investors, with incredible returns if you happen to back a smash hit, but a much better chance of actually losing money in the process; prior to COVID 19, only 1 in 5 new musicals would recoup its initial investment costs. Since Broadway reopened in 2020, that number has dropped to less than 1 in 10. Of the 46 new musicals that have staged in the last 5 years, only 3 – Six; & Juliet; and MJ: The Musical – have turned a profit. And all three of those economic successes benefited from government grants. Even Stephen Schwartz’s new musical Queen of Versailles, starring Kristen Chenoweth, closes this Sunday, two weeks before it was originally scheduled, because it’s losing money. 

It’s not that people have lost interest in Broadway musicals; in 2024-2025, there were 14.7 million audience members attending shows on Broadway, which is the second highest attendance on record. Fully 80% of those audience members said they are attending the same amount (27%) or more shows (53%) than they were five years ago. The average ticket price is down $9 to $145.70, from 2023-2024.

But production costs are up. In 2019, it generally cost $10-$20 million to develop a show and get it staged on Broadway. In 2025, the average investment is $19.5 million with Death Becomes Her having an initial capitalization cost of $31.5 million. That’s before adding on the operating expenses including salaries, advertising, and rent of the theater after the show opens. 

It might be considered a spooky time to begin working on Broadway. But Rasmussen approaches life with an enthusiasm that’s infectious; an open and appreciative spirit that draws in collaborators; the courage to face problems head-on; and a deep sense of mission.

At present, she’s working with creator Akihiro Nishino to adapt his popular picture book turned anime film Poupelle of Chimney Town into a Broadway musical. The story is fantastical, charming, and well-suited to a family audience. They’ve just signed on Frank Wildhorn (known for The Scarlet Pimpernel and Jekyll and Hyde) to compose the score. 

Rasmussen also provides “MARvelous Broadway Reviews” of new musicals, letting families know how appropriate these shows might be for them, on Instagram. And her podcast, Bit by Bit, is an engaging and invaluable resource for anyone wanting a better understanding of Broadway as an industry. 

Talking with her, it’s evident she is amply up to the challenges ahead, and that her ongoing impact on Broadway will become even more beautiful. 

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