Why are Broadway tickets so expensive right now?

Plus: minimum wage boost for delivery workers [View this email in a browser.]( Gothamist relies on your support to make local news available to all. Not yet a member? [Consider donating and join today.]( [Why are Broadway tickets so expensive right now? It’s not just inflation.]( [first image]( [Today's newsletter is curated by James Ramsay]( Weather: ☔ Rain, with highs in the upper 40s. It's Tuesday in New York City, where the average ticket price for a Broadway show has reached an all time high: $128, according to the Broadway League. Here's how dynamic pricing, lumber costs, labor costs, Bette Midler and rich people who are willing to pay anything have all factored into [what Broadway's 41 theaters are charging these days](. And here's what else is happening: - The city's health department said Monday that bacterial meningitis is on the rise, with [11 cases — including one death]( — recorded since the start of the year. - Police said they’re searching for [an autistic teen who went missing]( from his Queens home yesterday. - Two men have been charged with [distributing the fentanyl-laced heroin]( that killed trans rights advocate Cecilia Gentili in February. - The Queens district attorney has charged a group of taxi dispatchers at JFK Airport for allegedly taking more than $12,000 in bribes from cab drivers over the last two years in exchange for [allowing the drivers to cut to the front of long lines]( to pick up passengers. - New York City’s food delivery workers will now receive a minimum wage of $19.56 an hour under a 2021 law that's taking effect. This comes as workers say the delivery app companies have recently [made it harder for customers to tip](. - The New York City Council is pushing Mayor Eric Adams to [reverse more than $1 billion in planned budget cuts]( to 3K, schools, libraries and other city services, claiming an extra $6 billion is available from a variety of sources the administration didn’t account for. - Police said a 68-year-old man parked on the shoulder of the Nassau Expressway near JFK Airport died Sunday after he was [hit by a truck driver]( in an alleged hit and run. - If a self-driving car company gets permission to test in New York City, how will the vehicles manage jaywalkers, double-parked cars and other sub-legal shenanigans? (Probably by requiring the "safety driver" behind the wheel to [constantly take over]( - Some residents and lawmakers in the Rockaways are concerned that the developer who's planning to build four 24-story apartment towers on the peninsula has a track record of [poorly maintaining its other properties](. - Cara Castronuova, a celebrity fitness trainer on "The Biggest Loser," is suing the New York State Republican Party for [requiring her to get 15,000 signatures from Republican voters]( in order to run for U.S. Senate. - 🗣️ New York City [needs more smooth surfaces]( for roller skating. - The stock price of Truth Social's parent company took a nosedive yesterday — cutting Donald Trump's net worth by $1 billion on paper — after the company [reported losing $58 million last year](. - Adidas is banning fans from customizing the German national team's new soccer jerseys because the font for the numbers is such that [the number "44" looks a lot like the Nazi SS symbol](. - [No shoes]( on the yacht. - "Seagulls 'charismatic' not 'criminal', [say scientists]( - Have some time for a game? [Play]( our mini local news crossword. - Sign up for reminders when we publish new games [here](. National Poetry Month Spotlight Karen's Deli The long fluorescents bless the tops of the heads of those who wait in the a.m. for bacon egg & cheese on a roll that’ll be three twenty-four. Salt-Peppa-Ketchup? Deb’s sacrament requires a simple nod or not in reply, right down the line, always a next, never a last, although sometimes it’s ham. Phyllis’ diamond slides to the side when she rags the counter, Nicole’s is newer & smaller, & Ethel’s chin is red again for the third time this week. So much sex, so much happiness. So many eggs cracked, scrambled, fried, wax-papered, brown-paper-bagged, born on the griddle of God’s grease, while the Post remains stacked high & well-thumbed by those who wait. No purchase necessary. Two napkins per, from the chrome container to the left of the register which still dings (not a celestial ring) to celebrate the arrival of cash, (no credit). Another nod & a dollar tucked into the small rectangle cut out of the lid of a plastic quart container. We say grace. - Miranda Beeson, Upper West Side For National Poetry Month, we're collecting your poems on the theme of "local": the nearby places you find important, and what’s making news there. [Submit your poem here]( for a chance to have it featured in Early Addition or on WNYC. More from Gothamist [second image]( [Interviewer in viral Mayor Adams segment never thought he’d show: ‘They're punking me’]( Reactions to attorney Olayemi Olurin's interview of Mayor Adams on the Breakfast Club were like a Rorschach test of the city’s political divisions. Complex reported that the mayor had been “grilled” by an activist, while Hell Gate praised the interview for its “refreshingly adversarial tenor.” The NY Post described Olurin as a “woke defense attorney.” [Why does NY even bother with a presidential primary now? It has to do with Andrew Yang.]( Polls are open today thanks to a 2020 lawsuit that successfully prevented the state Board of Elections from canceling a primary wherein the Democratic and Republican candidates have already clinched their nominations. [We Rely On Your Support]( [Brooklyn Heights BQE segment to close to Queens-bound traffic in mid-April]( The city Department of Transportation said the Queens-bound side of the BQE will be fully offline from Atlantic Avenue to Sands Street from April 13 at 2 a.m. to April 15 at 4 a.m. [Nuyorican Poets Cafe, an East Village icon, begins a $24M makeover]( The transformed space will include a new main lobby, two theaters instead of one, a garden and dressing rooms. The addition of classrooms will also allow the cafe to reach new audiences and students through workshops. [Instagram]( [Instagram]( [Facebook]( [Facebook]( [Twitter]( [Twitter]( [New York Public Radio] [WNYC]( | [WQXR]( | [NJPR]( | [GOTHAMIST]( [WNYC STUDIOS]( | [THE GREENE SPACE]( Copyright © New York Public Radio. All rights reserved. 160 Varick Street, New York, NY 10013 [TERMS OF USE]( You can update your [PREFERENCES]( or [UNSUBSCRIBE]( from this list.