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How It Works

Our methodology for aggregating and calculating Broadway show scores.

Overview

BroadwayMetaScores aggregates professional critic reviews to calculate a weighted average score for each Broadway show. Reviews are sourced from major publications and weighted by outlet tier to reflect their influence and reach.

Score Interpretation

Scores are labeled based on these thresholds:

85+
Must See!— Universal acclaim
75-84
Excellent— Strong praise
65-74
Great— Generally favorable
55-64
Good— More positive than negative
45-54
Mixed— Divided reception
<45
Poor— Generally unfavorable

Critic Score Calculation

Critic scores are weighted averages based on outlet tier. Each review is assigned a score from 0-100 based on its rating or sentiment.

Outlet Tiers

Tier 1Weight: 1.0×

The New York Times, Washington Post, Variety, Hollywood Reporter, Vulture, The Guardian, Time Out, Broadway News, LA Times, Wall Street Journal, AP

Tier 2Weight: 0.85×

NY Post, NY Daily News, TheaterMania, Entertainment Weekly, Deadline, The Wrap, IndieWire, Observer, Slant, Chicago Tribune, USA Today, NY Stage Review, NY Theatre Guide

Tier 3Weight: 0.70×

BroadwayWorld, amNewYork, Front Mezz Junkies, Culture Sauce, and other smaller outlets/blogs

Designation Bumps

Special designations add bonus points to a review's base score:

NYT Critics' Pick
+3 points
Time Out Critics' Choice
+2 points
Recommended / Pick
+2 points

Rating Normalization

All ratings are normalized to a 0–100 scale for comparability.

Star Ratings

Converted using: (stars / max_stars) × 100

5/5 stars
100
4/5 stars
80
3.5/5 stars
70
3/5 stars
60

Letter Grades

A Range
A+ = 100
A = 95
A- = 90
B Range
B+ = 85
B = 80
B- = 75
C Range
C+ = 70
C = 65
C- = 60
D/F Range
D+ = 55
D = 50
F = 30

Sentiment Buckets

When a review has no explicit rating, we categorize based on sentiment:

Rave
90
Positive
82
Mixed-Positive
72
Mixed / Neutral
65
Mixed-Negative
58
Negative
48
Pan
30

Confidence Rating

Each score includes a confidence indicator based on review coverage:

High
15+ critic reviews with 3+ from Tier 1 outlets
Medium
6–14 critic reviews with at least 1 Tier 1 outlet
Low
Fewer than 6 critic reviews or show still in previews

Transparency

We believe in complete transparency:

  • •Every individual review is listed with its source, original rating, and mapped score
  • •Outlet tiers and weights are clearly documented above
  • •All scoring rules are defined in our open-source codebase

Methodology Version 2.0.0 — Last updated January 2026