Off-Broadway is a tag for recordings of musicals produced at Off-Broadway theatres. Off-Broadway theatres have a capacity of 100-499 seats and are located in Manhattan.

With its smaller theatres and lower production costs, Off-Broadway is a home for a different type of theatre than one sees on Broadway. The shows are often smaller, more intimate, quirkier, or otherwise deemed too “risky” for the larger theatres. Shows that are very successful Off-Broadway may transfer to Broadway with a bigger production. Some shows then receive both Off-Broadway and Broadway recordings.

If a show’s first recording is of an Off-Broadway production, it may be labeled as “Premiere Recording” or “Original Cast Recording” without mentioning Off-Broadway directly. Cast recordings with these labels only use the Off-Broadway tag if the recording is from an Off-Broadway production. Premieres also sometime use the “Original Off-Broadway Cast Recording” description. Off-Broadway revivals are often identified as “New Off-Broadway Cast Recording” or by a specific year, such as “2024 Off-Broadway Cast Recording.”

This tag should not be used for recordings of film musicals, studio cast recordings, concert recordings, or other recordings for productions that did not take place Off-Broadway.

Examples:

• The Ballad of Mack the Knife from The Threepenny Opera (Original Off-Broadway Cast)
• Still Hurting from The Last 5 Years (Original Cast Recording)
• Suddenly Seymour from Little Shop of Horrors (Original Cast Album)