Every week, James L. Nederlander performs his version of “Undercover Boss.” He dons a baseball cap and sunglasses and stands in line, looking like a typical tourist as he waits to get into “Wicked,” “ Hamilton ” or any of the other shows playing at one of the nine Broadway theaters he owns.

“I want to make sure the patrons are having a great experience,” he says. “I want to see if the person taking the tickets is courteous. Are the concession stands clean. Is there trash on the floor. You need to sweat the little things.”

As president of the Nederlander Organization, Nederlander is a third-generation Broadway impresario, which has given him a front-row seat to the theater industry’s boom and bust times. And five years after the business had to shutter due to COVID, he thinks that audie

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