Return of BROADWAY and Live Theatre

[jo]

Aug 30, 2021 19:29:09 GMT -5 jo said:

I have added my reply as I find most of the responses very negative - probably coming from non-regular theatregoers? At least so another side can be heard?

I use this username when posting about the theatre and films.

Applause
on August 30, 2021 5:19 pm
I have sets of tickets for The Music Man ( rescheduled after 2 pandemic delays) -as theatregoing with friends and relatives who like Broadway is one way that makes my trips to NYC always memorable. I have scheduled them for June 2022 as I am travelling from across the world and hoping the Covid-19 situation has stabilized somehow by that time. It is also something to look forward to during this weary and dreary time spent in a pandemic! Maybe it is just a matter of re-allocating one’s resources ( as surely one has been able to save from activities not needed or not available during the pandemic) — to be able to afford a trip to NYC ( not just for Broadway but for all the other city attractions that I always look forward to) and see shows, among select or focused activities for this trip.

A trip to Broadway for domestic and overseas tourists will not be cheap. Giving a 10% or even 20% discount will not make that much a dent to the budget ( unless one is travelling with a family of 5 or more) -- and we know that Broadway is very expensive to produce and stage. Those who like or love the theatre will try to economize ( maybe reduce the number of shows to see or do not go shopping in NYC or stay in a cheaper hotel or keep away from expensive food places) to be able to see a number of shows. I do hope more Broadway people will add their comments.

Jo

[jo]

At least he is among those who are quoted about their connection to Broadway in the official webste --

thisisbroadway.org/

[jo]

Check out this TODAY show clip on the return of Broadway.

www.broadwayworld.com/article/VIDEO-Eva-Noblezada-and-Aaron-Tveit-Talk-Broadways-Return-on-TODAY-20210902

There's also a small glimpse of Hugh in his famous tap-dance routine as preparation for The Music Man.

[jo]

[jo]

Michael Musto rides again!

FALL PRINT EDITION 2021
Broadway’s Awake Again – and Suddenly Woke, Too?

Musto fills us in on what’s best to see on the boards this fall and what to avoid like … well, a plague



by MICHAEL MUSTO

September 4, 2021

Broadway’s coming back! And while the Great White Way hasn’t exactly turned into the Great Black Way, it’s getting closer, since many of the shows being mounted make it clear that Broadway got a lot more woke while it was sleeping. Just like a lot of magazine editors suddenly started scrambling for Black cover subjects under pressure last year, Broadway has realized that it’s been underrepresenting anyone who isn’t white for a long, long time. And that makes us wonder: You mean, all these years, they could have done more shows by, with, and for Black people?

Another change is that abusive producer Scott Rudin is out of the game, having backed down when it was revealed that he routinely did things like clobbering an underling with a computer monitor, flinging a potato at another employee, and throwing a laptop out a window before tossing himself out of producing. It’s no doubt a good thing that the revival of The Music Man — about an annoyingly persuasive con man — is now produced by someone else.


As for other shows, Springsteen on Broadway is already back, and many other hits are returning, including Hamilton, Dear Evan Hansen, Jagged Little Pill, and Moulin Rouge! The Musical (without star Karen Olivo, who announced that she was quitting because of the industry silence surrounding Rudin’s behavior. She now seems like a blazing hero). But we’re also seeing a slate of new entries, some in motion before the pandemic and others recently concocted. And what it all proves to me is that we really couldn’t live without the arts — we simply managed to find other ways to enjoy them (online readings and shows) while waiting it out. And now it’s live again. And I’m there again. In hopes that enough pliable tourists come in to make Broadway profitable again — until October 31, patrons will be required to be vaxxed and masked in the theater—here are some of the heady highlights for the rest of the year.

PASS OVER (previews started August 4, opened August 22)
In Antoinette Chinonye Nwandu’s Lortel Award–winning play — already filmed by Spike Lee — two Black males stand on a corner and pass the time with rough but hopeful small talk, always vigilant for potentially lethal police not too far away. And then a white stranger comes along and shakes things up. Is he Godot? I guess you’ll have to wait and see.

LACKAWANNA BLUES (previews start September 14, opens September 28)
Ruben Santiago-Hudson is a noted actor, writer, and August Wilson interpreter. Coming to Broadway for the °irst time, Lackawanna Blues is a one-man, 20-character show about his childhood in an upstate boarding house, where the kindly Miss Rachel provided love and inspiration. I usually don’t care for one-person shows, but I definitely want to see Ruben Santiago-Hudson play Miss Rachel.

SIX (previews start September 16, opens October 3)
This British musical take on the six wives of Henry VIII was all set to open and get reviewed in March ’20, but lockdown approached as dramatically as Anne Boleyn’s beheading. Well, it’s back, like a rehabbed pop star. The show reimagines the wives as attitudey, modern-day music divas who at one point in time become “all the single ladies.”

CHICKEN & BISCUITS (previews start September 23, opens October 10)
Norm Lewis and Michael Urie star in Douglas Lyons’s “raucous family comedy,” in which a big family secret is unveiled at Dad’s funeral. The result is being sold as feel-good, but I might like it anyway.


STEVE ROSENZWEIG
THE LYCEUM PLAYS
Two works that use real-life dialogue — both of which were produced at off-Broadway’s Vineyard Theatre — will play in repertory at the Lyceum. The alternating docudramas are Tina Satter’s Is This a Room, using the actual transcript of the FBI interrogating info leaker Reality Winner, played by Emily Davis (previews start September 24, opens October 1), and Dana H., in which Deidre O’Connell lip-synchs tapes of the real-life mother of playwright Lucas Hnath, as she discusses having been held captive by a crazed criminal (previews start October 1, opens October 17). Whatever the critics say, they definitely won’t gripe, “The dialogue just doesn’t sound convincing.”

CAROLINE, OR CHANGE (previews start October 8, opens October 27)
The 1963-set Tony Kushner/Jeanine Tesori musical about a Black maid working for a Jewish family in Louisiana gets another go-’round in a production that won accolades in London. (That faraway city has clearly become “the road.”) Sharon D. Clarke stars as the woman who finds some coins, along with some cultural rift, leading to a truly diverse experience in which the bus, the washing machine, and the moon are all given voices.

THOUGHTS OF A COLORED MAN
(previews start October 1, opens October 31)
A Brooklyn-based brotherhood of Black characters is celebrated in this Keenan Scott II play, which “blends spoken word, slam poetry, rhythm, and humor.” This sounds way better than Brooklyn: The Musical.

DIANA (previews start November 2, opens November 17)
Are you simply jonesing to see actors playing Princess Diana, Prince Charles, Queen Elizabeth, and Camilla Parker Bowles burst into song? Are you positively dying for numbers like “Only the Monarchy Is on the Line” and “Here Comes James Hewitt”? See you there.

TROUBLE IN MIND (previews start October 29, opens November 18)
Alice Childress’s 1955 play about theater finally gets to shine on Broadway. It centers on a Black actress who’s tired of playing maids and who is relieved to appear in a play that tackles racism. But as the rehearsal process carries out, it becomes clear that racism exists outside the bounds of the play she’s preparing for. Trouble in Mind was announced for Broadway in 1957, but that didn’t happen. It seems perfect for now, as a mirror to our tumultuous era of three-steps-forward, two-steps-back. Tony winner LaChanze stars.

MRS. DOUBTFIRE (previews start October 21, opens December 5)
A straight guy dons drag, and naturally, Broadway loves the idea! But this one also has gays helping him with makeup and accessories. Based on the 1993 Robin Williams film comedy, the musical stars Broadway stalwart Rob McClure as the unemployed actor who transforms into a Scottish nanny in order to stay close to his kids. As with Tootsie, he—everybody now—becomes a better person in the process.

CLYDE’S (previews start November 3, opens November 22)
Pulitzer winner Lynn Nottage wrote this dramedy set at a truck-stop sandwich shop, where the ex-con staffers are aiming to create the perfect sandwich while also making their lives more nutritious. It’s one of seven Broadway-bound plays by Black writers for ’21. Again: You mean, all these years.…?

FLYING OVER SUNSET (previews start November 4, opens December 6)
Ever wonder what a fictional meeting between LSD-takers Aldous Huxley, Clare Booth Luce, and Cary Grant would be like? No? Then you haven’t done enough LSD. But creators Tom Kitt, Michael Korie, and James Lapine have managed to spin this premise into a musical, and without the help of hallucinogens. I’m hoping for some acid wit on display.

COMPANY (previews start November 15, opens December 9)
Phone rings, door chimes, in comes the gender-realigned version of Company, the 1970 Stephen Sondheim–scored musical about a single New Yorker’s road to realizing that “alone is alone, not alive.” In this version of the anecdotal show, Bobby is now Bobbie (played by The Band’s Visit Tony winner Katrina Lenk), though Joanne is still Joanne, with Patti LuPone doing the honors of ragging on “the dinosaurs surviving the crunch.” I’ll drink to that.

SKELETON CREW (previews start Dec 21, opens January 12, 2022)
This is the third in Dominique Morisseau’s “Detroit Project” cycle, which explores Motor City’s complex sociopolitical history. Skeleton Crew is set at a car factory on the verge of foreclosure, which forces the workers to question loyalties and evolve for survival. I look forward to seeing if there are parallels between this and Lynn Nottage’s 2015 working-class drama, Sweat—or even with her new play, Clyde’s. Ruben Santiago-Hudson (yes, him again) directs, and one of the stars is Phylicia Rashad, whom we can never get enough of — as an actor. But if you’re offended by her eye-popping tweet celebrating Bill Cosby’s prison release (followed by a clarification, stating that she cares about rape victims), then wait till you read the next item.

MJ THE MUSICAL (previews start December 6, opens February 1, 2022)
The aforementioned Lynn Nottage has written the script of this jukebox show about the young Michael Jackson’s creative process. Producers have obviously done their research and figured they can make cash off this piece because it deals with the pre–“Jesus juice” years, and besides, some ticket buyers think Michael is innocent or don’t care either way, they just appreciate him as an artist. But I know a lot of “P.Y.T.’s” who will not be purchasing a ticket, thank you. And I’m personally not thrilled, nor will I be rooting for there to be a musical about O. J. Simpson’s triumphant early years in football.



THE MUSIC MAN (previews start December 20, opens February 10, 2022)
No, it’s not true that this revival has been percolating so long that they’re changing Marian the Librarian’s little brother to her son. Age is irrelevant in the illusory world of the theater. Besides, Hugh Jackman and Sutton Foster are high-wattage stars, and the very white story of a man who drums up fake “trouble in River City” for his own personal gain is more relevant than ever. What’s more, I’m looking forward to debates over whether the song “Shipoopi” — with lyrics like “Squeeze her once, when she isn’t lookin’ ” — is all shipoopied out.



Bye, Zoom! See you all on Broadway, I hope! ❖

[jo]

A summary from BWW on the TONY Awards held at the Winter Garden Theatre --

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[JH4HJ]

COVID Shuts Down ‘Aladdin’ Just a Day After Splashy Broadway Reopening

It was one of the biggest and most anticipated reopenings of Broadway’s return.

A sense of elation pervaded the audience. The Tonys had declared on Sunday that Broadway was back after the pandemic closed the Great White Way 18 months ago. But the day after the opulent Disney spectacular Aladdin reopened, the show was canceled when several breakthrough cases of COVID-19 were detected among its cast.

“Through our rigorous testing protocols, breakthrough COVID-19 cases have been detected within the company of Aladdin at the New Amsterdam Theater,” Disney Theatrical Productions said in a notice nixing the show just a half-hour before the Wednesday night curtain call.

It’s the first show to close down because of the virus since Broadway’s big reopening.

(pretty sure they mean "the Wednesday night *curtain*" - which would open the show, not "curtain call" - which would be at the end)

Full article

[jo]

In case anyone is interested there will be a Broadway revival of MACBETH, starring DANIEL CRAIG in spring of 2022, on a limited run. It is now on a pre-sale basis for American Express cards.

Daniel has done OTHELLO on Off-Bway in the past.


Tickets can be purchased through TELECHARGE.


www.telecharge.com/Broadway/Macbeth/Overview


www.telecharge.com/Broadway/Macbeth/Ticket

[jo]

Sept 30, 2021 22:07:10 GMT -5 jo said:

Wouldn't it be great if they both got Tonys

[JH4HJ]

RE: my previous post - Aladdin is UP "on the boards" again. Yay!

Here's a direct link to Hugh's IG post about ON BROADWAY -

Kino Marquee: ON BROADWAY

Directed by Oren Jacoby
Year: 2021
Running Time: 85 minutes

For anyone who loves theater, this contemporary history of Broadway is a pure joy! As audiences prepare for the return of live theater after an unprecedented absence of 18 months, an all-star cast tells the inside story of the last time Broadway came back from the brink. ON BROADWAY shows how this revival helped save New York City, thanks to innovative work, a new attention to inclusion, and the sometimes uneasy balance between art and commerce. Interviews with legends of the stage and screen, including Hugh Jackman, Helen Mirren, Christine Baranski, August Wilson, James Corden, Alec Baldwin, John Lithgow, Viola Davis, and Ian McKellen take us behind the scenes of Broadway’s most groundbreaking and beloved shows, from A Chorus Line to Hamilton. Archival clips of iconic performances by Lin Manuel Miranda, Patti Lupone, Bernadette Peters, James Earl Jones and Mandy Patinkin punctuate this hurly-burly ride through the main street of American show business. Now that New York City is facing an uncertain path forward in its recovery from a devastating pandemic, this documentary from Academy Award®-nominated director Oren Jacoby and the producers of RBG shows how Broadway led the way in the city’s last great rebirth and provides a model of how it can come back again.

You can watch a 2 minute teaser @ the site above. (Hugh's there for a flash)

I'm gonna pass on the $12 price. If anyone watches it, I'd love to hear what you think.

[jo]

Variety interview with Andrew Lloyd Webber --

Lots of insights, humor, and gossip...and his role as chief advocate for the return of the theatre!


variety.com/2021/legit/features/andrew-lloyd-webber-broadway-reopening-phantom-of-the-opera-cats-cinderella-1235081430/

One update -- Paramount is not keen to make a film adaptation of the musical Sunset Blvd despite Glenn Close's impassioned pleas.

There's mention of mounting his newest musical CINDERELLA ( this one is very different, some calling it Bad Cinderella ), which drew raves in London in the summer of 2022 on Broadway. Might I be able to catch at least the previews?

During his fall trip to the city, Lloyd Webber is looking for a New York venue to host “Cinderella.” He would like to mount the show on Broadway by next summer.

In the meantime, he is thinking of a new musical to write again.

Certainly one of my favorite composers!


Jo

[jo]

www.nytimes.com/2021/10/19/theater/live-performance-coronavirus.html

Broadway Is Back. Here’s What It’s Like for Theatergoers.

Seeing theater these days can involve waiting in lines to show proof of vaccination and getting rapid coronavirus tests for young children. Many fans seem undeterred.


Theatergoing is a bit different these days: Nicholas Brown-Spino, who had turned 12 so recently that he could not yet get the second dose of the vaccine, got a coronavirus test so he could get in to see “Stomp.”


Matt Stevens
By Matt Stevens
Oct. 19, 2021

The long-awaited return of Broadway has brought back many familiar preshow rituals — and also spurred a few that are new. One takes place a few hours before curtain time in middle of Times Square, under a canopy with a sandwich board sign proclaiming: “Broadway Show Testing Site.”

It is there that some of the most dedicated theatergoers in the city — children under 12 who are ineligible for the vaccines theaters require — are taken by their parents to submit to nasal swabs so they can get the negative coronavirus test results they need to see shows.

Remy Keller, a 5-year-old from Chicago who needed a test so she could see “The Lion King,” was among a crowd there on a recent Saturday, bracing herself for the swab. There were a few tears.

“There’s a lot of things we all have to do to minimize the effects of the virus on vulnerable people; I’m not saying I’m not willing to jump through the hoops, but why are we putting the kids through all this?” her mother, Avery Keller, said, noting that her daughter has already had to be tested dozens of times for school. “I think we’ve got to really weigh the mental health impacts of this on our children.”



The return of live performance — on stages from Broadway to Carnegie Hall to Lincoln Center to the Brooklyn Academy of Music — after the long shutdown has been a cause for celebration for culture-starved theatergoers and music and dance lovers. But as with so many things in the age of the coronavirus, coming back has entailed a few adjustments: the ability to deftly juggle proofs of vaccination and photo IDs and tickets to get inside; preshow announcements that now urge people to keep their cellphones off and their masks on; and the absence of intermissions at some concerts and dance performances.

Najah Hetsberger, 21, who returned to Broadway on a recent weeknight to see a show for the first time since before the pandemic shutdown in March 2020, was delighted to find that her fellow theatergoers were actually doing what they had been told.



Some of the most dedicated theatergoers in the city are children under 12, who must get coronavirus tests to see Broadway shows since they are not yet eligible for the vaccines.Credit...John Taggart for The New York Times
“I didn’t see anyone with their mask down, even below their nose,” she said after emerging from a performance of the play “Chicken & Biscuits.” “Everyone was following directions. I think people know, and want theater to come back and stay.”

Theaters have grown more adept at swiftly managing the lines of people waiting to get in. In most cases, people get their vaccine status checked first, then move more briskly through security and into the theater, where ushers scan their tickets. Still, it pays to get to the theater a little early these days: The checks do sometimes result in delays, and some music and dance companies have had to hold their curtains a few minutes to give the people waiting in line extra time to get inside.



Once inside a venue, other changes await. In the minutes leading up to performances of “American Utopia,” the David Byrne concert show, ushers stroll up and down the aisles of the St. James Theater with poster-size signs that urge: “Please Mask Up.” The usual preshow announcements admonishing people to turn off their cellphones now also have other business to attend to. “God told me to tell you to keep your mask on,” ran the radio-style announcement at a recent performance of “Chicken & Biscuits.” “He did, so don’t question it.”

And, at a recent performance of “The Lehman Trilogy,” the audience chuckled knowingly at a newly written line about the flu pandemic of 1918 and the ensuing “protests in San Francisco, against the wearing of masks.”

In interviews, theatergoers almost universally agreed that they were willing to tolerate longer, slower lines, wear masks for hours on end and take their children to get properly timed coronavirus tests if that was what it took to see live theater again.

“I feel comfortable and safe because I know everyone here had to show proof of vaccination or a negative test,” said Heather Teta, of New York, who came to “The Lion King” with her 9- and 6-year-old daughters. “They have negative tests and are all masked. We’ll do whatever we need to do to get back.”




Image
In interviews, theatergoers agreed that they were willing to tolerate longer, slower lines and wear masks to see live theater again. A crowd waited in line at the TKTS booth in Times Square recently for discounted tickets.
In interviews, theatergoers agreed that they were willing to tolerate longer, slower lines and wear masks to see live theater again. A crowd waited in line at the TKTS booth in Times Square recently for discounted tickets.Credit...John Taggart for The New York Times

Broadway and union officials say that the reopening has been free of the sort of dramatic dust-ups some flight attendants have experienced while trying to enforce masking rules on planes. “Thankfully, so far so good,” said Carol Bokun, the theatrical business representative with IATSE Local 306.


Disney Theatrical Productions shared survey data collected from people who attended “The Lion King” that appeared to suggest that the testing requirements for children had not been a major deterrent. The self-reported data showed that 29 percent of parties attending the show so far this fall had included children, an increase from 21 percent in late 2019, before the pandemic shutdown.



When it comes to snacks and drinks, theaters are taking various approaches. Several Broadway theaters now offer concessions — including “featured cocktails” that can run to $22 a pop — and allow people to lower their masks briefly while eating or drinking. Other venues have yet to reopen their food and beverage service, reluctant to encourage any masklessness at all. The Metropolitan Opera has closed most of its concession areas, but its bar in the airiest section of the Grand Tier is now open, along with its restaurant. To encourage mask-wearing, a security guard politely asks people not to take their food or drink outside the designated areas.

And intermissions are growing rarer. The New York Philharmonic, Carnegie Hall and New York City Ballet have all experimented with slightly shorter programs with no intermissions, in part to minimize the amount of time patrons are thrust together in crowds. The faster evenings, which get out earlier, are proving popular with some music lovers, even if the long intermissionless stretches test the bladders of others.

The vaccine mandates for live performances are not that different from the ones required to dine indoors in New York City, which may have made the adjustment smoother. There has been some opposition, though: A group of small Off Broadway theaters and comedy clubs in Manhattan have formally objected to the mandates in court. They recently sued Mayor Bill de Blasio over the city’s vaccine mandate, claiming it had been enforced unequally.

And there are still some situations that can be difficult to navigate. To get into a theater, adults must show that they have been fully vaccinated. But the entry rules are slightly different for children under 12. Since vaccines have not yet been authorized for children that age, they are required to present either a negative PCR test taken within 72 hours of the performance to get into a Broadway show, or a negative rapid test taken within six hours of curtain time. (The Met Opera and Carnegie Hall are not yet allowing unvaccinated children in at all; New York City Ballet has said it will allow children under 12 to attend its 47-show run of “George Balanchine’s The Nutcracker” with a negative PCR test.)



Survey data provided by Disney Theatrical Productions collected from people who attended “The Lion King” appeared to suggest that the testing requirements for children had not been a major deterrent in keeping families from seeing the show.Credit...John Taggart for The New York Times

The new theater rules posed a difficulty for Gary Spino, 59, who was planning to see “Stomp” the other day with his son, Nicholas. But Nicholas had turned 12 just days earlier, so he had been unable to get his second dose of the vaccine. The show’s rules, though, said that as a 12-year old, Nicholas needed to be fully vaccinated.


Can I get a flu shot at the same time as a Covid vaccine or booster shot?

“We don’t know if they’re going to let us in because he only has one shot,” said Spino, who acknowledged that the situation was causing considerable stress. “Honestly we were thinking about pretending that he’s still just 11.”

[jo]

"Mrs Doubtfire " has just re-opened for previews.

*Will Jerry Zaks now have more time for the oncoming rehearsals of THE MUSIC MAN? In his interview with Variety, he mentioned that at that time, he was spending 80% for Doubtfire and 20% for The Music Man. This close & unintended schedule connection between the 2 projects came due to pandemic delays. Maybe he will do some touch-ups for Doubtfire (until it is "frozen') now and go closer to full attention for TMM?

*Will Rob Mclure be one of the strongest contenders for "Best Actor in a Musical" Tony? Hopefully, Hugh Jackman will be up for that distinction, too!

Jo

[jo]

Extension of mask requirement up to February 28, 2022!


www.broadwayworld.com/article/Broadway-Theatres-to-Welcome-International-Visitors-Children-Under-12-and-Extend-Vaccination-Mask-Requirement-20211108

[jo]

Forbes writes about the financial health of Broadway --

www.forbes.com/sites/leeseymour/2021/11/16/broadway-box-office-improves-but-internal-disparity-worsens/?sh=79de38566d64

[jo]

There have been reported cancellations of several performances involving a few shows due to mild Covid infections, but they resumed performances shortly after. Some added new shows a few days later .

This poses an issue with those travelling to NYC (Domestic and especially overseas) just for the show and may not be able to fit in the added performance... especially now there is some uncertainty due to the new variant and the coming winter season.

Maybe - rethink one's travel planning? Or maybe try to get an additional ticket for TMM at least a week/a few days apart?


Jo

[mamaleh]

I've haltingly dipped my toes into the B'way pond again. It's not exactly fun keeping the mask on throughout performances, but it's better than no show at all.

I recently caught three shows: The musical KIMBERLY AKIMBO (Off-Broadway): Excellent turn by Victoria Clark as a teenager suffering from a progeria-like illness that speeds up her aging so she has the appearance of a 70-something. The songs are alternately touching and witty. Unexpected raucous humor comes in the hilarious person of Bonnie Milligan as the teen's outrageous aunt. Recommended.

FLYING OVER SUNSET: The set pieces and imagination that have gone into this musical at Lincoln Center are much more arresting than the plot concerning LSD trips taken by Cary Grant, Clare Boothe Luce and Aldous Huxley when the three (fictionally) spent a weekend together in the late 1950s. Tony Yazbeck as Grant steals the show through his psychedelic trip dances. The show's not horrendous but so-so at best, largely because a promising Act I becomes a redundant Act II.

THE LEHMAN TRILOGY is superlative theater, start to finish. The story of the fabled financiers who came to America as penniless immigrants and built a financial empire and those who succeeded them is fascinating and superbly delineated by Simon Russell Beale, Adam Godley and Adrian Lester. The three actors (the entire cast) also play numerous other characters (of both sexes, amusingly). Don't be put off by the 3 hour, 20 minute length. It flies by. Very highly recommended.

Ellen

[jo]

Thanks, Ellen!

You're always our erudite source of all things theatrical!

Sorry it is a short run -- would have wanted to see the family saga of one of the most famous & exciting names in the financial world -- the Lehman Bros!

Jo

[jo]

There have been recent short-term covid-related show cancellations.

I guess we may have to prepare for such eventuality. Especially for those coming from outside the tri-state and the USA.

[jo]

NYTimes on show cancellations --

When the Show Doesn’t Go On: Broadway Is Rattled by Covid Cancellations

Broadway, where cancellations were once vanishingly rare, has seen a raft of them as positive coronavirus tests among cast and crew members have upended productions.

A growing number of Broadway shows have had to cancel performances because of the coronavirus, including “Ain’t Too Proud,” where some patrons arrived Tuesday only to find out that night’s performance had been canceled.

By Michael Paulson
Dec. 15, 2021
Updated 3:42 p.m. ET

Theater actors have long prided themselves on performing despite infections and injuries — singing through strain and dancing through pain.

No more.

The coronavirus pandemic has upended the theater industry’s longstanding “show must go on” philosophy, supplanting it with a safety-first strategy. The result: a raft of cancellations unlike any in history.

On Wednesday, “Tina,” a jukebox musical about Tina Turner, canceled both of its performances, and “Harry Potter and the Cursed Child,” a stage sequel to the novels, canceled its matinee. A new musical adaptation of “Mrs. Doubtfire” had already canceled four performances between Sunday and Wednesday, while Lin-Manuel Miranda’s improv troupe, “Freestyle Love Supreme,” canceled three, and “Ain’t Too Proud,” the Temptations jukebox musical, canceled one. At an Off Broadway theater down the street, a strong-selling revival of “Little Shop of Horrors” scrapped four weekend shows.


All cited Covid.

In each case, at least one member of the show’s cast or crew tested positive for the coronavirus, and, either because of a lack of enough people to replace those who test positive or a concern about contagion, performances had to be canceled. They were not the first, and almost certainly won’t be the last, as the persistent pandemic continues to pose a challenge to an industry struggling to get back on its feet after a lengthy and damaging shutdown kept theaters dark for more than a year.





Broadway has taken many precautions — there is an industrywide vaccine mandate for audiences and workers, and patrons must wear masks — but nobody lives in a bubble, and frequent testing (daily at some shows) is turning up a steady stream of breakthrough infections. And as the Omicron variant causes caseloads to rise, some performing arts institutions are starting to go further: The Metropolitan Opera said Wednesday that, starting Jan. 17, it would require booster shots for both employees and audience members.

In many cases, those testing positive have been asymptomatic or mildly symptomatic, but they are not allowed to return until they are deemed no longer contagious.


The cancellations are not only disruptive to consumers — many of them have been announced just minutes before showtime — but are also costly to producers, many of whom already struggle to achieve profitability in an industry where far more shows fail than succeed. For a show grossing $1 million a week, each missed performance would mean a loss of about $125,000; cancellations on weekends are costlier, because that’s when many shows are most full, and cancellations at this time of year are especially painful, because Broadway traditionally sees an attendance spike during the holiday season.




At “Mrs. Doubtfire,” for example, the Covid cancellations ate up all of last week’s anticipated profits — about $300,000 — according to Kevin McCollum, the show’s lead producer. But he said he is optimistic that many of those whose tickets were canceled will rebook for a later performance.

“What’s happening is a challenge for all of us in the industry, because we’re in the business of gathering,” Mr. McCollum said. “We can’t pretend no one has Covid when they have Covid. I’m hoping this will be put into the level of the common cold in the future, but until then, we have to respect it fully.”

“Chicken & Biscuits,” which was already struggling at the box office when infections hit its company, cited the costs of canceled shows in deciding to close down the production for good.




The industry’s leaders say cancellations show their commitment to safety, but are nonetheless worrisome.

“What’s going on was contemplated — we hoped that it wouldn’t happen in the numbers that it’s happening, but it was contemplated, because we know there’s an ongoing pandemic,” said Mary McColl, the executive director of Actors’ Equity, a labor union representing performers and stage managers. “The fact that cases are being caught, and performances are being paused, shows that both sides are paying attention — the producers and the unions — and that’s what all of the safety protocols are there for. And my hope is that makes audiences feel more secure.”

The Broadway League, a trade organization representing producers and theater owners, agreed that the cancellations are not a surprise, but also noted that most shows are continuing to run. As of Sunday, there had been 2,351 Broadway performances, seen by 2.3 million people, since plays and musicals returned in late summer.


“There’s no question that this current rash of breakthrough cases is concerning, but the industry has not shut down,” said Charlotte St. Martin, the League’s president. “I’m knocking on wood so much I have bruised knuckles, but so far we’re still open, and a two- or three-day shutdown, now and then, I think is to be expected.”



Fans have been upset, frustrated, rattled, but also understanding.

“I’m not insane — of course they’re going to cancel a show if someone has Covid,” said Karleigh Kebartas, a 21-year-old psychology student at Pace University, who had a ticket to the canceled Saturday matinee of “Little Shop,” “but it’s disappointing.” Ms. Kebartas was already at the theater when the show was canceled — in fact, much of the audience was held in the lobby until several minutes after the scheduled start time, when an announcement was made with no explanation of the reason. But Ms. Kebartas got lucky — on Tuesday, she was able to buy another ticket to that night’s performance, enabling her to catch the show’s star, Jeremy Jordan, before heading home to Massachusetts for the holidays.



The closings began almost as soon as Broadway reopened. On Sept. 28, the Disney musical “Aladdin” resumed performances at the New Amsterdam Theater; the very next day, the show closed for 12 days, citing breakthrough cases.

Since then, there have been a handful of closings at other shows — the lengthy shutdown at “Chicken & Biscuits,” and shorter Covid-related shutdowns at “Chicago,” which went dark for a five-day stretch last month, and “Wicked,” which lost a weekend early this month. And it’s not just theater: The acclaimed Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater canceled its performances Wednesday and Thursday, citing positive coronavirus tests.

Plus there have been additional cancellations of “Harry Potter and the Cursed Child” and “American Utopia” that the producers said were not Covid-related.



“Canceling random performances can only hurt — it just puts the whole confidence that a performance will happen up in the air,” said Ted Chapin, a longtime industry leader and the former president of the Rodgers & Hammerstein Organization. “It would be nice if Covid could calm down, but it does seem as if during this time when people are not being as diligent as they should be, we may be in this longer than we would like.”

But thus far, patrons still seem to be flocking to shows. The cancellations are still “a small number of performances relative to the whole,” said Victoria Bailey, executive director of the nonprofit Theater Development Fund, which runs the TKTS booth in Times Square. “We’re hyper-aware of it because within the industry we all have this underlying anxiety: ‘We need this to last. We need this to last. We need this to keep going.’ But the average consumer: not so much.”

Understudies are helping some shows keep going. But in some instances, particularly for new shows, there are not enough replacements ready to go on.

“It may be that certain shows have to think about how much coverage they have, and economically whether we can afford to expand coverage,” said Tom Kirdahy, a lead producer of “Little Shop.” “It can’t be that if one person tests positive, an entire production shuts down — that model is unsustainable.”

One unresolved question: compensation. Thus far, most shows have paid company members even when performances have been canceled, but it is not clear whether that practice will continue.

The cancellations are happening elsewhere as well. Canceled performances are now widespread in London, where theaters have had less stringent safety rules. In Paris, a performance of the ballet “Don Quixote” was canceled this week at the Opéra Bastille because of positive cases in its company. And over the summer, lockdowns forced reopened shows to shutter in Australia.

Melissa Castor, a 31-year-old graphic designer, was still at home on Long Island on Saturday when she saw on Twitter that that night’s performances of “Freestyle Love Supreme” had been canceled. “I was upset, but it’s not like I had to buy a plane ticket or get a hotel, and I know going in that a show could be canceled,” she said. “This is the age we live in.”

The reversal of fortune was particularly abrupt for Ben Ratner, a 29-year-old digital producer, who on Sunday morning won a virtual lottery ticket to that day’s “Mrs. Doubtfire” matinee, but 90 minutes later got an email saying the show was canceled. “I was a little annoyed, but also understanding,” he said.

[jo]

[jo]

At the moment -- B'way League not considering shutdown.


broadwaynews.com/2021/12/17/broadway-league-not-considering-industry-shutdown-amid-covid-cancellations/?fbclid=IwAR1HzrqvFSXrI1ypo0KvZ11RI1KK_RVFtQHbLCBeQugtw1pBL3ltVJzANMY

[jo]

The Broadway League Announces BwayToday.com​​​​​​​ Tracking Shows Playing Each Day
All listings will include the most current information on performance times and reflect any cancellations.

by A.A. Cristi Dec. 17, 2021

The Broadway League Announces BwayToday.com​​​​​​​ Tracking Shows Playing Each Day
While most shows are performing as usual, some shows may suspend performances out of an abundance of caution and care for the actors, musicians, crew, and audience members.

In order to help consumers access up-to-the-minute information, The Broadway League has created BwayToday.com to help them find the performance schedule of every Broadway show currently playing, as well as upcoming special holiday performance times. This resource also provides access to each Broadway show's website for more information. All listings will include the most current information on performance times and reflect any cancellations.


"The magic of Broadway is that it is live in every way," said Charlotte St. Martin, President of The Broadway League. "If an actor or crew member gets sick, we take it very seriously. Our highest priority is the health and safety of everyone working on the show and everyone in the audience."


Broadway's Covid-19 protocols are the gold standard for live entertainment. The industry has made a commitment to the highest standard of vaccination requirement and masking, which is one reason why more than 2.3 million theatergoers have safely attended a Broadway show since the reopening.

Shows are offering refunds or exchanges to audience members for canceled performances. Contact your point of purchase for information.

[jo]

Dec 18, 2021 0:58:23 GMT -5 jo said:

In case anyone is taking kids to the show --

[jo]

Mrs Doubtfire is suspending its run to mid-March. They have actually officially opened.

www.broadwayworld.com/article/MRS-DOUBTFIRE-Suspends-Performances-Through-March-14th-20220102

Why so long?

Hope Zaks is not thinking the same.


EDIT:

It was the decision of the Producer ((who also produced past hits rent/AveQ/ and current hit Six)

There's a longer article on NYT Doubtfire hiatus. The producer said that if they don't do this - they would have to close the show in 3 weeks -- no audience/no receipts. The cast won't be paid during hiatus but assured of being rehired by mid-March. Producer offered to keep them employed at twenty-five percent during hiatus but Equity refused.

In TMM's case - if Hugh can and is willing to continue the run and keeps the show at least at breakeven level, I think Diller et al will not decide to close it or go on hiatus.

No audience, no show! As simple as that.

Jo