Theater3232 said: "I imagine the Excelsior Pass would be helpful in most cases, but what if someone tested negative 72 hours ago and picked it up on the subway on the way to the venue? https://pix11.com/news/coronavirus/vaccine-passport-app-for-large-stadiums-arenas-tested-in-new-york I think most New Yorkers would be okay with using it, but would that hurt shows dependent on tourists who may not want to use it?"
That pass or some analog of it will morph into a vaccine pass. Broadway will not meaningfully reopen before there is widespread vaccination and there will not be a relaxation of social distancing until then. As I have written previously, we are trying to answer questions that will not present themselves in a matter of months, one way or another.
Tourists will take time. Like 2024 time. Folks don't seem inclined to wrap their heads around that. Vaccine holdouts will eventually become their own problem, not ours.
I'm a little surprised (and also not) that a mask mandate would be a hang-up for some. If I have to wear a mask in exchange for sitting in a full theater and watching a Broadway show sooner, I will gladly do it.
I would think the same CDC standard would apply to both audience and performers (if masks are still recommended by a certain date). Otherwise I fear audience members may not be at ease if performers aren't masked although CDC recommended, are spitting while projecting at high volume, etc.
Theater3232 said: "I would think the same CDC standard would apply to both audience and performers (if masks are still recommended by a certain date). Otherwise I fear audience members may not be at ease if performers aren't masked although CDC recommended, are spitting while projecting at high volume, etc."
I think you are operating on a big "if." If the guidance at the end of the summer is the same as today, there will be no shows. I think everyone expects that, by then, casts and crews and perhaps audiences will have been fully vaccinated and that there will be new protocols. (These likely will include continued masking of audiences, but not performers. Remember that the issue is not so much spread but superspreading. Hence the small gathering rules now.) It is also important to recognize that whatever CDC says, AEA is not going to allow its members to perform in unsafe conditions and the present protocols explicitly state that full immunization of cast is a sine qua non of any discussion of relaxation of the extant rules. As I said earlier, you are asking questions that cannot be answered presently.
Has there been any word about when the shutdown will be officially extended again? I know that it will most likely be fall for the first shows to return but as of right now the official date is still June 1st. Any chance that instead of announcing a shutdown again, the first shows back will announce a tentative reopening date next time they extend the closure (for example, September 1st)?
By June, I expect that there will no longer be a state-mandated League-wide reason to extend the date. What will remain are protocols that will have the effect of preventing most productions from functioning and an expectation by some that they can overcome the protocols in large part by the Fall. There is another aspect to this, which is that at present the AEA protocols are significantly more stringent, and there may come a time that there will be a PR/negotiating angle to the lifting of any universal shutdown and setting of dates.
Theater3232 said: "I would think the same CDC standard would apply to both audience and performers (if masks are still recommended by a certain date). Otherwise I fear audience members may not be at ease if performers aren't masked although CDC recommended, are spitting while projecting at high volume, etc."
I don't agree with that. I think performers will be tested regularly and are generally further away (although I know not true for the closest seats). Spectators at sporting events have to wear masks while athletes don't all the time. The entire crew on a TV or movie set wears masks but the actors don't unless doing a COVID-era storyline.
Masks are hardly *fun* to wear, especially in the summer, but you know what? I have not been sick once this past year. I've had days where I've been working and have had to wear a mask for 8 hours or more. I've worn one on 2+ hr train rides. At this point, it's like wearing a necktie: it's nice to take it off but hardly a struggle to keep it on. And that's to say nothing of essential workers, who have had to wear them day in and day out, or medical professionals, who have been regularly wearing masks for hours even pre-pandemic. You can all tough it out for a musical.
They have become so ubiquitous in the city and worldwide, I strongly doubt people will totally abandon them, especially during colder months.
And packed inside a tight old theater, with folks hacking and coughing? I'll be keeping one on for years to come.
"...everyone finally shut up, and the audience could enjoy the beginning of the Anatevka Pogram in peace."
Even though it won't be mandated for that long by any means, I imagine we'll see more people in theaters wearing masks for years and years to come, if not forever
100%. I can’t imagine ever riding the subway again without wearing one. And like Kad said above, I haven’t gotten a cold in over a year when I usually get at least 2 a year.
In Dec 2020, I bought a ticket to Hades for its "return" on June 1, 2021.
Ticketmaster stopped all sales stating "On sale date and time are in the works - please check back!." No mention about previously sold tickets.
I know they've been replaced by Seat Geek, but it's not selling either. I don't know if this will be a postponement again to the fall or the ticket sale termination was to transition to Seat Geek software...or both.
Bway League Charlotte once said they need 60-90 day rehearsal time before opening. So Apr-May would cover it, but Andre is doing St Louis Shakespeare in June, yet he said he's going back to Hades.
Jagged is selling tkts for June show.
Anyone know? If Jagged is selling, surely cast knows if they're performing.
tickets on sale means nothing as to when a show might return. None of these shows you mention will return on the dates you mention. Maybe one/some will return in the Fall, others in the Spring, and still others later or never.
"I can’t imagine ever riding the subway again without wearing one. And like Kad said above, I haven’t gotten a cold..."
Sadly, I know folks working in theater (non-performers) who still believe covid is a hoax, that it's really the flu being mis-reported, and that masks are meaningless but they wear them against their will.
I always add surgical gloves to that subway ride. With all the crime there lately especially throwing folks on tracks, pepper spray or body guards may be next!
JayElle said: ""I can’t imagine ever riding the subway again without wearing one. And like Kad said above, I haven’t gotten a cold..."
Sadly, I know folks working in theater (non-performers) who still believe covid is a hoax, that it's really the flu being mis-reported, and that masks are meaningless but they wear them against their will.
I always add surgical gloves to that subway ride. With all the crime there lately especially throwing folks on tracks, pepper spray or body guards may be next!
"
That's...distressing. Heck there's even some performers who think that, so...I myself might actually wear a mask on the subway form now on once we see the other side of this.
But I have a question....why is that Australia has been able to begin live shows again WITH distancing measures? Yes, I know that their infection rate is stupid low, but it's clear they're doing something right. I guess since the gold ol' US just didn't care to take this seriously in the first place and therefore we're too far gone in our mistakes to do live events of any kind for a while yet.
I think how feelings on things like masks going forward in certain situations evolve (and there is no reason they need to be uniform) is, like so much, TBD. That said, I am not inconvenienced by wearing a mask and may well wear one situationally (especially, for instance, in cold and flu season in crowded places).
We (collectively) don't care what people around us do or don't do once there is something approaching herd immunity, and individually we don't care once we are immunized. The main differences between the US and Australia is that we have this weird "independent" thing in certain quarters (ditto in Europe) and we have substantially free travel. Unless they are dumb like the UK, islands are easier. Also, however, bear in mind that we can have live performances here with masks and social distancing and other protocols, but this does not help Broadway, because it is not economically viable.
I normally do a holiday to New York each year, I'm planning on a trip in March 2022 for a hopeful week of theatre going, but I will postpone if masks are mandatory in theatres. I saw a few shows in the UK with a mask and whilst it's ok for a once in a while, it's not something I want to do on my holiday.
Might see the odd show on any ad hoc trips if I can (Im crew for an airline), where a mask won't be an issue for a one off, but not for a weeks worth of shows.
Mark_E said: "I normally do a holiday to New York each year, I'm planning on a trip in March 2022 for a hopeful week of theatre going, but I will postpone if masks are mandatory in theatres. I saw a few shows in the UK with a mask and whilst it's ok for a once in a while, it's not something I want to do on my holiday.
Might see the odd show on any ad hoc trips if I can (Im crew for an airline), where a mask won't be an issue for a one off, but not for a weeks worth of shows."
Postpone your trip to see theatre if wearing a mask is required?? GOOD. Postpone it. Idiot. Idiot. Idiot.
If things stay on the current track, the mask requirement should be lifted by March. But who knows?
There is no question that mask-wearing will affect the market for shows. I did not read Mark_E to be saying that he wanted to go to shows without a mask before it was deemed safe to do so.
unclevictor said: "Mark_E said: "I normally do a holiday to New York each year, I'm planning on a trip in March 2022 for a hopeful week of theatre going, but I will postpone if masks are mandatory in theatres. I saw a few shows in the UK with a mask and whilst it's ok for a once in a while, it's not something I want to do on my holiday.
Might see the odd show on any ad hoc trips if I can (Im crew for an airline), where a mask won't be an issue for a one off, but not for a weeks worth of shows."
Postpone your trip to see theatre if wearing a mask is required?? GOOD. Postpone it. Idiot. Idiot. Idiot."
I'm guessing you haven't actually sat in an enclosed theatre with a facemask on to see a show? Its not great... I don't mind it for a one off visit as I said, and have done in London, but it's not a way to spend a week on holiday. I wear a mask at work for hours and hours on end and for a holiday I would like some relief from that - I don't think that quite warrants your aggressive comments.