Broadway on 9/11 and after — Page 2

Margo, I agree with you about the months to year thing. I was back in the city in May 2002, and although there were people, it still felt a tad different from what it did my previous time there. By December of that year when i returned, it felt a bit better (from out-of-towners' perspective at least).

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That day is the most memorable in my entire life. I wasn't really old enough to realize itf effect on the theatre and such, but it literally took over a week before I saw any vehilcles going up town. I was the sickest, eeriest thing ever.

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I was young when the attacks occured but being part of a city based family gave us no choice but to conitnue. Recently my brother and his fiance moved into an apartment in Jersey City on the water and from their living room floor to ceiling windows, you could have perfectly see the two towers.

I've yet to actually venture to Ground Zero. Passed it on the train etc of course, but haven't gotten as far as actually making a visit.

Ugh, what a rough time.

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A lot of Off-Broadway shows suffered after 9/11 as well.

Bat Boy went on hiatus from Sept. 23 -- Oct. 18 and eventually closed on Dec. 2.

Reefer Madness was supposed to begin previews on Sept. 15, but was postponed until Sept. 18. The state of the city after the attacks also led to this show having a shorter run that it probably should have.

Tick..Tick..BOOM! was another Off-Broadway show hit hard by 9/11. It hung on for a while, but eventually closed on Jan. 6.

I came up to the city around Oct. 12 for the first time after the attacks and saw Thou Shalt Not. I had tickets to Bat Boy, but since it was on hiatus, I went and saw Reefer Madness instead. I also was able to see Raul Esparza's last performance in Tick..Tick..BOOM! that weekend.

Speaking of TTB, the release date of its cast album was on Sept. 11. My plans that day revolved around going by the store and purchasing it.

There is a story on Playbill (that I will post when I can find it) about someone who worked on one of the top floors of the towers who's life was spared on 9/11 because he went to buy the TTB cast album instead of coming into work on time. It may have been from an interview with Esparza.

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"I regret never being able to see the New York City skyline the way it's supposed to be."

Perfectly said.

I grew up in Colorado, and the best thing I had to Broadway was the minature sets I made for my theatre in the closet, haha. But because of 9/11, my Dad called me (which at that time, we weren't close at all) and told me he bought 3 first class tickets to NYC, a limo to the Marriot Marquis and tickets to "The Producers" and "Mamma Mia!". Going to the city was amazing as I had always knew it would be, but I knew what was missing. I moved there a couple years later and it was different, but what I wouldn't give to see the NYC of 2000.

Lance

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In North Carolina, they didn't let us out of school. I was in high school at the time. We all heard what happened but didn't really know until I got home at 3:30 and ran to my TV to turn on CNN. I remember school was not closed at all due to the tragedy, which I thought very odd considering the severity.

I didn't have a computer then. At a library computer I visited the Broadway.com message board to read about all the Broadway horror situations. I was deeply concerned. I kept bugging my parents to take me to the city but they refused to even leave the state. We definitely wouldn't fly.

I wanted to fly. I wanted to fly to New York, see a Broadway show, fly back home, and tell my friends.

The closest I got was stumbling across a TV commercial featuring all Broadway actors singing "New York, New York" in Times Square. At the end, Nathan Lane said to come see a Broadway show. I cried after seeing this commercial.

Later, the Rosie O'Donnell Show came back on the air. Rather soon, she had Broadway shows performing again. It made me very happy to see her helping the ease into bringing theatre back.

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i saw lots of theater following september 11th, just for the escape.

I had a friend who was supposed to come up the Sat after 9 /11 and see CONTACT and URINETOWN. His family refused to let him come up. CONTACT was %25 full and even though everyone tried to get into the show it never happened.BUT URINETOWN was a different story. One of the creative staff ( I wish I could remember who ) came out and gave Mayor Giuliani s speech about Broadway staying open. Then he told us how he wasn't comfortable to be doing this show with everything that just happened so he called his grandmother ( who i think was 90) who he said was avery wise woman and told her his problem. She said ." You have to do the show , just remember the arts restore the soul." And that just freed something up in the audience, It was ,easily , one of the most incredible nights I ever spent in the theater that Saturday night. The audience reaction was explosive and the cast ate it up. Not just a standing ovation but people screaming and cheering. And lots of tears on both sides of the fence. I love " the arts restore the soul"

Also, the revival of KISS ME, KATE did not close that following Sunday nor soon after -- it closed on December 30, 2001.

The Actor's Fund/BCEFA 20th Anniversary Concert of DREAMGIRLS took place 2 weeks later (September 24, 2001). It went on as scheduled -- Lillias White gave a sensational speech urging the audience to "...go see a show!".

URINETOWN was the perfect show for post-9/11 catharsis.

Anyone else notice how much the original "Mr. McQueen" (Cladwell's assistant)resembled Rudy Giuliani, both in appearance and speech pattern?

This is a touching thread to read.

I just remember after the initial shock and disbeliefe wore off crying and praying that none of the theatres/stars/Broadway landmarks had been harmed... I heard about LaChances husband a little later and the fact that the young boy playing Gavroche in LES MIZ said he had just been in the Tower Record store there close to the towers buying TICK TICK BOOM! and had left when it happened.

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For what its worth, I was in Israel on 9.11

It was eerily quiet there too. Im a lifelong New Yorker and I would have given anything to have been in NY in those weeks, oddly enough. By the time I came home (a few months later) Bway was back in business. I can imagine it was damn eerie.

my father worked four blocks away from the towers in a government "sanctioned" building. From his window he felt the blast and the heat of the second plane, watched innocent people jump, watched the towers fall. he even watched a truck of firemen ride off to the towers and a week later my dad found out that every man on that truck never made it home. He jumped on the ferry from the southstreet seaport to new jersey sitting next to people who had to ask him where the hell the ferry was going. they just wanted to get out. he even picked up a chared piece of paper from one of the floors first hit by one of the planes. my dad had many co-workers who, in the liberty building, had to smash their suitcases through some windows and doors to get out and away from the smoke that was coming from the towers beside them. when I came home from school I saw he was home too early and hugged him. I never thought about what the soot on his jacket was or could have been until now. He wouldn't talk for a week and I never want to remember the look in his eyes when he first told my mother and I what exactly happened up there.

with my uncle being a fireman, and the loss of a young man my mother went to high school with, a feeling of "don't let them win" has always been in my family since that day, and broadway was and continues to be, for us, our favorite way of "sticking-it-to-them" (the terrorists).
so, shall we all "stick-it-to-them?"