Broadway reopening — Page 4

Playbill_Trash said: "Unless any owners of the theatres seriously took this time to revamp the ventilation and spacing of backstage and audience areas, it will not be safe to go back into them. Casts and crews should not feel safe going into those historically cramped backstages, and it will not be surprising if they refuse.

As for sitting 6ft apart in the audience, letting audiences in at limited capacity would mean a huge cut in ticket sales each performances. In order for each production to earn their nut each week, one would assume ticket prices will sky-rocket.

We’re coming out of a depression, and it’s hard to believe a lot of peoples’ first big purchase will be theatre tickets. Maybe for some that have the means, but not enough to keep the industry going. This is still all being too rushed, and if none of these practical things have been considered, Broadway is no where near ready. They’d basically be turning the whole theatre district into a super-spreader breeding ground."

Knew of these was bound to pop up in this thread eventually. I'm just surprised it took so long.

Get off your high horse. And if you don't want to come to the theatre, then stay home. I promise we won't miss you. Oh, and have you ever heard of a vaccine? It's this little thing that we have now, that is a big part of making it safe for Broadway to return. Maybe you should go and get one (which I suspect you haven't, given your vast lack of knowledge on literally everything else in your post).

BroadwayRox3588 said: "Cuomo specifically said the social distancing rule wouldn't apply to businesses that require vaccination, or proof of a negative test. I can't imagine Broadway not doing that."

It's the only way this can possibly work. There are plenty of logistical details to be worked out, including how to address the issue of fake vaccination records or negative tests. None of this is going to be easy, and plenty can go awry. The current positivity rate in New York City, while headed in the right direction for the moment, is still rather high.

I'm going to be cautiously optimistic and hope and I can come to New York City on vacation in the spring of 2022.

Sunny11 said: "This reluctance of Broadway to come up with a business model to include social distancing is frustrating. Schools, colleges, airlines, hospitals, retail,everywhere have been able to figure it out. It’s not rocket science."

I also find it frustrating because...I don’t think they are going to have full houses right away, regardless of when they decide to reopen. Attendance is already going to be down (both because tourism isn’t back 100% nor people’s comfort in general) so why is the idea of spacing out seats so obtuse?

Yes, and I say “ Just get on with it. The show must go on!”

Sunny11 said: "Yes, and I say “ Just get on with it. The show must go on!”

Get on with what, exactly? VERY few, if any, of the previously running shows would be able to operate under that hypothetical model. And with it being hard enough for a production to turn a profit, even under the existing model, good luck to any production on making any money at all. Without money, the market dries out, and Broadway ceases to exist. As HogansHero said on either this thread, or another (I don't remember which), the market is god. Bow down.

Money doesn't grow on trees.

Updated On: 5/4/21 at 06:54 AM

Wasn't there a study recently released form MIT that found the six foot rule doesn't and never really did matter? If you are masked you could be six or sixty feet away from someone who is contagious and have equal chance of catching the virus. Which is very slim.

But people seem to still be hanging onto this six foot rule even so. Like wearing masks outside or constantly washing our hands and fear of surface contagion. These were early confusions proved wrong. Sorta like when we, early on, were told NOT to wear masks. Which is still being used as an excuse not to wear them!

As scientists evolve with an understanding of how this disease spreads, regular human people seem to be reluctant to evolve.

Updated On: 5/4/21 at 08:33 AM

Sunny11 said: "How do schools with zero budget perform former Broadway shows every year?

My elementary school performed Joseph and the amazingtechnicolour dream coat in the mid 90s. It took a lot of dish cloths on heads, a hard working piano player and manyhours in the art classroompainting setsbut it happened and we killed it."

Sunny11, I mean no disrespect when I say this and I'm sure your production was awesome, but were you able to charge $150 a seat 8 times a week for it and consistently fill 1300-seat houses? Because that's the difference between why schools, community theatres and even some regional theatres are starting to be able to reopen and Broadway isn't. Even taking out the lavish sets and costumes that people are expecting when they come to a Broadway show, the marketing costs and rent in NYC alone make it unfeasible to reopen socially distanced. Now, instead of charging $150 a seat, could theatres open at 25% capacity and charge $600 a seat? For a little while, maybe. There may be enough demand to fill those seats temporarily. But we're also at the end of a global pandemic with record unemployment rates, meaning there aren't going to be that many who are going to regularly shell out $600 a ticket. And then within a month, everything would be losing money and have to shut down again. So unless unions and producers are willing to really work together and negotiate lower salaries for a while (which they've clearly established isn't happening), it's just not feasible to open at reduced capacity.

bear88 said: "BroadwayRox3588 said: "Cuomo specifically said the social distancing rule wouldn't apply to businesses that require vaccination, or proof of a negative test. I can't imagine Broadway not doing that."

It's the only way this can possibly work. There are plenty of logistical details to be worked out, including how to address the issue of fake vaccination records or negative tests. None of this is going to be easy, and plenty can go awry. The current positivity rate in New York City, while headed in the right direction for the moment, is still rather high.

I'm going to be cautiously optimistic and hope and I can come to New York City on vacation in the spring of 2022."

I obviously agree that this is the only way it works. While there are logistical issues regarding the app-based records, they are being worked out and the system works, as evidenced by the fact that we have been using it for sporting events for months. As I said elsewhere, sure there will be cheaters but it will not be significant. Also, your data on NYC is wrong. The positivity rate is actually quite low (1.4% in Manhattan and 2.73% metro) and headed down. The infection rate is even lower (0.73%) and the vaccination rate is 56.3% which is of course high. If you further filter by zipcode to the theatre-going ones, the number falls off even more dramatically. The numbers look the same in the outer borough zipcodes that theatre tickets are purchased from. So the bottom line is, we are going to be ready.

ACL2006 said: "My hypothetical reopening schedule:

Week of September 7: Hamilton, Wicked, Lion King, Phantom, Book of Mormon

Week of September 28: Chicago, Come From Away, Hadestown, Dear Evan Hansen, Moulin Rouge

Week of October 12: Six, Tina, West Side Story, Aladdin, Harry Potter

Week of October 26: Jagged Little Pill, Ain't Too Proud, Too Kill A Mockingbird, American Utopia, Girl From the North Country

Week of November 9: Diana, Mrs. Doubtfire, Flying Over Sunset, Company, Plaza Suite

TBD: American Buffalo, Caroline, or Change, Lackawanna Blues, The Lehman Trilogy, MJ: the Musical, Take me Out, Thoughts of a Colored Man, Trouble In Mind, The Who's Tommy

"

I don't have knowledge of every show, but I do know that Book of Mormon, Moulin Rouge!, Hamilton, Aladdin, and Hadestown are all aiming for early fall opening. BUT the timeline may put their opening in late Sept or early Oct (due to some challenges with getting rehearsals underway) instead of the hoped for early September/Labor Day weekend dates.

Rehearsals and re-casting are going to delay things slightly longer than we all would like, and some of the shows that are aiming for "fall" might not be ready to go until October and November unless AEA loosens rules around rehearsals (Few productions have rehearsals scheduled prior to August, they are just hoping restrictions loosen by then). Which they may very well feel the pressure to do now that the city will be reopening.

There's only one question worth asking: When can Broadway shows be profitable again?

leefowler said: "There's only one question worth asking: When can Broadway shows be profitable again?"

TBH it's not a very good question. Broadway is not a single entity; it is an amalgam of independent productions (with a footnote for Disney) with each tub on its own bottom. I expect some shows (e.g., Hamilton) to be making money out of the gate, and I expect other shows (as has always been the case) never will. Profitability, of course, also depends on where a production is on the continuum. A show that has already recouped and that has reserves sufficient to cover reopening costs is in a vastly different tub than a show that is opening from scratch. I'd say the better better question is how many shows will open/reopen with a viable path to profitability. A good part of that analysis is the truly key question of whether there is a strong enough market for the show and in turn what the competition is going to be. This is why the reopening is going to be slower than some here are imagining. If too many shows open in the first few months, and do not find a market because of oversupply, a lot of them will have a hard time making it to Christmas, and even more into the cold dark days of winter.