Broadway’s Mask and Vaccination Policy Extended to April 30 — Page 3

iluvtheatertrash said: "No, I totally understand why you asked, Hogan. I just didn’t feel comfortable saying. But to be honest, the demographic from this show is mostly lovely, but it’s the bridge and tunnel Jersey/Staten Island crowd that are the most abusive.

I’m here again tonight and luckily leaving after the show starts. Feeling pretty down and exhausted. (And yeah, I’m fat and doing my best to work on it, but God it does hurt when people point it out.)"

It's absurd that any theater lets people abuse ushers like that.

To be honest, there’s not much my boss could do. It was at the end of the show, maybe 10 minutes left. I didn’t bother getting backup because I didn’t want to ruin the end for the people around them. Unfortunately, a lot of patrons act horribly and there’s only so much we can do. I don’t blame my boss or my employer. Once I told them, I was really well looked after. But by the point in the show, I’d decided to take it and let it go for the rest of the audience.

Does anyone have any educated opinion as to when vaccine mandates will finally be dropped?

I really hope to bring my mom to the theater this summer. She’s deathly afraid of the vaccine - and her aversion to it has probably aged me the better part of a decade.

We recently went to a concert (Jimmy Webb) where she was allowed to go. She wore a mask the whole time, and showed a negative Covid test. It meant so much to see a great live performance with her again - our last time seeing something together before that was Céline Dion on March 8, 2020.

How I’d love to bring her to see “Company.” It would be her first Broadway putting since “Hello Dolly!”

This is the woman who went to see Cariou and Angela in “Sweeney Todd” several times during its run and later introduced me to Sondheim through recordings of that show. She also brought me to the 2006 revival of “A Chorus Line” and to Liza at the Palace, even though I was too dumb to know what I would have been missing. When I was a broke college student she gave me her credit card and told me to take it and go see Stritch at the Carlyle because she knew how important that was. I subsequently wrote Elaine an apparently good letter because she found my number and called my house phone, startling my mom when she picked up and heard Elaine on the other end.

Translation: Please don’t trash my mom. There’s more to her than one idiotic choice.

I will never understand as long as I live how any educated person could be more afraid of the vaccine than the virus, and my mom isn’t the only one I know.

Updated On: 4/8/22 at 01:36 AM

Jordan Catalano said: "The way things are right now, I’d guess things are staying the same for the rest of this year."

It could probably go either way. New York County numbers have a slight uptick but also don’t forget more testing is being done right now for travel/ the holiday coming up this weekend.

It's interesting to see how many tourists are now in town - Yay! Get out of my way! - but seeing so many not wearing masks, clearly they're enjoying the relaxed feel in most public outdoor and indoor spaces, but I wonder how many opted out of theatre because of the requirements.

Tom5 said: "Everyone should do this but for those who are not vaccinated...a N95 (or even K95) mask which offer terrific protection. (5X regular mask or better) They're giving them away at the big drug store chains. The pharmacist will show you how to put them on if necessary -- very simple once you know how. Or instructions are given on youtube. Also take vitamin D which are so cheap they're practically free. Dr. Fauci says he takes 6,000 units a day. My Doc says that's too high. She recommends - which I'm taking - 4,000 units a day."

That’s a great recommendation. Vitamin D is also vital for mood and energy, especially during the cold winter months.

perfectlymarvelous said: "iluvtheatertrash said: "I’m an usher and we are having an increasingly harder time enforcing masks. Today, I’ve experienced a slew of nastiness at a matinee, and aggressive patrons and I’ve been told I’m on “a power trip”. It’s exhausting, sometimes scary, always frustrating. I’m Exhausted."

Broadway usher solidarity here. The mask compliance at my show is terrible, and as we no longer have COVID safety in the building it ends up being our responsibility even though it's not supposed to be. I've sort of given up on trying to enforce it because it's just a neverending game of whack-a-mole."

You don’t have covid safety anymore? Thankfully we still do! Jesus.

Sutton Ross said: "Translation: Please don’t trash my mom. There’s more to her than one idiotic choice.

That may be true but it doesn't mean mandates will go away soon especially with the potentially unlimited variants of Covid. These could be in place for the rest of the year. Protecting the safety of all Broadway workers is what is the most important thing here especially from the unvaccinated."

I said absolutely zero words to that effect. Don’t put words in my mouth.

People will disagree, and that's fine, but it's hard to make a case for a vaccine mandate with all of the recent closures due to Covid in a situation in which all employees and attendees have to be vaxxed, boosted, and in the case of the audience, masked.

It might be said, "But it would be worse without the vaccines," but there are lots of non-crazy people wondering if the new cases are actually *because* of the vaccines.

*Every* person I've known who's tested positive over the past four months has been vaxxed and boosted. I've not known a single unvaxxed person (and I know a few) who's tested positive.

ALL I am trying to say is that with that reality - why a vaxx mandate?

iluvtheatertrash said: "
I am in the same boat with my mom. It’s heartbreaking and maddening."

Thank you for saying that. It’s drained the bone marrow out of me, and I still have anxiety about her dying. Horrible. I was so grateful for these last two Christmases. My therapist finally told me to stop trying to reason with her and just let it go, for my own sanity.

There is no consistency on this even throughout the tri-state area. It’s super frustrating.

That is true and I'll agree with you there. I went to a middle school chorus concert last week in Westchester. It was an auditorium and no one was masked and no vax requirement. It made me super uncomfortable. But, I'll say there is consistency for Broadway, and all along they've done the "wait and see" approach. Due to this new variant, it's likely that masks and vax requirements will remain in place for at least a few more months. Now, they don't want to do that through the busy Summer tourist season but grosses have been high enough and no one who attends seems to mind so I can't see them ending April 30th.

I sincerely doubt anyone on this message board would ever treat theater staff with anything but respect. We all love theater so much as do the people we associate with.

Im so sorry that happened to you, your show, MJ, has the worst audience Ive ever been apart of. It's a wild nightclub atmosphere and I hope you guys have actual security guards going forward because this is now a safety issue. If someone puts their hands on you, they are breaking the law. Take care of yourself and I hope your employer does as well.

Updated On: 4/9/22 at 06:29 PM

And you’re right. I don’t think folks here are like that. More just felt a safe space to vent, sorry