COVID Cancellations- Page 83

[ACL2006]

Posted: 6/22/22 at 4:41pm

Someone on Twitter said Jenn has COVID. I guess not. Apparently there were 8 standbys on. Trying to get an actual confirmation.

[ACL2006]

Posted: 6/22/22 at 4:51pm

So 6 standbys on plus Petrina is staying this week as Bonnie. Holly Ann Butler did not go on for anyone but might play Bonnie later in the week.

 http://https://twitter.com/cveeders/status/1539711450234736640?t=ds8uZcmi7rFNAN35pThxrw&s=19

Updated On: 6/22/22 at 04:51 PM

[angoradebs]

Posted: 6/22/22 at 5:20pm

ACL2006 said: "So 6 standbys on plus Petrina is staying this week as Bonnie. Holly Ann Butler did not go on for anyone but might play Bonnie later in the week.

http://https://twitter.com/cveeders/status/1539711450234736640?t=ds8uZcmi7rFNAN35pThxrw&s=19"

That's weird about Petrina and Holly playing Bonnie. Sharone was definitely backstage with Chamblee earlier today, so I wonder if she just tested positive today and they had to scramble. Or maybe something non-Covid-related came up for her. Hope everything is okay. She's amazing as Bonnie, so hopefully she gets to start her Broadway run soon

[ACL2006]

Posted: 6/22/22 at 5:46pm

Yeah, Sharone's situation is odd since she posted that picture about an hour before curtain today. I'd assume Holly hasn't played Bonnie yet, so she might need to review the track. Plus, Monette McKay covers Bonnie and has performed the role, so I'd assume she's out as well or on vacation?

Updated On: 6/22/22 at 05:46 PM

[Fosse76]

Posted: 6/22/22 at 9:07pm

OhHiii said: "Fosse76 said: Tell me, when was the last time you produced/starred in/worked on a show that broke a record for longest running show in a Broadway house thats been in use for over a century?

Let's see: Phantom, Chicago, 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee, Avenue Q, and Hairspray. And quite a few more which had longer runs than Come from Away will have (even with the rumored one-week extension).pl l

"Oh and how DARE cast members (many of which we know to have already had COVID previously) go OUTSIDE unmasked and have a couple seconds of interaction with audience members when we know none of that would be considered “close contacts” by CDC standards."

It's not "a couple seconds of interaction." And COVID can absolutely be transmitted in the 5-10 minutes I've seen them spend.  

You imply they behave irresponsibly when they literally have to walk through TSQ daily to get to work and they’re one of the only professions left in the entirety of NYC, if not country that still gets tested at least once a week.

The only cast member I've ever seen even walk in the direction of Times Square is Gene. 

Updated On: 6/22/22 at 09:07 PM

[ACL2006]

Posted: 6/23/22 at 9:14am

Petrina's last day was indeed yesterday according to her IG. Let's see if Sharone begins tonight.

[EDSOSLO858]

Posted: 7/21/22 at 12:36pm

MJ was cancelled a couple nights ago, and Beetlejuice is cancelled tonight. 

[Hairspray0901]

Posted: 7/21/22 at 12:55pm

EDSOSLO858 said: "MJwas cancelled a couple nights ago, andBeetlejuiceis cancelled tonight."

Thanks, Broadway League 

[JSquared2]

Posted: 7/21/22 at 12:56pm

Hairspray0901 said: "EDSOSLO858 said: "MJwas cancelled a couple nights ago, andBeetlejuiceis cancelled tonight."

Thanks, Broadway League"

Huh???

[Mr. Wormwood]

Posted: 7/21/22 at 12:58pm

Hairspray0901 said: "EDSOSLO858 said: "MJwas cancelled a couple nights ago, andBeetlejuiceis cancelled tonight."

Thanks, Broadway League"

Oh stop. This has nothing to do with audiences being maskless and everything to do with the contagious BA.5 variant. Cast members are getting it from cast or crew members (or contacts outside of the theater), not audiences. That's why shows were cancelled in January even when everyone was masked. It will happen every time there's a surge.

Updated On: 7/21/22 at 12:58 PM

[Owen22]

Posted: 7/21/22 at 1:08pm

It sounds to me like it's time to stop testing.  If someone has very light symptoms they can still perform. Just like the flu.  There is a chance they may pass it on to another cast or crew member. Just like the flu.  If in turn their symptoms are light then THEY can perform or take a sick day if the symptoms are heavy. Just like the flu.  Every so often someone vulnerable to the virus will get very sick.  Just like the flu. 

[GiantsInTheSky2]

Posted: 7/21/22 at 1:56pm

“Oh stop. This has nothing to do with audiences being maskless and everything to do with the contagious BA.5 variant.”

Go tell that to Will Blum - who pointed out in his IG story today that anyone who tested positive within the cast yesterday could still go sit in the front row and not wear a mask. 

[Hairspray0901]

Posted: 7/21/22 at 2:08pm

Mr. Wormwood said: "Hairspray0901 said: "EDSOSLO858 said: "MJwas cancelled a couple nights ago, andBeetlejuiceis cancelled tonight."

Thanks, Broadway League"

Oh stop. This has nothing to do with audiences being maskless and everything to do with the contagious BA.5 variant. Cast members are getting it from cast or crew members (or contacts outside of the theater), not audiences. That's why shows were cancelled in January even when everyone was masked. It will happen every time there's a surge."

My comment about the Broadway League is in direct response to how contagious the new variant is. Removing the mask mandate seems pretty reckless as it effects the front of house staff (who also are calling out with Covid) who deal with thousands of audience members a week, and despite what you think, interact with the cast on stage. It’s all interconnected and to pretend otherwise is foolish. 

Updated On: 7/22/22 at 02:08 PM

[quizking101]

Posted: 7/21/22 at 2:10pm

MJ's cancellations specify that it was due to "non-COVID related illness" in the cast.

It is also the summer and the post-Tonys period, so a lot of show cast members have been taking vacations or have been out due to other illness (possibly r/t to exhaustion) or injury. I know some of the ASL cast members have been out the past week for various non-COVID reasons, including Jaquel, L. Morgan, John-Michael, and Antwayn - they even had an understudy all-skate on Sunday.

I think we're entering an era where performers are taking back their agency to take care of their bodies and not performing if they aren't at their full capacity and, as a nurse, I applaud that. It's giving more people the chance to be on Broadway as a hired understudy or swing while allowing performers the necessary space to care for themselves. Some of the best performances I have seen in recent months have been understudies.

For example, Kyle Ramar Freeman has been on as Usher 6 of the 9 times I've seen ASL so far and I think he is just the prime consummate performer in the role that I forget he's not the main actor. Also, Jason Forbach in ITW, Julie Benko in Funny Girl, and Jennifer Simard in Company (as Joanne).

[JSquared2]

Posted: 7/21/22 at 2:12pm

GiantsInTheSky2 said: "“Oh stop. This has nothing to do with audiences being maskless and everything to do with the contagious BA.5 variant.”

Go tell that to Will Blum - who pointed out in his IG story today that anyone who tested positive within the cast yesterday could still go sit in the front row and not wear a mask."

 

Call me crazy, but I don't know that we should we should be getting our epidemiology data from an actor's social media page!  Also, Into the Woods has been one of the hardest hit shows with multiple cases throughout the cast and crew.  They're also (I believe) the only show that still requires that the first 2 rows be masked.  How does Dr. Will explain that??

 

[smidge2]

Posted: 7/21/22 at 2:22pm

Entire audiences were wearing masks from September through June and Covid was sweeping through companies. It’s a fallacy that audiences are responsible for Covid outbreaks and don’t care about the actors’ health.

[Mr. Wormwood]

Posted: 7/21/22 at 2:28pm

smidge2 said: "Entire audiences were wearing masks from September through June and Covid was sweeping through companies. It’s a fallacy that audiences are responsible for Covid outbreaks and don’t care about the actors’ health."

Yep exactly. For those saying this is due to the mask mandate change, why were there lots of show cancellations before July 1? Back in Dec/Jan, almost every show had to cancel at least a couple performances when the entire audience was masked. Why? Because it had spread through the company, not because of the audience.

I could see the argument that the mask mandate dropping makes it less safe for fellow audience members but not performers, sorry. There would be cancellations happening with BA.5 even if the audience stayed masked.

[BroadwayRox3588]

Posted: 7/21/22 at 4:21pm

The whole "removal of the mask mandate is causing cancelled performances" theory would only be plausible if this were the first cancelled performance since Broadway reopened. But it isn't. There were dozens of cancellations, particularly in December 2021, that occurred during the "mask mandate era." Not saying the mask mandate was pointless, or that the cancellations were caused by the mandate. I'm saying that there's pretty clearly very little (and more likely no) correlation.

I get that people are emotional about masks, but come on. Use your head. 

Updated On: 7/21/22 at 04:21 PM

[VintageSnarker]

Posted: 7/21/22 at 6:20pm

Owen22 said: "It sounds to me like it's time to stop testing. If someone has very light symptoms they can still perform. Just like the flu. There is a chance they may pass it on to another cast or crew member. Just like the flu. If in turn their symptoms are light then THEY can perform or take a sick day if the symptoms are heavy. Just like the flu. Every so often someone vulnerable to the virus will get very sick. Just like the flu."

Wait, what? Have you knowingly been going to work with the flu? That's irresponsible enough at an office job, let alone in the theater or food service.

[pagereynolds]

Posted: 7/21/22 at 6:22pm

VintageSnarker said: "Owen22 said: "It sounds to me like it's time to stop testing. If someone has very light symptoms they can still perform. Just like the flu. There is a chance they may pass it on to another cast or crew member. Just like the flu. If in turn their symptoms are light then THEY can perform or take a sick day if the symptoms are heavy. Just like the flu. Every so often someone vulnerable to the virus will get very sick. Just like the flu."

Wait, what? Have you knowingly been going to work with the flu? That's irresponsible enough at an office job, let alone in the theater or food service."

There are a lot of trolls in this thread who are against testing, who don't live anywhere near Broadway and aren't old enough to buy a beer.

[BroadwayRox3588]

Posted: 7/21/22 at 10:10pm

I agree that it's irresponsible to knowingly go to work sick, but is it possible for people to not be so insulting? The whole "anyone with two connected brain cells" thing is unnecessary, and isn't going to get any sense into anyone.

And maybe not getting so...preachy? Dragging Nick Cordero's name out just to say "I'm right, you're wrong" feels kinda tacky to me.

[HogansHero]

Posted: 7/21/22 at 10:56pm

I have to confess I was offended by the Nick Cordero reference. Had Nick been infected by the virus in 2022, he would not have entered the hospital. He would have been vaccinated and boosted, and in the unlikely event he got somewhat sick, he would have had access to highly effective treatments and he would be on stage somewhere. Covid is not the flu, but its also not what it was 2+years ago, and the second most dangerous notion a person can carry around with them is that it is. 

[GiantsInTheSky2]

Posted: 7/22/22 at 8:15am

BroadwayRox3588 said: "I agree that it's irresponsible to knowingly go to work sick, but is it possible for people to not be so insulting? The whole "anyone with two connected brain cells" thing is unnecessary, and isn't going to get any sense into anyone."

You were just preaching on this exact page of the thread, “I get that people are emotional about masks, but come on. Use your head.” Pot, kettle, black. 

Updated On: 7/22/22 at 08:15 AM

[pippy1]

Posted: 7/22/22 at 10:03am

In addition, while masks or no masks in the audience may not be the absolute direct reason company members are getting sick, the missing piece, in my opinion, is that any time there are a large number of people inside for a prolonged period of time maskless - like, say, a Broadway show - the virus is bound to spread, which will, in turn, create more of surge within the community at large, thus affecting everyone, including Broadway actors. Part of wearing a mask in such circumstances is to help lessen the overall surge. The longer a surge is able to take hold, the more the virus will be unavoidable, and create issues on Broadway. 

Edited to add - and while I in no way equate Covid with the Flu, when there is an outbreak of the flu, I’d be perfectly happy to wear a mask to a show to help stop the spread of that, as well. 

Updated On: 7/22/22 at 10:03 AM

[JSquared2]

Posted: 7/22/22 at 1:00pm

pippy1 said: "In addition, while masks or no masks in the audience may not be the absolute direct reason company members are getting sick, the missing piece, in my opinion, is that any time there are a large number of people inside for a prolonged period of time maskless - like, say, a Broadway show - the virus is bound to spread, which will, in turn, create more of surge within the community at large, thus affecting everyone, including Broadway actors. 
 

See, here's the thing --- in science there's no such thing as "opinions" -- it's all based on facts.  You're perfectly entitled to believe what you want, but there is no scientific evidence that an audience that is partially unmasked will cause the spread of Covid to the cast.  INTO THE WOODS requires that the first 2 rows be masked -- yet they have been slammed by Covid onstage and backstage.  We've reached the "personal responsibility" part of the pandemic -- people should do what makes them feel comfortable, and those that are fully vaxxed may occasionally get the equivalent of a mild case of the flu, in which case they will (hopefully) do the right thing and stay home.  Those who remain asymptomatic and feel up to it can live and work normally. The unvaxxed -- they're on their own.