LUNGS Coming to Broadway

From today's NY Times interview w/ Matthew Warchus:

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/10/25/theater/matthew-warchus-old-vic-in-camera.html

Will you ever return to Broadway?

Yes. We definitely want to bring “Lungs” to Broadway. And “Present Laughter” with Andrew Scott. And when we eventually somehow get “4,000 Miles” [starring Eileen Atkins and Timothée Chalamet] up and running, that’s a show that is looking like an absolute collector’s item, and I have high hopes for it. New York is such an invigorating city at its best. It will be exciting when that gets rebooted, and I hope to be there and be part of it.

Yeah, as others have said, the quote doesn't even remotely suggest that there are plans set in stone - certainly not concrete enough to warrant a thread title with no question mark.

And as VotePeron said: he might be using "Broadway" as a generic term for large theatre in NY. In London, the term "West End" (the closest equivalent to Broadway) is used a lot more loosely than the term "Broadway" is here. It's understandable that a British person might not distinguish between BAM and Broadway when speaking casually.

If Broadway does come back in a not meaningful way i.e. social distanced performances, then Lungs would be the perfect play, as would be Yerma and give Billie Piper a short at the Tony, which she richly deserves to win.

PeterC6482 said: ""Broadway," meaning traditional Broadway theatres, will reopen when social distancing is no longer needed, meaning fall of 2021."



Nobody in this particular thread has suggested otherwise

PeterC6482 said: ""Phantom of London" did, I believe. "If Broadway comes back in a socially distant way...""



Ah yes, I missed that. My apologies!

Updated On: 10/27/20 at 02:27 PM

There will be no Broadway before the summer, there will be no Broadway with social distancing (regardless of cast size), and there will be no Broadway until a critical mass of people decide it's ok to go back to the theatre (including, for many shows, tourists who are of course currently persona non grata). Every sane epidemiologist is telling us that the country is about to experience a far worse experience than before. Whether New York can shelter itself from that is yet to be seen, but we are not having people coming here from the UK to do shows until we have some distance on this other side of this mess. So when you read "still coming" understand that that is an ambition, not an announcement. When we are out of the woods, and we will be, this will sort itself out.

HogansHero said: "There will be no Broadway before the summer, there will be no Broadway with social distancing (regardless of cast size), and there will be no Broadway until a critical mass of people decide it's ok to go back to the theatre (including, for many shows, tourists who are of course currently persona non grata). Every sane epidemiologist is telling us that the country is about to experience a far worse experience than before. Whether New York can shelter itself from that is yet to be seen, but we are not having people coming here from the UK to do shows until we have some distance on this other side of this mess. So when you read "still coming" understand that that is an ambition, not an announcement. When we are out of the woods, and we will be, this will sort itself out."



Yes, very, very true.

Phantom of London said: "If Broadway cannot come back in the fall 2021, what then? Do you set another date that is likely not to be fulfilled? Or do you draw the line in the sand and say comeback with a social distanced audience? Even if Broadway did open up later next year, it will be a struggle to sell many seats.

The virus is going to get worse, there is no herd immunity because you can get re-infected.

Howevermy point being if Broadway did comeback with a limited audience this would be a great show for it."

This is not the place to discuss the varying information on immunities especially because it does not affect anything that's relevant here. If Broadway cannot come back in the fall, then it will be postponed until a critical mass returns. As I said (and no one who intends to produce on Broadway would tell you anything else) and as has been discussed ad nauseum here, there cannot be Broadway shows with social distancing or with a "struggle to sell many seats" because no one is going to invest in a losing proposition and there is no way to avoid a bloodbath. As much as we love theatre, the notion that a commercial enterprise is going to be bailed out by a government is just silly.

However My last sentence makes the point , this show would be a great show, if there was a social distanced audience, however for that to happen Broadway needs to cut its cloth and jettison some of the bloated hanger oners.

Sunny11 said: "I am disappointed that the broadway community seem to have just thrown up their hands and refusing to return until the conditions are 100% pre COVID. Where is the creativity and boldness that the performingarts are supposed to represent ?

A yoga company came up with the idea of making large bubbles out of shower curtains and wire and conducting classes with everyone in their own one in a outdoor area.

There is a viral video of an Indian doctor entertaining his patients by dancing while wearing full on hazmat like PPE.

It totally possible to create SOMETHING even under present conditions. We need the arts to forour mental health."



The "creative" and "bold" solutions you're looking for are happening in NY, just not on Broadway. No amount of boldness or creativity can overcome the fact that it's financially impossible to run a commercial Broadway show at 25% capacity, unless tickets are astronomically high, and without tourists, there will be very few people willing to pay those astronomical prices.

This confusion comes from the common misconception that Broadway is the greatest bastion of theatrical art in America, and therefore should be able to find ways to go on no matter the cost. But Broadway is primarily an institution designed to make money, not to be creative and bold.

The creative workarounds can only be found in the small theatre companies - those who have the flexibility to use space in unusual ways, and run something for next to nothing, with loyal subscribers and donors to help fund whatever they expect to lose financially.

Updated On: 10/28/20 at 06:07 PM

Sunny11 said: "I have never studied economics and even I can say that you can by cutting costs to under 25%."

That would be virtually impossible, largely because of the unions because Broadway contracts require union laborers, and union pay is very high even with the minimum number of employees. Plus, there's the price to rent the theatre, royalties, and other miscellaneous costs. So cutting labor down to 25% doesn't mean cutting costs to 25%.


Cut the orchestra, hire musician/ actors to play their own instruments likeschool of rock or the bands visit.

See point above about union labor.

Have black boxstaging.

In what blackbox? We're talking about Broadway theatres. The closest thing to a Blackbox space is Circle in the Square, and even that space isn't very flexible compared to a real blackbox, plus it wouldn't solve the other problems.

Cut ensembles, only have a hand full of principal actors on stage at a time.

See point above about labor. And just because it helps with social distancing onstage, doesn't mean it solves the problems in the house.

Use puppets like Tyrone in hand togod.

Puppets are operated by performers. See above.

Even pre Covid most broadway shows didn’t make back their initial investment.

Yes, and this will get even worse now. The only reason those shows got produced is because someone believed that they might make money, and it will be exponentially harder to sell that sense of hope in current circumstances. You're correct in the sense that if someone was REALLY wealthy, and REALLY passionate about a project, they could theoretically pour a ton of money into a project knowing they'd lose millions of dollars for the sake of art. But that seems highly unlikely.

Updated On: 10/28/20 at 07:05 PM