MUSIC MAN IN LAB

On a happy note...The Music Man has begun a dance lab! I am reporting because it made me so happy. We are on the road to recovery!

I'd be surprised if they didn't postpone again, but they seem to be confident as they have just gone into a lab. Why incur that expense now if you're not going to begin performances in April but are looking to a much later date. More refunds will await eager ticket purchasers, who bought when the box office opened recently, and a lot of disappointment will be another unfortunate result if another postponement occurs. Let's hope a vaccine becomes available very soon...for everyone's sake.

Unfortunately (or, perhaps, quite fortunately), Scott Rudin does not have any inside info on the state of the pandemic that he's keeping from us all. He doesn't know anything more about infectious diseases than anyone else. The fact that The Music Man is moving forward with a dance lab doesn't do anything to help theatre return any sooner.

As for why they would do a lab now if they're likely to postpone again, there are plenty of reasons--namely, it is my understanding (though I have never worked on a show that had a lab) that the purpose of the lab is not to have more rehearsal with the cast but for the creatives to workshop ideas. There are certain things you can only figure out in a rehearsal room with real people before you can tell if they work or not. And if you find out that the footprint of the set design doesn't give you the space that you need for your big dance sequence, or your concept for a number is only interesting for the first two minutes of the four-minute dance break, or some of your ideas just aren't working, it's helpful to know that months in advance, giving you time to make changes without a looming deadline of a first performance weeks away.

What the lab and the marquee do mean is that Rudin is determined to put this show up when he can. He wouldn't sink this much money (and this much publicity) into a show he ultimately would cancel. But the news doesn't indicate that the timeline will be any sooner than previously thought.

DramaTeach said: "I wouldn’t be surprised if they reopen and require masks for the audience and a bubble situation for the cast. It seemed as though other shows announced a spring reopening “if it’s safe” and MM just announced a spring opening. Perhaps a “come at your own risk” situation as long as they get the okay from the state? Schools are now open, so I bet they’re using that as the guinea pig that will help them make decisions about these others types of activities."

I’m sure Rudin would love that. But it’s not up to him, it’s up to the state and the city. And they have not given a single indication that they would allow theater reopening at this scale.

Claudia Draper said: "There is no way this is opening in April. I know it sucks. Time to face reality. Lincoln theater cancelled 20-21 season, more to follow. Plus, IMO, Hugh cant keep his film schedule open.. or he he could. I Predict Spring 2022.. About 8-12 months after vaccine.."

THIS. Exactly. I really do feel bad for anyone on here not facing reality and saying "Broadway could still open in March!" and accusing me and others of being pessimistic. I don't think we are. But I also don't succumb to the pessimism that "if they don't open Broadway now they never will" or "Well, I guess The Music Man (or Plaza Suite, The Minutes, Company, [insert name of show here], even MJ) will never happen".

In the case of the show we're talking about, films and TV are carefully shooting again - Hugh Jackman can easily shoot a feature film and 1 or 2 indies, or even a TV mini-series, in the next year and a half, and then do Music Man in spring 2022 – admittedly, a year and a half after it was supposed to happen. But I remember being in the audience for one of the first previews of Assassins in April 2004, more than TWO and a half years after it was cancelled because of 9/11. It was thrilling. And that thrill will benothing compared to the excitement when Music Man (and/or Company, Plaza Suite, etc.) similarly finally happen - when they're meant to, and when it's safe.

"Schools are not open in NYC." That is not true. Pre-K and special education classes are back. The majority of classrooms open next week.

DramaTeach said: "I didn’t say it was a good idea; I just said I could see Rudin doing that as long as he got the go-ahead from Cuomo. And yes, as DRS said, schools are open or opening in the next week."

There is zero chance of getting the go-ahead from Cuomo for non-socially distanced theatre in the Spring. And as we have rehearsed enough times here that I would not think it requires repeating, Broadway cannot be viable with social distancing.

Oh, and about the schools: (1) social distancing and (2) paid monitoring (aka teachers, etc) to enforce both SD and masks. Neither of these are viable options in the theatre. We could all learn a lot from ushers, but they cannot monitor 1000+ people crammed into their seats in the dark.

SweetLips22 said: "Well at least 2 people are walking around with their head up their proverbial."

Love your thought process...I was thinking ‘what fu**ing morons’...no imagery whatsoever.

There is ZERO chance of a majority of the population getting a vaccine, in NY or anywhere else, by spring 2021 so as to make a spring re-opening plausible.... even the head of the CDC said as much last week (before getting contradicted by Trump, the great scientist, of course.) "The director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention predicted Wednesday that most of the American public will not have access to a vaccine against the novel coronavirus until late spring or summer of next year — prompting a public rebuke from President Trump, who declared the CDC chief was wrong."

https://www.washingtonpost.com/health/cdc-director-says-coronavirus-vaccines-wont-be-widely-available-till-the-middle-of-next-year/2020/09/16/209fecf6-f827-11ea-be57-d00bb9bc632d_story.html

Look, I don't know what anyone's politics are and I didn't intend for this thread to get political, so I'll just say this: The number of MAGA-hat-wearing, mask-denying, irresponsible Americans who will eagerly take a vaccine when it's introduced and also can't wait to get to a Broadway musical is a ridiculously small subsection of the population.... but the number of smart, seasoned, regular theatergoers who ARE otherwise responsible people, yet will somehow be the first ones to rush back into indoor theaters as soon as they re-open, is even smaller. It's tragic that we have such a long road ahead of us. But as the president said, "It is what it is".

Updated On: 9/24/20 at 03:39 PM

Does "Lab" mean the ensemble is learning the dances or more along the line that the Choreographer is testing some dance ideas out with his Dance Captain and a few ensemble members? Does anybody know who is in the ensemble?

darquegk said: "Dear Scott Rudin: ensemble sways right then left on slow numbers, and bobs up and down at the knee for the uptempo numbers. Featured dancers can Pennywise a little during the dance breaks.

There. Choreographed the whole show. See you in 2024."

Could you be any more insulting in 2020?