Many Broadway Theaters To Drop Vaccine Mandate In May.- Page 4

[whatever2]

Posted: 4/15/22 at 6:48pm

i do not understand all the comments suggesting "they got it backwards". being vaxxed protects you from the risk of serious illness, hospitalization, or death. your being vaxxes does very little for me. we protect EACH OTHER by wearing masks.

i was in London on business last week and bailed on three shows because the prospect of sitting cheek to jowl with unmasked vectors of infection for two to three hours would rob me of any potential enjoyment.

vaccines keep individuals safe. masks keep crowds safe.

[Islander_fan]

Posted: 4/15/22 at 6:49pm

This wouldn’t work on Broadway at all. Broadway needs all the money it can get. If they did this they can loose business. Think of someone who’s visits the city on a vacation. Say, they have been waiting for forever to see Wicked on Broadway. However, the only time they can go is a performance that is one where they aren’t checking for vaccines and they aren’t comfortable with that so they can’t go. 

 

A small local movie theatre is one thing. A massive Broadway theatre is a whole different ballgame. 

[stoptheworld38]

Posted: 4/15/22 at 7:18pm

bwayplays said: "What I want to know is for those who are ONLY going to theatre with mandates in place (both vaccine and masks), what do you do once one or both are lifted. Vaccine checks are gone in May, but masks remain for now. And as always can continue wearing masks even after the mandate is lifted. But does the lifting of mandates change your theatre going?"

If/for as long as masks are required, I will go to shows and wear one. When they are no longer required, I will continue to go to shows but not wear one. (But will fully respect people who choose to continue to do so). In other words, it won’t really make a difference. And while I wish they were doing the opposite of what they are (keep vaccine mandates but drop masks), I am fully vaccinated and boosted and young and generally healthy so I feel safe going to a show not requiring proof. (Especially considering the vast majority of people are probably already vaccinated anyway). 

[whatever2]

Posted: 4/15/22 at 7:24pm

>  I am fully vaccinated and boosted and young and generally healthy

I am two of those things. AND i have a vulnerable household to protect.

(and also: NO ONE knows enough about long covid to not be afraid of it.)

again: you got vaxxed and boosted for you. you wear a mask for the people around you.

[itsjustmejonhotmailcom]

Posted: 4/15/22 at 9:58pm

HogansHero said: "Fosse76 said: "HogansHero said: "I cannot speak for all landlords, but the Shuberts directly employ their covid staff."

The Shuberts do not directly hire the covid staff, they are a different company."

You are (maybe unwittingly) wrong. They are employed by a Shubert-owned company, hired and fired by Shubert HR, paid by the Shuberts, just as (as one example) people who work for telecharge are. I encourage you not to post things that are wrong. It seems to be a new bad habit of yours (based on your above posts). If you persist (and obvs you can) I will continue to call you out when u do (as obvs I can)."

The Shubert Org uses a company called SwifTest that Jeff Witing owns and runs out of Open Jar. Is Shubert behind that?

[Miserent]

Posted: 4/15/22 at 10:30pm

I’m double vaxxed and boosted myself, and I am no anti-vaxxer. I just think it’s a little silly to say that dropping the vaccine mandate is a huge mistake and using all the recent show cancellations as an example, when every single cast and crew member of those shows has been fully vaccinated.  That still didn’t stop it from spreading.  Omicron got to quite a number of my coworkers at the hospital I work at, and all of us are vaccinated and boosted.  At this point, get your vaccines and wear masks if you need to or if it makes you feel more comfortable, but a vaccine isn’t going to prevent infection.  Will it lessen severity?  Most likely.  But people will still catch and spread it, regardless of vaccination status.  If enough people got the shot from the get-go, maybe things would look very different right now, but unfortunately that isn’t our reality.  As much as I would like to go to a show unmasked, I think it makes more sense right now to keep the mask mandate over the vaccine mandate.   Most people who haven’t gotten jabbed at this point most likely aren’t going to, so we need to learn to make due as best we can.

[popular_elphie]

Posted: 4/16/22 at 12:42am

Updated On: 4/16/22 at 12:42 AM

[popular_elphie]

Posted: 4/16/22 at 12:49am

The Broadway COVID Safety Team are not directly employed by Shubert, just as Mobile Health, the company that does testing for many Broadway theaters, shows, and even readings, is also not directly employed by Shubert. They have a contracted relationship, more akin to Sweet Concessions. 

[soulmistin]

Posted: 4/16/22 at 12:58am

whatever2 said: ">I am fully vaccinated and boosted and young and generally healthy

I am two of those things. AND i have a vulnerable household to protect.

(and also: NO ONE knows enough about long covid to not be afraid of it.)

again: you got vaxxed and boosted for you. you wear a mask for the people around you."

Yes exactly this. I have immunocompromised people in my house and this makes me really feel less safe working as a FOH staff. 
 

Also on a side note towards the conversation about the temperatures in theaters: theaters are usually an icebox, but many theaters have not decided it’s the time in the season yet to turn on the air, so they’re still using the winter system making it very hot. 

[soulmistin]

Posted: 4/16/22 at 12:58am

whatever2 said: ">I am fully vaccinated and boosted and young and generally healthy

I am two of those things. AND i have a vulnerable household to protect.

(and also: NO ONE knows enough about long covid to not be afraid of it.)

again: you got vaxxed and boosted for you. you wear a mask for the people around you."

Yes exactly this. I have immunocompromised people in my house and this makes me really feel less safe working as a FOH staff. 
 

Also on a side note towards the conversation about the temperatures in theaters: theaters are usually an icebox, but many theaters have not decided it’s the time in the season yet to turn on the air, so they’re still using the winter system making it very hot. 

[EDSOSLO858]

Posted: 4/16/22 at 1:04am

I didn't quite have the words to say beforehand, so I let Billy Madison sum it up first.

The League completely dropped the ball with these new guidelines. Everyone involved in the Broadway experience needs to protect themselves AND others to create the safest environment possible. As one poster said earlier in this thread, the vaccine protects you and the mask protects those around you. I don't think one mandate can happen without the other in a crowded indoor space like a Broadway house, but we will find out soon enough.

The pandemic is not over, and it will likely be a long slog towards endemicity which may take years. When more people fall victim to severe COVID because the unvaccinated are now welcome inside most Broadway theaters, the blame will be placed squarely on You-Know-Who. Many shows will lose a large slice of their audience and suffer because of this. I can't begin to imagine how much of a bloodbath August / September will be.

Sigh.

 

Updated On: 4/16/22 at 01:04 AM

[HogansHero]

Posted: 4/16/22 at 1:18am

itsjustmejonhotmailcom said: "The Shubert Org uses a company called SwifTest that Jeff Witing owns and runs out of Open Jar. Is Shubert behind that?"

Yes, that is my understanding, that the Shuberts own it. If someone can document something contrary to what I was told by a reliable person and stated here, please do so.  

[Wick3]

Posted: 4/16/22 at 6:57am

EDSOSLO858 said: "The pandemic is not over, and it will likely be a long slog towards endemicity which may take years.When more people fall victim to severe COVID because the unvaccinated are now welcome inside most Broadway theaters, the blame will be placed squarely on You-Know-Who. Many shows will lose a large slice of their audience and suffer because of this. I can't begin to imagine how much of a bloodbath August / September will be.

Sigh."

 

London’s West End doesn’t have a vaccine mandate (some require face masks and a 1-2 require recent neg test) and they’re doing fine or I haven’t heard of reports they’re majorly suffering financially.

 

[bwayplays]

Posted: 4/16/22 at 7:35am

Wick3 said: "EDSOSLO858 said: "The pandemic is not over, and it will likely be a long slog towards endemicity which may take years.When more people fall victim to severe COVID because the unvaccinated are now welcome inside most Broadway theaters, the blame will be placed squarely on You-Know-Who. Many shows will lose a large slice of their audience and suffer because of this. I can't begin to imagine how much of a bloodbath August / September will be.

Sigh."



London’s West End doesn’t have a vaccine mandate (some require face masks and a 1-2 require recent neg test) and they’re doing fine or I haven’t heard of reports they’re majorly suffering financially.

"

What is West End’s testing policy if they have one? Are they only testing if showing symptoms? Or they testing everyone once they walk in the building like Broadway? I’m just wondering now that the vaccine policy is lifted for audiences, does the vaccine and testing policy for performers get lifted too? If not, maybe it’s time for Broadway to make the move to test only when symptoms occur instead of scheduled testing of everyone.

[Wick3]

Posted: 4/16/22 at 7:55am

What I wrote was the policy for West End audiences. To my knowledge West End never had a vaccine mandate ever. Some theaters required wearing of face masks and a few required a recent covid test neg result.

I know to watch the CABARET revival in West End, each audience member has to show a recent rapid antigen negative test taken within past 48 hours. 
 

[bwayplays]

Posted: 4/16/22 at 9:07am

Even for performers? They’re not testing for covid at all? 

[Jordan Catalano]

Posted: 4/16/22 at 9:41am

re: The West End

I don't think there's one base set of rules for how things are now, or have been for a long time. I could be wrong but It doesn't sound to me like performers are tested on a daily basis. As for testing the audience, from my personal experience I can tell you that of the 73 shows I attended in London last year I was asked to show proof of vaccination four times and proof of a negative test the three times I attended "Cabaret" (Now I believe you can just show proof of vax).

Many shows had signs up saying to have proof of vaccination or negative test ready to show but they never checked. I was told by a friend that it was "random" but not really since they never actually do it. 

Let me say I was thinking about this a lot last night, after the announcement on Broadway. I'm heading back to London in a few weeks and I know that I'll be around many many many unmasked people in the audience and not all of them will be vaccinated. As for me, you couldn't pay me to remove my KN95 mask in those theatres yet (I can't do N95 in theaters, esp UK theaters where the temps are usually even warmer than here) but if I'm ok with that, and have been for a long time over there, there should be no reason to dread it over here. But I'm still a little nervous since I did get Covid in London last December and I'm sure it was in a theater. Of course, that was when I was still wearing just a cloth mask (ah, those were simpler times).

So it's going to happen. It could happen here. It could happen to me again tonight when I go out to dinner. And why am I OK with that but anxious about sitting with my mask on for two hours around other masked people who aren't eating/drinking/talking around me? It makes no sense. But like a lot of things with so many of us, our comfort levels are all over the place and make no sense if we really stop to think about them. 

[HogansHero]

Posted: 4/16/22 at 10:20am

Jordan Catalano said: "It makes no sense. But like a lot of things with so many of us, our comfort levels are all over the place and make no sense if we really stop to think about them."

I think it is important to recognize this. Not everyone is the same (by a long shot) and most of us have been through a lot psychologically while riding the covid roller coaster. I think it is important that we be aware of the science including he science of our own minds, even though that does not mean we act with full rationality. I also think it is important to be respectful of others who are at a different place along the continuum (so long as their choices do not adversely affect our own well-being).

[bwayplays]

Posted: 4/16/22 at 10:20am

Jordan if you don’t mind me asking, what brings you to London so often? Work? Family? Leisure? We’re planning to go abroad this time next year and London is on our list. Also thank you for sharing your experiences re: Covid while there!
 

But I agree- everyone’s comfort level is different. My family is a great example but that’s a story for another day.

[Wick3]

Posted: 4/16/22 at 10:32am

Thank you Jordan Catalano for your input. I watched CABARET back in Nov 2021 and they asked to see my recent negative covid test before entry. I did look into it and you are right that nowadays at CABARET a proof of double vax is sufficient. 

When I was in London in early March, no one checked my vaccination card when I watched West End shows. Yes I did wear an n95 mask while watching the show.

I agree with what you said in regards to comfort levels. Here in NYC, I feel most people are comfortable eating indoors in a restaurant and note most restaurants don't check vaccine cards anymore.

[bwayplays]

Posted: 4/16/22 at 10:49am

I also think where you live plays a role in how you view covid now. Philly just reinstated the mask mandate for no reason other than to try and bring fear back. My part of PA hasn’t mandated masks or anything covid related since May 2021. I just got back from New Orleans where covid doesn’t exist. 

[Broadway Bob*]

Posted: 4/16/22 at 12:30pm

As mentioned above somewhere, TeleCharge (the Shuberts) have extended their Refund/Exchange policy through May because of the new ruling. So far, the Jujamcyns and TicketMaster (the Nederlanders) aren't showing anything. What do we think the chances are of them doing so? I have two tickets (one from each company) that I am trying to get rid of and getting a refund would be WAY easier than trying to sell them somehow/somewhere.

[whatever2]

Posted: 4/16/22 at 12:32pm

>  for no reason other than to try and bring fear back.

oh get a grip. like Mayor Kenney sits in his office strumming his fingers on his desk thinking, "let's see -- how can i bring fear back to my fellow Philadelphians today? BWA-HA-HA-HA!!"

only time will tell whether the reinstatement of the mandate was prescient or an over-reaction, but this explanation is pure piffle.

[bwayplays]

Posted: 4/16/22 at 12:47pm

“get a grip”? Who actually says that anymore. I’ve yet to talk to one person from Philly who’s happy about him reinstating the mask mandate. CDC has Philly in the low category anyway so there’s no reason for him to reinstate it. All he’s doing is trying to reintroduce covid fear and change the discussion back to covid. He can’t get crime under control so let’s talk about something he can control- covid mandates. 

[bwayplays]

Posted: 4/16/22 at 12:49pm

Broadway Bob* said: "As mentioned above somewhere, TeleCharge (the Shuberts) have extended their Refund/Exchange policy through May because of the new ruling. So far, the Jujamcyns and TicketMaster (the Nederlanders) aren't showing anything. What do we think the chances are of them doing so? I have two tickets (one from each company) that I am trying to get rid of and getting a refund would be WAY easier than trying to sell them somehow/somewhere."

You can try to refund but they might not honor it. I had bought the wrong date for Little Shop and Telecharge wouldn’t refund since the theatre was no longer participating in refunds but only exchanges.