by Shoshi Fine
On March 12, 2020, Broadway closed due to COVID-19. It didn’t reopen for around a year and a half – only beginning its return on September 14, 2021. After all that time off, reopening posed a series of new challenges to the industry. Performers needed to be rehearsed and retrained, advertisements had to be reposted, new safety precautions were required to be taken, and new advertisements needed to be put in place to make up for the lack of tourist attendees. All of this will have to continue, particularly the safety precautions, as the world and COVID-19’s impact on it is ever-changing.
Arguably the biggest of these reopening challenges is getting enough audience members to actually generate profit. Tourists made up ⅔ of the usual audience, but due to COVID-19, tourism has decreased by an estimated 70%. Attendees are now mostly expected to be New Yorkers themselves. But even within the city and state, transit can still be a problem. Getting to Times Square can be busy and overcrowded, and especially with the Delta Variant, dangerous (particularly for the unvaccinated). Even once at the theater, safety precautions must be taken. Social distancing is enacted in some places which limits capacity, many venues require proof of vaccination or a recent negative COVID test, and some shows even have rapid tests for children ineligible for vaccination. Returning to theater is a great improvement, but it is certainly not without changes and hurdles.
New York’s Broadway is one of the most well-known and exciting parts of the city. Lights out on it for a year and a half diminished some people’s hope of the city ever returning to how it was. Kate Deming, a tenth grader, is “so excited to go back and watch shows and they begin to reopen! I have tickets for American Utopia and I’m really looking forward to it.” Kate is also a member of the cast of LREI’s very own production of Our Town, which is the high school’s fall play.
LREI has had its own hiatus from formal productions for a year. Along with Broadway, this fall is bringing it back. Violet Wexler, another cast member, described Our Town as “a show about a very plain and classic town, but the joys the people find in everyday life. Then there’s a big plot twist – but you’re gonna have to go see the show to that find out!”
Opening night was Thursday, November 11. Kate Deming was really happy to return to performing: “Last year when we were online it was definitely a less rewarding and difficult experience. Despite being able to film as many takes as we needed, I lost that adrenaline rush and excitement that comes with performing live.”
After so much time away from regular theater-going, both for Broadway shows and school productions, many are eager to return and experience the magic of theater.