The lights will shine again

So Long, Farewell Broadway

On March 12, 2020, the lights on Broadway went dark. Dressing rooms were cleared, hugless goodbyes were had, jobs were lost, and no one knew when everything would return.

Now, over a year into the worldwide pandemic, Broadway remains closed. The economic turmoil and emotional downsides of the pandemic have been highly damaging to Broadway and, in some cases, irreversible. Many shows that were expected to open on the big stage never did, and others had to permanently close without knowing their last show pre-pandemic was actually their last. From the economic underpinnings of Broadway and the true emotional experiences of hopeful performers, to the new role that technology may play in its future, many elements of the disrupted high-end theater industry are worth examining. But understanding the future of Broadway requires understanding the pandemic-induced financial and artistic hemorrhaging.

For decades, Broadway has served as one of New York City's brightest lights. In fact, nearly 15 million people attended Broadway shows during the 2018-19 season. According to The Broadway League, a national trade association for the Broadway industry, close to $15 billion of NYC's $72 billion economic activity in 2019 and 100,000 jobs come from the people attending Broadway shows and other services tied to the theater experience. Additionally, TheaterMania reported that 21 productions were scheduled to open in the first four months of 2020, so the high-end theater industry was only getting stronger.

Dwindling Dreams of Young Stars

Thousands of artists felt the downward spiral of Broadway to their cores. Even the aspiring young performers who were groomed and ready for their big breaks have now experienced over a year of defeat and confusion. NYU Tisch senior Christina Amiridis was studying abroad in Madrid when COVID-19 overtook the United States. She had pursued theater since she was young and was taking the semester to spend the last time in her life not on the stage, or so she thought.

Amiridis was forced back into the U.S. prematurely after a mere two months abroad, unable to head back to NYU and her acting cohort. Now, Amiridis is working toward a film and television acting or casting career to ensure she is employable after her May 2021 graduation.

"It's definitely been disheartening and saddening, since I feel like my entire life I've wanted this, and now I had to make a decision and lean my studies and future aspirations aways from [live theater], at least for the time being," Amiridis said. "Looking at at how Broadway is now and how theaters are now, I just kind of knew if I wanted to get work, and soon, my best bet wasn't to go directly into [the theater] route."

Despite the atypical education Amiridis experienced this year, she notes that her teachers have done an excellent job at making the year feel as normal as possible, and she believes she's gotten at least some worth out of her courses. While the school may have done its best, Amiridis is disappointed she hadn't gotten to reach her full potential during such a pivotal year for her career growth.

"To think about spending so much time and money [at NYU], I don't necessarily think I'm getting everything out of [NYU] this year that I could have gotten."

Still, she isn't letting this abnormal year stop her from attaining a full-time offer after graduating. Amiridis plans to gain skills in as many areas within the entertainment industry as possible so she can be highly employable and find a consistent job after graduation.

"Looking forward, I want to put myself in a position where I can do pretty much anything."

Despite the change in plans, Amiridis hopes to head back into the theater scene in the future. She also acknowledges the harsh reality of the current performers who were already enmeshed within the theater scene.

"It's sad for the performers who were like, it was their big break, and had just gotten cast," Amiridis said. "For all these people, it was one in a million. You get your shot and it can catapult you into a career."

Getting that 'Big Break'

Source: IMDB

Chiara Trentalange knows what it's like to finally get 'the call,' the call that shows dreams come true and life is looking up. Trentalange had been a theater guru for as long as she can remember. Within a year of graduating from Emerson College with a BFA in Musical Theater, Trentalange packed her bags and headed to the Big Apple.

She didn't know many people in the theater business, so she worked her way from the bottom. Since she wasn't part of the Actors' Equity Association, a union that provides performers with quality living conditions, livable wages, and benefits, it was much more difficult for her to secure auditions. Struggling financially, Trentalange worked in bars as a waitress to make ends meet. She focused on building her resume through various small gigs over the first three years in the city, including performing as a swing in Anything Goes at Goodspeed Musicals, a theater company in Connecticut.

A swing, according to TodayTix, is a member of the company who understudies several ensemble roles. A swing performs if an ensemble member is out of the show or if an ensemble member is covering another role in the show.

"[Anything Goes] was a huge growing experience for me, because it was very difficult to swing a big ensemble show with all this dancing and all the different tracks you have to learn."

Fast forward to 2019, she'd been in NYC trying to "make it big" for five years, and decided it might be time for a backup plan.

"I was like, if things don't work out for me by the time I'm 30, if I don't kind of get that big break or make any big moves forward, then I'm really gonna have to start thinking about how I can use my talents, or maybe go back to school," Trentalange said. "I was at the end of that rope a little bit when I got the audition for Girl from the North Country."

Girl from the North Country is a Broadway musical written by Conor McPherson, who "boldly reimagines the legendary songs of Bob Dylan," according to the production's official website. The production premiered in 2017 in London, and made its Broadway premiere at the Belasco Theatre, beginning previews on February 7, 2020 and opening March 5, a mere week before theaters closed down.

"When I got that audition, I was like, 'wow. This is perfect for me," Trentalange said. "I felt it in my gut. That whole audition process was amazing."

The magic continued when her agent called to tell her she landed a swing role in her dream show. Speechless and emotional, Trentalange called her friends and family to share the life-changing news.

"It's satisfying to work for something your whole life and get the phone call. That was magical," Trentalange said.

As a swing, Trentalange had to be on call and ready to replace a performer at any moment, and in February 2020, she received that call for one of the show's previews. It was 11 a.m. when she learned she was needed to perform as a swing in the 2 p.m. matinee show.

"I was very proud of myself that I showed up and did the thing and did a good job, and I was able to do the show that night and the next day as well."

The day that Broadway shut down, she was in her first official understudy rehearsal. While on a break, her phone started blowing up with announcements that Broadway is shutting down.

"I just remember being mad. I remember standing on the stage and having a little tantrum moment. Like 'come on, this is happening right now'? This was all just working out for me. There were plans for me to go on in the show that month because people had scheduled out, so I was really excited for that."

When Chiara and her Girl from the North Country castmates realized Broadway wasn't going to return in two weeks as originally planned, she got busy. She worked through a yoga teacher training program, and she's been babysitting for two young girls. Trentalange wasn't interested in making any significant career pivots, as theater is her "one true love."

She's also been taking screen acting classes to shift some of her focus into film and television acting. She hopes to pursue this other side of acting in the future, so she's used her free time to be prepared and get her foot into that world.

Financing Where the Magic Happens

The Belasco theater stage, among the rest in Broadway's 41 theater houses, has been sitting empty ever since. There are three main Broadway theater organizations who own these 41 houses: Shubert, Jujamcyn and Nederlander. When the pandemic hit, 18 Broadway productions were running. With theaters ranging from 597 to 1,933 seats, and given the notoriously hefty rent prices in NYC, the financial maintenance of these theaters does not come cheap. These buildings are large and single-use, with high property taxes, utility costs and mortgages.

Fortunately, these organizations haven't gone bankrupt due to their long-established dominating position in the industry, insurance and coronavirus funds. However, their prestigious stance over Broadway doesn't mean the theater owners haven't experienced severe economic threats due to the pandemic. According to Deadline, Jujamcyn Theaters sued its insurance companies last August after the insurers offered to pay a mere $250,000 of what the theater company claims should be "tens of millions of dollars" in losses due to the coronavirus shutdown.

The buildings haven't had to fend for themselves on their own. Senator Chuck Schumer sponsored the $10 billion 'Save Our Stages' Act at the end of 2020 to assist concert and theatre venues during the pandemic. Twenty-five million dollars of the fund was reserved for the large-scale Broadway houses.

Theater owners must be faring okay, as Shubert recently released plans for an expansion at the Cort Theatre, an ambitious renovation project expected to be complete in 2022.

Production Companies Scramble in Time of Economic Turmoil

While the theaters may be faring okay, many specific productions and producing companies are having a more difficult time. Every Broadway show is different and has different demands and needs that must be met prior to restarting production. While some may only require weeks to get up on their feet, others will require months. From rehearsals and costume construction to the financial and business elements, everything will require both time and money to get up and running. As many businesses have been lacking revenues for over a year, the financial aspect will pose challenges for many producers.

In fact, many Broadway shows were only able to remain afloat due to insurance coverage. According to Forbes, several Broadway shows received significant payouts through their insurance policies earlier in the pandemic, including the musical Come From Away.

Come From Away premiered on Broadway in 2017, and also had productions in four other locations at the time everything closed. It tells the true story of what transpired when 38 planes were ordered to land unexpectedly in the small town of Gander the week following the September 11 attacks. The musical received seven nominations and won for "Best Direction of a Musical" at the 71st Tony Awards.

Come From Away producers Sue Frost and Randy Adams had to watch their musical suddenly close when the pandemic hit. Frost and Adams are founding partners of Junkyard Dog Productions, a Tony and Olivier award-winning producing company dedicated to producing new musical theatre. Prior to Come From Away, their past producing credits include Memphis and First Date. As lead producers for the hit musical, they struggled with seeing so many people out of work.

"It was like shutting down an entire world of shows. It was difficult," Adams said. "The reality is, there were more than 500 people out of work and that was just very difficult to deal with."

Come From Away's general manager Carl Pasbjerg confirmed in a video that the show owes everything to the performance disruption insurance. Pasbjerg called the insurance "a lifesaver," as the probability the business would have survived without the funds is low.

How Much Does It Cost To Put On a Broadway Production?

Take a look at just a few of the costs associated with putting on these large-scale performances!

Source: New Musical Theatre

Unfortunately, not all Broadway shows received this lifesaving insurance fund despite having their own policies. Producers of the Tina Turner musical Tina revealed that their insurance company, Chubb, "placed its own financial interests above those of its policyholder and wrongfully denied [the producer]'s claim," the Tina attorneys argued.

"Shows with less of a financial cushion will have a harder time coming back," said Broadway general manager Peter Bogyo. "Without advances to fall back on, producers [and] productions whose shows don't build advance ticket sales, and with little to no reserves to remount, are going to live and die by their weekly operating budgets."

While some shows may be able to receive federal grants through the Shuttered Venue Operators Grant program, which provides funding up to $10 million, the details of the new program remain unclear, and the timetable for receiving funds is also unknown.

So, what does Broadway in a post-COVID world look like?

Broadway Turns to Streaming

As demand for cable TV lessens and streaming service popularity continues to rise, Broadway will likely join forces with the streaming world. However, this doesn't mean live theater will disappear.

Source: Hamilton Facebook Page

Thomas Schumacher, a Disney theatrical producer, emphasized that streaming will not replace live theater, but rather support it.

"Broadway was the feeder for Hollywood, long before that path went in the other direction," Schumacher said. "The live event is not going away. To think this moment of time is going to bring the end of a thousand year old tradition to people gathering is frankly just irrational."

Many other producers agree that live screen captures and streaming platforms play a large role. Some of them have successfully experimented with digital performances, including the popularity and financial success of Hamilton on Disney+.

In fact, it was announced that the Lincoln Center Theater got permission from the 147 unions involved in their previous productions to stream their shows to audiences. It's currently granted for the pandemic only, but many predict it's only a matter of time before everything is captured and available for future viewing.

The new musical Diana has an unprecedented and potentially trend-setting strategy to release a filmed version of the stage production on Netflix two months prior to a Broadway opening. According to The New York Times, the show only had nine preview performances before the pandemic hit last March. Diana will be available for streaming on Netflix October 1, and will resume previews on Broadway December 1, assuming theaters will be reopened by then. Diana producers hope the Netflix film will increase audience interest in the stage production.

In addition, it was recently announced that the film adaptation plan for Come From Away is being cancelled in favor of producing a live capture. Frost and Adams felt like a filmed recording of the show would be a wonderful opportunity to capture the show as well as put people back to work for a while.

"[Junkyard] produced Memphis a few years ago and we did a live capture of it, and we felt it was a great way to expand the brand," Frost said. "We don't believe that because you can see it on streaming, that you won't come see it live. In fact, it's even more of a possibility that you'll do it. As a global brand, it feels like a really great opportunity."

Adams reaffirmed the speculation that shows will be utilizing the live stage capture feature and streaming opportunities, at least for the time being.

"There are so many platforms for [releasing the filmed shows] and ways to get it out there, and people who are looking for content will pay for it."

Advances in technology may play an even larger role than initially expected, as Jujamcyn Theaters and SeatGeek recently announced a multi-year partnership to allow for "a streamlined ticket-buying experience" for Jujamcyn attendees.

SeatGeek's ticketing platform will allow audiences to browse shows, find the right tickets, receive mobile tickets, order concessions, and much more. According to SeatGeek's statement, "With its industry-leading data and analytics tooling, SeatGeek makes it easy for Jujamcyn and its shows to understand demand for tickets in real time, allowing for event management across hundreds of performances."

To bring audiences back to live theater, Jujamcyn president and owner Jordan Roth said this means "leaving no tool unused and no innovation untested in our never-ending mission to enrich the theatergoing experience from start to finish."

After leaving the Shubert Organization-owned Telecharge, Jujamcyn exclusively used Ticketmaster since 2016. Now, only the Nederlander Organization remains among the three major Broadway theater owners using Ticketmaster.

Enticing Theatergoers Back to The Stage

Besides technology, what will bring audiences back? Frost and Adams believe that once vaccinations are widespread and official COVID compliances are set, audiences will feel comfortable heading back to theaters.

"I think people are really wanting to get back to some normalcy, and I think people have been missing the live experience," Frost said. "I think there's going to be a lot of people who are going to feel better about [coming back] with their vaccinations. It's just a question of how many, and how quickly tours will come back, and all of those things."

Source: Broadway Direct

However, according to Frost, Broadway cannot survive by following social distancing rules. "We're going to need at least 65-75% percent at capacity to make it worth it. [Shows] can't have social distancing, because you can't have more than 25% of the house filled with social distancing," Frost said. "You need to have the potential to fill the house. It will be an interesting exercise to see what the balance is, and how many people we need. Before the pandemic, with Come From Away, the houses were full at night. So, hopefully, we're going to get back to that."

Unfortunately, many people still may not feel comfortable sitting in a crowded theater. According to a recent poll by Morning Consult, only 28% of Americans feel comfortable returning to movie theaters, and older individuals are likely to be even more reluctant. Given the largest group of Broadway theatergoers fall between the ages of 50 and 64, this may hurt audience numbers. Additionally, tourists, who make up 65% of Broadway audiences, might not return for a while.

However, after examining a strong audience demand from Australia's Come From Away reopening, with a 85% full house, Frost and Adams feel confident that the same will apply to New York City's shows.

As for ticket prices, many producers feel as though the numbers will remain relatively similar to pre-pandemic pricing. Frost and Adams hope to maintain a large range of pricing so as to keep their show accessible to everyone and ensure people can afford to continue coming back to the show multiple times.

"We're not seeing price resistance at all in Australia, so that's a good sign. But I do think there's always going to be the conflict of moving prices up and down to accommodate people," Frost said. "There's a lot of people who have not struggled financially during this, and there are people who have struggled a lot, so having that balance will be important."

Making Broadway a Safe and Exciting Space

On March 25, 2021, TheaterMania reported New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio's announcement about the early stages of a plan to get Broadway and off-Broadway reopened by the fall of 2021. The statement detailed how the city will be opening vaccination sites on Broadway for the theater industry, staffed by veteran theater industry workers. Additionally, the city is working on plans to manage performance crowds before and after Broadway shows, and will open pop-up COVID testing sites in the area of the major theaters.

Just over a month later, on May 3, New York announced the city's plans to lift COVID-19 capacity restrictions beginning on May 19, a move that may help expedite the Broadway revival process.

While these initial plans and positive mindsets are a great start, reopening shows on Broadway will not be easy or cheap. From launching marketing campaigns, implementing new safety procedures, hosting cast and crew rehearsals, hiring replacements and much more, the costs of restarting some of the larger shows could exceed $5 million.

The one thing that's certain? Producers and performers alike can't wait for Broadway to reopen.

"It's going to be great to see that give and take and that excitement between the people on stage and the people in the audience," Frost said. "It's a unique experience every night, and to see that happening again is going to be wonderful."

While Trentalange is working to make ends meet and becoming a stronger and more versatile performer, she is looking forward to rejoining her cast of Girl from the North Country more than anything.

"It feels like I got jipped out of a year. If I could be with [the cast] and just see where my journey progresses with them, I think that'd be absolutely beautiful. It's an absolute dream show for me. It fits like a glove," Trentalange said. "Theater is my true love, so I definitely want to stick with that and see where my first Broadway show can take me."

More than anything, Trentalange understands the power behind theater and is excited to feel the emotional response it will have on everyone involved.

"Theater is gonna be so needed," she said. "It is so needed right now that it's really gonna hit home. I think we need that collective experience."