Still, working amid rising coronavirus infections and restrictions in the United Kingdom, Wax acknowledges there’s a possibility the production will be shut down. He’s choosing to move forward for one main reason.
Thursday, September 24, 2020
Why 'Six' plans to reopen in London this fall
Still, working amid rising coronavirus infections and restrictions in the United Kingdom, Wax acknowledges there’s a possibility the production will be shut down. He’s choosing to move forward for one main reason.
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I was very surprised when I first heard about ‘Six’ reopening so soon. I follow the show alongside a group of others in social media so I knew of this before reading the article. The article helped me understand the logistics and reasoning as to why – in theory – it can work. As someone who knows the show, I can attest to the sentiment that the integrity of the show would not be heavily affected. It is a cast of six performers, plus a small band that is traditionally lumped upstage but they could be moved. The choreography could be altered in a way that is still adding to the story as the original one does. Other than that the actual show would not be affected. Financially I see where the potential problem could lie, but since the show is taking place in the West End rather than on Broadway – like the article said – it is viable. Even if they get shut down it gives a lot of hope to the industry as a whole.
This article certainly offers a beacon of hope that some theater could return soon, obviously not the same as before, but in many ways it will still be “the theater we know.” However, overall this article highlights a bigger issue that must be addressed: the government needs to step in to support artists in this time. If society wants live theater to continue to be part of the arts and culture scene when we start to reopen, it is critical that support is given to the industry and most importantly, individual artists. While it obviously is great that some smaller shows can potentially have an altered performance in the fall and winter, this article makes it very clear how many will not have this opportunity. Hopefully, the ability of some shows to open is not used against other shows that can not open as an excuse for governments to not pass bills that would otherwise be passed in order to support the arts and entertainment industry.
For someone who has yet to see it performed, I absolutely love “Six” the musical. It is sad that it was set to open on Broadway the day the shutdown occurred. As a show that even contains a quip about the plague and with a very small cast, it is one that is well positioned to open amidst a pandemic. I am confident that they will restructure the choreography and the placement of each band member in order to remain physically distant. It would be interesting to inquire into the idea of the company wearing masks. Their timing to reopen on the West End is well met with the federal funding in the UK running out, but it also worries me if they are putting people at risk exclusively for the economy. This is hard because our capitalist environment requires us to have wages, but it is terrible to see economies reopening at the cost of human life. I love live theatre, and I miss it very much. I just hope they reopen in the safest way possible.
-Ariel Bernhard
It makes a lot of sense as to why you would want ‘Six’ to be the first to open on the West End and on Broadway. I think that having a short show with a small cast would be a great case study to see if COVID-19 can spread in the theatre as effectively as it does in bars and other public areas. It also has the lowest cost to actually start up again so it would make the most sense that you would invest in this show to start because you’d be losing less money in the long run. Plus with the smaller cast, you can get around COVID-19 gathering restrictions and you would still be able to meet as a cast whereas other larger shows cannot do that. Plus with an 80-minute show, it will take less time for the actors to rememorize their lines and allow them to expedite the pre-production process.
“Still, working amid rising coronavirus infections and restrictions in the United Kingdom, Wax acknowledges there’s a possibility the production will be shut down….” Hmm… so we are acknowledging that cases are rising in the United Kingdom… but still deciding to reopen? Alright, then. I appreciate that Wax wants to give work to the staff. It is admirable to try and keep people working right now amid this pandemic and government shutdowns. It is a bigger problem with governments not being able to provide and help its people who are out of work and, well, I am not sure how that can easily change.
I truly am hopeful that theatres can reopen as treatments or a vaccine are available for Covid, but with how this disease effects people in drastically different ways, I would think erring on the side of caution before a vaccine is widely available and a high number of the population has received said vaccine would be the wisest course of action.
I am not familiar with “Six” as a show, but I am not surprised that London is starting to get back. England has been handling the pandemic extremely well, it only makes sense that they are starting to see a fuller recovery and return to a full embodied economy. Bringing the arts in is just another step that brings hope and happiness back. They do aim to make their way to Broadway once those theatres open back up but, unfortunately, I do not see that happening anytime soon. The United Kingdom and other parts of Europe and the world have been opening back up for some time now and are open to each other. Meanwhile, the United States is still closed off to many other parts of the world, with exceptions of course, but for good reason. We are still seeing spikes regularly of Covid-19 cases across the country. As much as I loved reading this article and understanding where theatre is moving to in other parts of the world. The U.S. is just not ready yet. But we will get there.
This is so hopeful! Reading about live theater coming back, in some way or another, warms my heart. The approach that is described in this article, of starting with a small show and first developing the financial model to keep everyone safe seems like the only right way forward until there is a vaccine available. I am really glad that the UK is in a place to do this and that there is even a possible economic model that allows for them to think about doing a "socially distanced" show. Kenny Wax is quoted as someone with a reasonable point of view (not someone who wants to jump back into normalcy and pretending everything is fine), so it doesn't concern me at all that this venture is being undertook. He knows perfectly well that the theater and show has a lot of work to do before even a try can be attempted and that it might not work out. It does still upset me that Broadway and other American theaters are nowhere close to even imagining this situation because of the operating costs that they face. Perhaps less prominent theaters with lower operating costs may be able to look at "Six" as an example and find a way to bring theater back to the stage.
Hearing that “Six” is making a comeback on the West End is both shocking and encouraging news. Altogether it makes me nervous about them having to re-shutdown in case the spread of the virus remerges amidst the crowd of theatergoers, but I am hopeful for the success of their run. I feel as though all eyes are now going to be on this production to be a sort of baseline for whether or not putting a full musical on stage during this global pandemic is possible. I am further surprised that this event is profitable. Even with the new set build, and the costume refittings, the ability for “Six” to still be in the black margin astounds me. I wish for all to go well and for this to be an example for New York City so that Broadway, and even other theatres across the country, can start to make art once again.
It is so exciting to see an attempt to truly bring live theater back! I do wonder if bi-weekly testing of the actors is practical. Although it is on a completely different scale, lots of colleges in the US proposed regular coronavirus testing for all its students, and I have not heard of 1 college that has been able to sustain this proposal. I also wonder how financially risky this investment of hundreds of thousands of dollars is, when if one actor or staff member gets a positive test result, the whole operation will likely be shut down for 2 weeks, which during its show run, especially early on, would likely be devastating. At the end of the day, though, I wish I were able to see this performance! If everything runs smoothly, I predict they would make a substantial profit margin because they are the first major show as far as I know to attempt to return to as close to normalcy as possible.
I thought this article was really interesting to read mostly for the fact that it talked about the differences in considerations when opening up a show again on the West End and re-opening a show on Broadway. I didn’t know the union contracts on the West End were so much lower than Broadway and that the operating costs to open the show are so much less in London as well. I still really don’t know if it is a good idea for them to be opening this show again, but they seem to be taking a lot of precautions, but they will still have over 500 in one room together which just really doesn’t seem like a good idea right now. It does seem like the producer has a good attitude about it by saying “if we have to shut down again, we shut down and try again later.” This means that he probably does have health as a top concern as he should, but opening back up still just seems so risky, but I also don’t know the severity of the pandemic in the UK.
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