: It was a plot twist a struggling Broadway pined for. The producers of a pair of acclaimed, offbeat plays mounted the stage Wednesday night to announce the reversal of their plans to close prematurely: A groundswell of late-breaking support from ticket buyers would allow them to keep going for a few more weeks.
Friday, November 05, 2021
Broadway is off to a shaky start, but reprieve for two acclaimed plays boosts spirits
The Washington Post
: It was a plot twist a struggling Broadway pined for. The producers of a pair of acclaimed, offbeat plays mounted the stage Wednesday night to announce the reversal of their plans to close prematurely: A groundswell of late-breaking support from ticket buyers would allow them to keep going for a few more weeks.
: It was a plot twist a struggling Broadway pined for. The producers of a pair of acclaimed, offbeat plays mounted the stage Wednesday night to announce the reversal of their plans to close prematurely: A groundswell of late-breaking support from ticket buyers would allow them to keep going for a few more weeks.
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I’m glad to hear that Broadway is moving forward in a positive direction. I know that with mask mandates and vaccine hesitancy, and you know the whole the pandemic is not actually over yet, Broadway is definitely not back to its 20919 numbers. That said, I don’t know why that is the goal. I know living in New York City is not cheap, and they need to generate a certain amount of revenue to keep the lights on. However, we have all done shitty shows with practically no budgets and made it work. I have said this before when Broadway kept pushing its “reopening” date further and further: these Broadway houses and producers need to have a paradigm shift about what they are trying to do. This article really hit the nail on the head in the last paragraph. Adamson, the epidemiologist who is working with Broadway shows pointed out that because of these two shows getting extend the actors will get to take paychecks home. It’s time, if they haven’t already for producers to make their number one priority keeping actors, technicians, and the rest of the staff employed even if it means half empty houses and minimal designs.
I like this article a lot because it offered like a very hopeful view of future theater. I think that Broadway as I’ve seen has been struggling not only during the pandemic but also like just in this in these past decades in general. Like I remember before the opening of Hamilton and that. When Wicked’s tickets were dwindling, I remember there was a lot of talk about how Broadway is failing and that there was a lot of worry about ticket sales, and the Broadway would never be the same as it once was. And I honestly think that it is similar to nowhere we just went through a massive pandemic and Broadway is not the same as I once was but it will probably return and I hope that it returns as something exciting is some something new. I also like in this article how they emphasized the well-being of everyone involved, including the actors and the technicians and how the shows should focus on their well-being as well as much is the audience.
I didn’t realize that individual shows revenues were not being published. I find it intriguing. I wonder how many people work on those specific productions know where they are at in terms of how long they will actually have a job. I feel like you wouldn’t want to blind side an entire team but I’m not totally sure how that works. It makes sense that Disney decided to hold out on reopening the Frozen Production when children couldn’t be vaccinated and you had to be vaccinated to enter the theatre. It makes me wonder what shows are going to be opening in the near future now that children can get vaccinated. I’m not sure how children’s vaccines will help with ticket sales for the lesser known shows but I hope it boosts revenue in the industry in general. I also wonder if that will help boost revenue for broadway or if masks and the fear of covid will still keep people away. It seems like Broadway is hopeful.
I am so glad to see a show do well enough to extend its run. I believe Beetlejuice has had a similar turn of luck. Before the pandemic, Beetlejuice announced it would close in Spring of 2020 due to low ticket sales, but the show erupted on Tik Tok and garnered a large audience in early 2020. The revival of the Music Man taking control of their theater space paired with the pandemic was the assumed nail in the coffin for the show. Luckily, Beetlejuice is getting a second life next spring, and I can only assume this decision was made because of the huge spike in sales it got towards the end of its run. I hope that shows continue to see an increase in sales as people feel safer going out. I worry that flu season will cause some issues, but hopeful that it won’t have an impact.
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