Curtain it! Turn on the lights Broadway is officially returning to spectacular 100 percent capacity on 14 September. We no longer have to wait around TV. Now it is certain: the show will go on.
The agony of the first night would reappear with Jugnairat “Hamilton,” “Wicked” and “The Lion King”. Next week “Come From Away,” “Aladdin” and “Six” will join them.
Ants will be rehearsed, warmed up and provoked to leave, but New Yorkers have a responsibility to sit in those damn seats when they start playing the orchestra. Do not say and say it soon. Buy your tickets now, folks. The city needs you.
Some industries have been shut down by the epidemic, like theaters. Films successfully turned to streaming, sports held lucrative broadcast rights, high-end restaurants began to deliver, and middle-class office workers woke up in bed.
The entire time, Broadway was dark. Its shows’ Multimillion Dollar Advance dried up, the actors made a fresh start as real estate agents or artisans or moved out altogether due to the high cost and declining quality of life here.
They were artists, directors, designers, producers, technicians, theater, box-office workers, publicists, home management teams and theater owners Septe. 14. But standing for one hour is worth the ovation. When you can’t feel your hands, clap.
But Broadway’s return is more than our entertainment and entertainment.
Times Square, while slowly gaining foot traffic, is an ugly and decrypted imitation of the breathtaking spectacle only two years ago. America’s biggest tourist attraction has become victims of drug addicts, homeless and violence. Some days, it’s “Mad Max: Midtown”. Just this week there was a shootout that killed tourists and a little girl – on 44th Street! Shubarte steps down the street.
A return to the bustle, the diverse crowds in the neighborhood – at least 40,000 a night from plays and music – will help reduce crime, and the much needed boost of struggling shops, hotels, restaurants and bars that playbill-clutch customers at Believe it.
When you book your ticket “Hamilton” and “Come From Away”, reserve a table at Sardi or Joe Allen’s or Cafe Un Deux Tris or Glass House Tavern. Stop for a drink later at Hurley’s Salon on 48th Street.
Recently one night I spoke to Paul Barbe, owner of Hurley, next door to the Longcare Theater, which will soon be coming to “Diana: The Musical” and across the street from Walter Kerr, the Best Musical winner for “Headstown” . “
It is a popular theater spot. In 2008, actor Mark Rolance was celebrating his Tony Award win for Hurley’s “Boeing-Boeing”. But – whoops! – Brit forgot his trophy on a cheese plate. Barbe had to chase down the road to return her.
However, on the second night, the showbiz was discussed. I was one of four customers.
“We need Broadway back now,” Barbe told me. “We are alive here week by week with the help of the government. As you can see, we are doing 15 percent of our normal business. And we roam theaters with all broadcast shows, hotel guests and all tour groups coming from Europe or across the country. “
He said: “Honestly it’s a light at the end of the tunnel.”
In the 1970s, Times Square and the city were on the verge of breaking up, until a small show called “A Chorus Line” and the national excitement surrounding it helped turn things around. My colleague Michael Reidel wrote about it in his excellent book “Razzle Dazzle: Battle for Broadway“Broadway can – and will – return the city to greatness again. If only the New Yorkers would let it live.
See you in the theater.
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