With the coronavirus outbreak, Broadway is facing its worst crisis since 9/11. But it got a lifeline, albeit a thin one, from Gov. Andrew Cuomo, who yesterday prohibited gatherings of more than 500 people. That ruling allows Broadway producers, whose shows have been shut down through April 12, to collect insurance money. The payments won’t cover everything — and many shows may close or not even open — but as one producer said, “It’s something.”
As the week began, Broadway seemed determined to stick to the old adage, “The show must go on.” But as the virus — and the panic — spread, producers were shocked to see so many theatergoers clamoring for refunds or new dates. (Telecharge will automatically refund purchased tickets for performances between March 12 and April 12.)
After President Trump announced that he was prohibiting flights from Europe to America, the bottom fell out. Tourists buy nearly 65 percent of the tickets sold on Broadway, especially in the spring and summer.
Until the coronavirus abates, very few people will be traveling anywhere. Actors Equity, which represents Broadway performers, advocated for a shutdown. An actor in “Moulin Rouge!” stayed home with a fever, and everybody backstage was fearful of his condition. It’s not been determined if he has the virus.
Broadway producers met Thursday at noon to decide what to do, and everybody was “calm,” a source said. The producers realized Broadway had to close, but believe the industry can bounce back once the fear has abated.
Whether some of its new shows will survive remains to be seen. A few shows in previews don’t have enough cash reserves to see them through this storm. Tracy Letts’ new play “The Minutes,” which was to open on Sunday, was rumored to be in trouble. But a spokesman insists: “‘The Minutes’ will reopen on April 13.”
Martin McDonagh’s “Hangmen,” which won great reviews when it played off-Broadway, was also in previews and could find itself in trouble. But its producer Robert Fox says: “We will be looking at the situation, and if there is potential to reopen, we will reopen along with the other plays that are in the same situation.”
There were rumors that Broadway’s longest running show — “The Phantom of the Opera” — may have to close down for good. After 32 years, it’s dependent on the tourist trade, which will be thin for the next few months. But Andrew Lloyd Webber tells me that he has no intention of closing it. There are “huge plans to remarket and refresh it,” says Lloyd Webber, who plans to keep it open another 30 years.
Matthew Broderick and Sarah Jessica Parker were due to begin previews Friday in “Plaza Suite.” They both got sick with flu in Boston during the out-of-town tryout, and were understandably worried about opening during the coronavirus outbreak. (Broderick’s sister was just diagnosed with the virus.) But they’re both troopers and have let it be known that when Broadway is up and running again, they’ll be ready to perform.
At the end of the day, that spirit is what will save Broadway. Not only has the Great White Way weathered 9/11, but it also survived the Great Depression, the financial crises of the 1970s and 2008 and another virus more deadly than coronavirus: AIDS.
That one wiped out untold numbers of theater people.
Broadway will come back, one press agent says, because “we’re good at staging comebacks.”
And when it does, I see Patti LuPone, the star of the upcoming revival of “Company,” Broderick, Parker, Hugh Jackman and the casts of “Moulin Rouge!,” “The Book of Mormon,” “Wicked,” “Dear Evan Hansen” and “Hamilton” leading the charge.
If only Elaine Stritch could be there to lead everybody in “I’m Still Here,” Broadway’s true anthem, now and forever.
“Len Berman and Michael Riedel in the Morning” airs weekdays on WOR Radio 710.