Nearly 97,000 Broadway workers were found out of work when the COVID-19 pandemic shut down New York City in March 2020.
At the time, there were 31 productions running, including eight new shows in previews and another eight shows in rehearsal gearing up for the spring season.
But the show will go on, as New York Governor Andrew Cuomo announced on May 5 that Broadway will reopen on September 14 with the goal of filling theaters to 100%.
Over the past year, many people employed by Broadway shows have had to find other sources of employment, including Susan Sampliner, the company manager for the long-running musical “Wicked.”
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Sampliner runs the Times Square COVID-19 vaccination site that employs only Broadway workers run by ATC Alert, a medical staffing company.
I’ve always said, if you can comfortably handle a Broadway musical, you can handle anything. But I never tried it, but everything works the same way, ”he told Fox News. «My actors are the nurses here. The ones who give the shots are the stars of our show. That’s who we are promoting. And the rest of us who are working here, who are people from the industry, we are the team that supports the actors. when doing the show. Instead of taking a ticket inventory, I’m doing a vaccine inventory.
New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo said Broadway has a Sept. 14 reopening date (AP Photo / John Minchillo, file)
ATC Alert CEO Jordan Savitsky told Fox News that the vaccination site employs 80 to 100 people from the theater community who were laid off.
He said his previous jobs ranged from actors, singers, dancers, stagehands, ushers, ticket takers, musicians.
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“They haven’t really worked in a long time and we were able to hire them and hire a lot of them. So it has been amazing. Every person on the site who is not a clinician is from the theater community, ”he explained.
The site administers about five hundred vaccinations a day and has been open since April 12. Savitsky said that Sampliner was “amazing” at his job. “We were very lucky to have found it,” he added.
Sampliner said the experience of managing the site has been “really inspiring.”
Some shows like “Frozen” will not return to Broadway. (Evan Agostini / Invision / AP, file)
‘Everyone is very excited. People in the industry are very happy to be working again and very happy to be doing something to help the theater industry come back, ”he said. “I’ve always wanted to get more involved in what we can do about the pandemic and what we can do to help reopen. So this was the perfect opportunity.
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Sampliner is also confident in Cuomo’s reopening schedule.
“I feel really good about coming back in September because I’m with ‘Wicked.’ I know we will be one of the first to return, which makes me excited. We have been working through this pandemic and preparing for that with marketing meetings, production meetings, theater meetings on how to come. back, “he revealed.
So far, Sampliner described how shows will start with a “rolling open” with maybe six to eight shows a week with the goal of a full schedule for the 2021 holiday season. He also anticipates audiences at 100% capacity in inside.
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“We’re putting all kinds of new systems in place, like contactless ticketing and other cleaning things and procedures, just to make sure the theater is spotless and as welcoming as possible to our audience,” he said.
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