For a week now, theaters and performance halls can finally reopen in New York. Still, it will still take a little while for the big Broadway shows to reopen. In New York, the report by Laurent Valière.
Suddenly, applause resonates in a New York theater. A first in a year. It was last weekend at the St. James Theater. In the room, the sanitary rules are strict. Only two artists on stage, the tap and dancer Savion Glover and the actor Nathan Lane. 150 masked spectators, mostly Broadway workers, in this theater which can accommodate 10 times more. A 30-minute session as part of stealthy events that have punctuated the city for 1 month. A desire of the governor of the state of New York to restart this industry.
It must be said that culture in New York is 90,000 jobs, two thirds of which disappeared a year ago. Zohar Schondorf was a musician in the orchestra of West Side Story on Broadway. He changed jobs, put his instrument away. He thinks it will take a year for Broadway to resume its usual rhythm. ” I think things will change “, He affirms,” our contracts for Broadway will be different. We could have a pay cut. Before the pandemic, we had 8 guaranteed shows per week, I don’t think that will be the case. I think there will be fewer performances per week for a while. ” He adds, ” the restart will be slow, it will be very gradual, it could take a year. Like a baby walking, Broadway will pick up slowly, maybe show by show ».
“You can’t social distance on Broadway”
For the first time, Broadway, this private capitalist theater that generates $ 14 billion in revenue per year for New York City, will be supported by federal aid, aid included in the $ 1.9 billion stimulus package. voted by the US Congress. Because the reopening of theaters on Friday is not suitable for these Broadway theaters. Since last Friday, the rooms can reopen with a gauge of 33% and a maximum of 150 people. Untenable for Charlotte saint martin, the president of the Broadway League which brings together all the producers.
« You can’t social distance on Broadway. We can’t open with only one seat in two “, Advance Charlotte Saint Martin. ” The average cost of a musical today is $ 12-15 million. Add the weekly cost: $ 1 to $ 1.2 million. And there are only 1,500 seats in a theater or 1,800 seats that you have to sell to pay for those weekly costs. We must therefore fill the rooms at 75 or 85% to be able to meet our costs ».
“We are in a droplet industry”
We must also allow time for American tourists who fill the rooms 65% and 19% foreign tourists to come back to fill the rooms. It might take a while. Kevin McCollum is one of Broadway’s most prolific producers. He was to open two musicals in 2020. For him, the only solution is vaccination and tests at the entrance to theaters.
« We could say: oh, we’re going to put some distance between the spectators. But the spectators, they get up. They mingle. We are in a droplet industry. And the proximity of the actors is even greater than that of the spectators: you have to see the backstage, the rapid changes of costume, and then on stage, they dance, sweat close to each other, so you can’t socialize. “Kevin McCollum adds,” one cannot believe that social distancing would be effective. I think it all depends on how quickly the vaccination can take place, also with a mechanism in the theater that allows a rapid test to be carried out if ever you are not vaccinated. ».
Vaccination is very rapid in New York and the governor of New York has just requested the vaccination of staff on Broadway as a priority. He has also just created a health passport which is now used to access Madison Square Garden. A PCR test of less than 72 hours may also be shown. A first step for a reopening that the mayor of New York is hoping for in September.