While Broadway shows opening the curtains may remain on the horizon, their venues will soon offer signs of hope – and signs of life – amid the continued shutdown of the coronavirus.
Selected Broadway venues (starting with the Music Box Theater, home to Dear Evan Hansen) will welcome the public starting in April as part of the NY PopsUp program in the state of New York, which will (mainly) offer free pop-up presentations to the public during Labor Day. No word yet on the exact schedule; the degree to which performance details will be released in advance will vary, due to security measures and the improvised nature of the initiative.
Tony winner Gavin Creel and Broadway veteran Shoshana Bean were among the first artists to perform as part of the PopsUp series, singing in a Lower East Side store on February 27. Other aligned artists include Renée Fleming, Hugh Jackman, Billy Porter, Sutton Foster, Idina Menzel, Kelli O’Hara, Danielle Brooks, Matthew Broderick and Sarah Jessica Parker and Rhiannon Giddens.
St. Ann’s Warehouse
David Sundberg / Esto via StAnnsWarehouse.org
In addition, many performance venues around New York City and the state that qualify as “Flex Venues” may reopen on April 2. These spaces, which allow for socially distant seating configurations, include New York City’s Park Avenue Armory, St Ann’s Warehouse, The Shed, Harlem Stage, The Apollo, La MaMa and National Black Theater. Offers range from original programming to more PopsUp performances, with additional announcements to follow.
With the launch of these Flex Venue guidelines, the spaces for presentations will be able to exceed the limit of social gathering of 50 people, up to 150 clients or 33% of maximum occupancy, as long as the participants receive a negative diagnostic test before the event. (Otherwise, capacity will be limited to 100).
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Through the initiative, the New York State Department of Health will work with theater operators to effectively create a pilot reopening program, implementing health protocols and safety procedures that will allow venues to gradually increase the size of capacity, leading to a full audience on Broadway and beyond again. The steps may reflect the efforts that are currently taking place in Australia, such as contact tracking, staggered entry and exit times and mandatory facial coverage.
Currently, Broadway productions are expected to remain in the dark until May 30, although industry insiders are looking at an autumn date as a more viable timeline.
The Empire State PopsUp program is led by Scott Rudin and Jane Rosenthal, whose involvement means two of the culminating events of the initiative: the opening of Little Island at Pier 55 and the 20th annual Tribeca Film Festival.