EXCLUSIVE: No one put more money into the highly anticipated Broadway revival of Company than the insurance giant Chubb.
The Ladies Who Lunch LLC, which transferred the Stephen Sondheim and George Furth musical from the West End only to suspend it during previews because of Covid-19, received $8.85 million from Chubb, according to an email that lead producer Chris Harper sent to investors. Continue Reading
Broadway seeks givebacks from the industry’s unions before performances resume, the head of the trade group that represents commercial producers and theater owners told an online industry conference Monday.
“There have been general conversations [with unions] about what the contracts might look like, what might be changed,” Broadway League President Charlotte St. Martin said during the final day of The TheaterMakers Summit. “We’ll have to get to the changes, if any, toward wages and work rules and all of that to get open, because the producers will have to figure out if they can reopen. If you reopen at 50 percent of your previous attendance, nobody even comes close to recouping at 50 percent of the theater being open. So we’ll have to talk about things.”Continue Reading
Speaking at an industry video conference Saturday, Broadway League Chairman Thomas Schumacher said that restarting Broadway after the worst of the Covid-19 pandemic will be gradual and dependent on tourism rebounding.
“Without those tourists, it’s going to be a challenge for us to hit both the capacity targets and the average ticket price that people want to hit,” Schumacher, president of Disney Theatrical and head of the Broadway trade association, said at producer Ken Davenport’s TheaterMakers Summit. “To imagine that the faucet just turns on isn’t a healthy way to approach it. It’s going to take some building.”Continue Reading
A Covid-19 vaccine was said to be highly effective in a large trial, heightening the possibility that Broadway can restart next year.
Jagged Little Pill, a musical about teenage and parental angst based on Alanis Morissette’s bestselling 1995 album, was nominated for 15 Tony awards, the most of any show last season. Moulin Rouge!, a lavish musical about a star-crossed romance undone by fatal illness, received 14 nominations.Continue Reading
The Broadway League extended the industry’s shutdown through May 30, 2021, bringing theater’s devastating closure to at least 14 months.
EXCLUSIVE: Amidst Broadway’s endless intermission, Broadway League President Charlotte St. Martin has a message for the trade association’s members: Pay your dues.Continue Reading
The Tony Awards, postponed from June because of the Covid-19 pandemic, will be produced virtually on an unspecified date this year.Continue Reading
The Broadway League said theaters are offering refunds through Jan. 3, 2021, as the industry officially canceled performances for the rest of the year due to the coronavirus pandemic. Continue Reading
EXCLUSIVE: The coronavirus epidemic must be “under control” and testing be frequent and accurate before it’s safe for actors and stage managers to return to work, the executive director of Actors’ Equity Association, Mary McColl, wrote to members today. Continue Reading
