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
‘HAMILTON’-ENDOWED PUBLIC THEATER DELAYS FURLOUGHS WITH $4 MILLION OF U.S. AID
EXCLUSIVE: The Public Theater, which has earned tens of millions of dollars launching Hamilton, received federal assistance meant to preserve jobs threatened by the pandemic.
The Public borrowed roughly $4 million through the Paycheck Protection Program, according to Shareeza Bhola, a spokeswoman for the nonprofit. The loans, which are overseen by the Treasury Department and Small Business Administration, may be forgiven when borrowers spend at least 75 percent of the money on payroll over eight weeks.Continue Reading
MICHAEL JACKSON MUSICAL POSTPONED TO 2021
In another sign that Broadway doesn’t see a quick return of theater amid the coronavirus pandemic, the producers of a musical about Michael Jackson postponed performances until next year.Continue Reading
BROADWAY SHUTDOWN WILL LAST THROUGH LABOR DAY; ‘PLAZA SUITE’ BOOKS MARCH 2021
Broadway has given up predicting when it will be back.
With no indication about when it will be safe to produce theater in New York or when audiences will feel comfortable returning, the Broadway League, the trade association of theater owners and producers, made its shutdown open-ended, announcing Tuesday that its 41 theaters will be dark through at least Sept. 6.Continue Reading
N.Y. DRAMA CRITICS’ CIRCLE TOUTS ‘STRANGE LOOP,’ ‘HEROES OF FOURTH TURNING’ IN PLAYWRIGHTS HORIZONS AWARDS SWEEP
As nonprofit theater companies struggle through an open-ended shutdown, Playwrights Horizons got a double shot of validation from the New York Drama Critics’ Circle.Continue Reading
WITH EARLY CURTAIN, BROADWAY HAS LOWEST BOX OFFICE TALLY IN FOUR YEARS
Is the Broadway season over? If so, statistically, 2019-20 was both disastrous and illustrative of the industry’s resilience.
BROADWAY LEAGUE EXTENDS SHUTDOWN THROUGH JUNE 7
The Broadway League extended its shutdown through June 7, the original date of the Tony Awards, guaranteeing that Broadway will be closed at least three months due to the coronavirus pandemic.
A BROADWAY MAVERICK CONTEMPLATES A POST-COVID FUTURE: INTERVIEW
Producing theater is quixotic in the best of circumstances. Weathering the industry’s longest-ever shutdown, which has halted shows and cut off incomes, makes the endeavor that much more daunting.
“Cameron Mackintosh has said, ‘theater has always survived on mavericks who go their own way,’ and we need more of them out there,” producer Ken Davenport said in a Zoom interview earlier this week from his Upper West Side apartment.
BROADWAY LEAGUE CREATES FINANCIAL RELIEF INFO SITES
BREAKING: The Broadway League today introduced websites with information about city, state, federal and philanthropic relief packages for employees and employers battered by the covid-19 crisis.
The site for employees is here. The site for employers, here.
League President Charlotte St. Martin alerted members of the trade association to the sites in an email obtained by Broadway Journal.
LINCOLN CENTER THEATER CANCELS SUMMER SEASON (EXCLUSIVE)
With no way of knowing when New York’s cultural life will resume, Lincoln Center Theater has suspended production of its summer shows.
