#Broadway insider reveals COVID-19 protocols for actors
“#Broadway insider reveals COVID-19 protocols for actors”
As mad King George warbles in “Hamilton” — “You’ll be back.”
And the time has finally come. Yes, after more than a year, Broadway is “Opening Up” — just like in “Waitress” — but we’ll all be masking up to watch our favorite shows.
But its return means so much more than the chance to watch some soft-shoe with overpriced warm wine and snacks.
For three-time Tony Award-winning producer Bonnie Comley, who was appointed president of the Drama League’s board of directors in June, it was heartbreaking to watch the doors shut on Broadway’s 41 theaters amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
“With artists, there is a longing, there is a sense of community,” Comley, 55, exclusively told The Post. “It’s an ambiguous loss. It’s missing something that has no finality to it.”
Broadway is an economic juggernaut. During the 2018-19 season, 14 million tickets were sold, and it contributed $14.7 billion to New York City’s economy. Its closure left not just the performers out of work, but also the behind-the-scenes workers, from musicians to front of house and backstage staff.
“People in the live-entertainment industry didn’t know how much longer they were going to be out of work,” Comley explained. “For the 25 people you see onstage, you don’t see the 20 people in the pit and another 50 or 75 in the theater that are supporting the show. And there was a layer of despair and depression. Everyone is much more hopeful now. We know so much more about this virus and how it operates than we did a year and a half ago.”
The producers of “Harry Potter and the Cursed Child” have also announced its return as one show instead of two separate parts in a COVID-safe adjustment.
Performers and backstage crew will also have to be fully vaccinated. If they have a problem with this, “they just won’t work,” Comley warned.
Ticket holders will also have to wear masks during performances and be vaccinated before they take a seat. These rules will be in place until at least the end of October.
“Then we’re going to take a look and see where we’re at,” said Comley. “These policies are really in alignment with stores, schools and business in NYC.”
Comley, also the owner and founder of BroadwayHD, a streaming platform of live productions — a big plus during COVID — explained the league is trying to get 100,000 people back to work within the next year.
Another big issue is the dearth of tourists due to the pandemic, as non-New Yorkers make up about 60 percent of audiences (15-25 percent are international). “We need these tourists back,” said Comley, who with her tech savvy is trying to modernize the industry.
During the break, many performers and crew had financial aid from the league as well as the Actors Fund and the Drama League.
The most important thing now, Comley said, is that ticket holders understand their “safety is the priority. People working in the theater and the 41 theater owners and unions have come to a place of solidarity, which is a huge accomplishment and shouldn’t be taken lightly.”
“Hamilton,” “The Lion King” and “Wicked” — known in inner circles as Broadway’s Big 3 — are expected to reopen in mid-September.
As for Comley, “Six: The Musical,” a modern retelling of the lives of the six wives of Henry VIII presented as a pop concert, will mark her return to a Broadway audience when the show opens officially in October.
“I’m going to dress up,” she promised, “and put my crown on and celebrate.”
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