Photo courtesy of Billboard
510 days after Broadway shutdown due to COVID-19, the Great White Way is lighting up its marquees again. Broadway returned officially with the preview for “Pass Over” on Wednesday, Aug. 4, and officially opened on Sunday, Aug. 22, at the August Wilson Theatre. Musicals returned to Broadway on Thursday, Sept. 2, with the reopening of “Hadestown” and the return of “Waitress,” which had previously left Broadway in January 2020.
The return of “Waitress” to Broadway provided the theater community with a touching tribute to the late Nick Cordero, who played Earl Hunterson in the original Broadway cast. Cordero died on July 5, 2020, after a long battle with COVID-19. A special pie named “Live Your Life Pie” was added on the menu board of Joe’s Diner, the set for “Waitress,” in honor of Cordero. His wife, Amanda Kloots, was present at opening night to reveal this addition to the set.
The three Disney Broadway productions, “The Lion King,” “Aladdin” and “Hamilton” will all be returning on Tuesday, Sept. 14. Other Broadway productions returning include “Wicked,” “Dear Evan Hansen,” “Jagged Little Pill,” “Moulin Rouge!” and “Chicago,” among others. New shows, many of which were in previews in March 2020, will also join in this reopening rollout. New productions include “Diana: The Musical,” “Six,” “Company,” “The Music Man” and “MJ The Musical.” Productions both new and old alike will return to Broadway slowly, with a few productions opening throughout the next few months.
Broadway will receive a warm NYC welcome with the three-day-long event “Curtain Up!” From Friday, Sept. 17, through Sunday, Sept. 19, Playbill will be partnering with The Broadway League and the Times Square Alliance to host this outdoor event celebrating the return of Broadway. The weekend festivities will include panels, sing-alongs, concerts and variety shows.
To maintain safety and follow New York State protocols, masks are required in theaters and guests must be vaccinated. Proof of vaccination is now asked for upon arrival.
With the return of Broadway also comes the return of Broadway lottery, rush tickets and the reopening of the TKTS booth in Times Square. These three avenues provide theatergoers with cheaper, last-minute tickets. After being gone for so long, the return to Broadway has been proven to be more expensive for theatergoers. While these three cheaper options are not serving to their full capacity just yet, they are slowly returning to providing the same services they did before COVID-19.
For those unable to attend a Broadway show, two stories told on Broadway will be released as films within the next few weeks. On Friday, Sept. 24, the highly criticized movie version of the musical “Dear Evan Hansen” will be released in theaters. The film features Ben Platt, who played Evan Hansen in the original Broadway cast in 2016. On Friday, Oct. 1, a recorded version of “Diana: The Musical” will be available to stream on Netflix before it returns to Broadway on Tuesday, Nov. 2.
While Broadway is slowly opening back up, it will continue facing challenges as people keep demanding both representation in theater and accountability following several accounts of abuse and sexual harassment made in recent months. Broadway’s return has been highly anticipated, but there are sure to be more changes to come that completely alter the theater landscape in an attempt to adapt after the COVID-19 shutdown.
