Can Broadway Boom Again After COVID-19?

Actors, directors, and stagehands come together to keep the heart of the city alive while awaiting a physical return to the Broadway stage.

[chimes ring][Big Band style drum riff]- Sometime in January, I saw some experttalk about Broadway shutting downand I remember thinking, oh my Godthat's not going to happen.It was unimaginable that NewYork would not have theater.Would not have shows on Broadwayand crowds in Times Square everyday.- The NBA announced thatthey were shutting downand I was like, okay, ifthe NBA is shutting down,we're athletes, we're performingfor thousands of people,we should be shutting down too.- One of the usherstested positive for COVID.- The set had just beenput out on the stageand of course the crew, asusual, were the first onesto get the news and I heardoh, Broadway shut down.- [Lithgow] And now we find ourselvessort of living with a new reality.- Broadway's like at the epicenterof New York energy and creativity.- That's what brings the most touriststo New York City isBroadway, Broadway showsand that affects the restaurants,that affects the hotels.That affects the MTA.- Shortly after Broadway shut down,we heard of the death of Terrence McNally,one of the first famouspeople to die of this virus,and the first thing Ithought was, oh my God,the lights of Broadway won'tdim for Terrence McNallybecause they're already out.- Three months ago,everybody I knew was working.Everybody had a job.Now suddenly, nobody has a job.- We're getting by unemployment.- I'm currently going tomove out of my apartment.- We actors are in a lot of trouble.Of course it's happeningto a third of the country and climbing.- This tragedy helps us toappreciate people who weremarginalized, workers that we now realizeare the most important people,the people that are keeping us alive.- Broadway Feeds Bellevueis this cool thingthat a group of friends started.It's a fundraiser that is raising moneyto feed the evening shiftat the ICU at Bellevue.- The creative community hasstepped up significantly.- Rosie O'Donnell bringing her show backon one night and raisingmore than $600,000.♪ You're simply the best ♪[singer claps]♪ Better than all the rest ♪[Orchestra warming up][Piano music begins]- What artists do best is we collaborate.We come up with greatideas that are creativeand then we find ways to work togetherto make things happen.It's what puts on a Broadway show,it's a collaborationof all of these peoplewith disparate talentsfrom disparate worlds,different parties, different races,all getting togetherfor one single purpose,one single cause andsomething miraculous happens.Look what we can do human beingswhen we decide to worktogether and collaborate.- The benefit that people aremost talking about recentlywas for Artists Striving to End Poverty,an online celebration of StevenSondheim's 90th birthday.♪ I'd like to propose a toast.

♪Raul Esparza called me andasked if I would do it,I've always wanted tosing Ladies Who Lunch.♪ Here's to the ladies who lunch ♪♪ Everybody laugh ♪A lightbulb went off and I thought,what if Meryl and Audraand I all share the song,but it wasn't going to bea polished performance.It would be you know,as though we're sittingin the middle of the day in our bathrobesgetting a little drunk.♪ Another reason not to move ♪♪ Another vodka stinger ♪We thought this will either workand be very funny orit'll end our careers.♪ Everybody rise ♪♪ Rise ♪I'll drink to that.- I contracted COVID, but I got through itand I was like most of New York City,going to their window at 7:00 every nightand cheering on all the essential workers,the EMS people, the doctors, the nurses.One day I realized, oh Ican take a big breath againand I'm not coughing anymore and so I justspontaneously startedsinging after everybody,the applause wore down outside.♪ This is my quest ♪♪ To follow that star ♪♪ No matter how hopeless ♪♪ No matter how far ♪The song is about trying and that's whatwe're all in the middle of right now,particularly all those essential workerswho are literally on the front lines.This was just going to be a one-offand then the next day, I came back againand I noticed, ohthere's a crowd of peoplegathering on the streetand then the crowd gotbigger and bigger and bigger.[Brian Stokes Mitchell vocalizes][Crowd applauds]- Well for the moment,Broadway is changed beyond recognition,but you know, when I firstappeared on Broadway in 1973,Broadway was half dead andwithin three or four years,my first years on Broadway,it came roaring back.It's the essence of live theaterthat it is alive, it never dies.- Once it is possible tobegin bringing audiences back,it may also be the casethat we have to think aboutlowering ticket prices and maybewe will have a younger audienceand maybe we will havea more diverse audience.Out of all this tragedy, there might besome silver linings for Broadway.- This is a really, really,really great opportunityfor Broadway to be reborn.♪ So day after day ♪♪ I stay locked up in my room ♪♪ And I know it might sound strange ♪♪ But I wish it would rain ♪♪ Oh how I wish that it would rain ♪♪ Ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh ♪- Once we get back to Broadway,I feel like it's kind of crazy'cause I'm like, my body islike, I'm like kind of likegetting chills just thinking about itbecause I know it'sgoing to be so powerful.♪ I will return here ♪- I'm looking forwardto being reconnected.I'm looking forward to hugs.I'm looking forward to randomtheater backstage shenanigans.- What I look forward tomost when Broadway comes backis us sitting in a seat withstrangers right next to meand watching and experiencing togetherwhatever it is that'shappening on the stage.The theater is not somethingyou can watch again latermaybe if you don't havetime to watch it nowor put it on pause.That's not what it is, it'shappening in real time,it's one long cut, one long takethat goes from the beginning to the endand that's what makes it so magicaland that's why it's going to be so joyouswhen we all can sit on the seat togetherand return to the theater and man,I'll be the first one there.[light string music plays][darker piano music begins]