How Broadway is responding to omicron

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Avery Sell, Jake Ryan Flynn, Analise Scarpaci, Jenn Gambatese, and Rob McClure in “Mrs. Doubtfire”

Broadway

Broadway in the Age of Omicron

Two producers and an actor on what it’s really been like

By Diep Tran

OMICRON HAS SENT

Broadway into a tailspin. Earlier this winter, every day saw news of productions closing temporarily or permanently. “The Music Man” starring Hugh Jackman paused performances after its leading man tested positive for COVID-19, and “Mrs. Doubtfire” announced it was shuttering for nine weeks. Other shows, meanwhile, closed permanently.

But it doesn’t mean Broadway is going to shut down again. “No one’s going anywhere,” said Hunter Arnold, lead producer of “Hadestown” and an investor in “Dear Evan Hansen” and “Moulin Rouge!”

“The safety protocols that are put in place here are absolutely top-of-the-line,” said actor Tony LePage, a swing in “Come From Away” on Broadway. According to him, a private company provided vaccine boosters and ongoing daily PCR testing for the cast and crew.

Broadway has required all cast and crew to be fully vaccinated, and many shows are doing a minimum weekly PCR test, with some productions testing daily. Anyone who is not performing onstage is required to be masked. Audiences are also required to be masked and vaccinated. If Broadway performers do test positive, they are placed on paid sick leave and do not return to work until they test negative.

Historically, Christmas week is the most lucrative time of year for Broadway. But during the 2021 holiday, of the 32 shows running on Broadway, 10 canceled performances, citing COVID-19 outbreaks among actors and crew members. According to reports from the Broadway League, Broadway grosses fell by 26%.

But many long-running musicals have reserve funds from their pre-pandemic profits and federal grants, giving them enough leeway to shutter for a few performances.

Not every production is so lucky. A number of shows have closed, including “Thoughts of a Colored Man,” “Waitress,” “Chicken & Biscuits,” and “Jagged Little Pill.”

“Mrs. Doubtfire” announced that it will take a nine-week pause, laying off 115 members of its cast and crew in the interim. Both “To Kill a Mockingbird” and “Girl From the North Country,” meanwhile, have announced closings, with hopes to reopen in the spring.

“Thoughts of a Colored Man” was scheduled for a limited run through March 13. The show was close to recouping its $5 million investment when omicron hit. “We were doing very well. And that virus came in, and it just ravaged our cast,” said producer Brian Moreland of the seven-person show.

Moreland admits that if he knew that omicron was coming, he would have hired more understudies. The last two years have made understudies and swings more necessary than ever. “I would probably have seven men onstage performing and seven men backstage in the wings,” he said Moreland. “It is a crazy moment.”

Despite this development, he believes that there won’t be many more coronavirus-induced closures in the future. “It looks like we might have gotten through the worst of it,” he said. “And I think that people are able to prepare for it now. You see that it’s coming, and you’re able to make adjustments to your casts.”

3

MALE LEAD ACTOR BENEDICT CUMBERBATCH

MALE SUPPORTING ACTOR KODI SMIT-MCPHEE

FEMALE SUPPORTING ACTOR KIRSTEN DUNST

© 1995 SAG-AFTRA BEST PICTURE CRITICS CHOICE AWARD NOMINATIONS INCLUDING10BEST ACTING ENSEMBLE

“KODI SMIT-MCPHEE TURNS IN THE KIND OF WORK THAT MAKES YOU REWIND THE MOVIE IN YOUR MIND TO TRACK THE WAY HE SHAPED THE ARC OF HIS CHARACTER.”

WINNER • BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR KODI SMIT-MCPHEE

BLACK FILM CRITICS CIRCLE • BOSTON ONLINE FILM CRITICS ASSOCIATION CHICAGO FILM CRITICS ASSOCIATION • COLUMBUS FILM CRITICS ASSOCIATION DALLAS-FORT WORTH FILM CRITICS ASSOCIATION • FLORIDA FILM CRITICS CIRCLE LOS ANGELES FILM CRITICS ASSOCIATION • NEW YORK FILM CRITICS CIRCLE NEW YORK FILM CRITICS ONLINE • NORTH CAROLINA FILM CRITICS ASSOCIATION ONLINE ASSOCIATION OF FEMALE FILM CRITICS • PHILADELPHIA FILM CRITICS CIRCLE SAN FRANCISCO BAY AREA FILM CRITICS CIRCLE • SOUTHEASTERN FILM CRITICS ASSOCIATION ST. LOUIS FILM CRITICS ASSOCIATION • UTAH FILM CRITICS ASSOCIATION WASHINGTON DC AREA FILM CRITICS ASSOCIATION

“★★★★★. A TRIUMPH.

BENEDICT CUMBERBATCH IS MESMERIZING. Best of all, he allows glimpses of vulnerability beneath the rage that have massive implications for the film’s final act.”

WINNER • BEST ACTOR - BENEDICT CUMBERBATCH

ATLANTA FILM CRITICS CIRCLE • BOSTON ONLINE FILM CRITICS ASSOCIATION CHICAGO FILM CRITICS ASSOCIATION • COLUMBUS FILM CRITICS ASSOCIATION DALLAS-FORT WORTH FILM CRITICS ASSOCIATION • NEVADA FILM CRITICS SOCIETY NEW YORK FILM CRITICS CIRCLE • NEW YORK FILM CRITICS ONLINE NORTH CAROLINA FILM CRITICS ASSOCIATION • PHILADELPHIA FILM CRITICS CIRCLE PHOENIX CRITICS CIRCLE • PHOENIX FILM CRITICS SOCIETY PORTLAND CRITICS ASSOCIATION • SAN FRANCISCO BAY AREA FILM CRITICS CIRCLE SOUTHEASTERN FILM CRITICS ASSOCIATION

“MUCH MORE SHOULD BE SAID ABOUT HOW DELICATELY AND BEAUTIFULLY KIRSTEN DUNST HOLDS THE MOVIE’S MORAL CENTER with a gutting performance that shows you how brutally optimism can both die and be reborn.”

WINNER • BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS - KIRSTEN DUNST

ATLANTA FILM CRITICS CIRCLE • BOSTON ONLINE FILM CRITICS ASSOCIATION PHOENIX CRITICS CIRCLE • SAN FRANCISCO BAY AREA FILM CRITICS CIRCLE SOUTHEASTERN FILM CRITICS ASSOCIATION

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