How Broadway is going to have to want to reopen
A friend of mine recently posted on Facebook a picture of the West Village on a Saturday night. It was a long, narrow look down Christopher Street. What would in any other year be a bustling, raging party was a completely deserted, dreary wasteland, looking like something out of “I Am Legend” without the dog. There was nary a drag queen or topless NYU student in sight. As I robotically scrolled through the comments waiting for my laundry to finish drying, I had to rub my eyes and reread them since the majority looked something like this (and no, I’m not kidding):
… “Good!” … “HELL YES!!!” … “Awesome!!”…“THANK YOU”
as well as the dreaded hand clapping emoji now used as a hallmark of the virtue signalers. I thought maybe the mushrooms on my Chop’t salad that afternoon were hallucinogenic but, no, I was in fact seeing this correctly. This creepy, goosebump inducing photo not only looked like something out of the zombie apocalypse but also indicated grave economic devastation. And, from what I gathered, people seemed to be…celebrating?! Now let me be very clear. I’d like to think of myself as a sane, rational person—although I do musical theatre for a living so that pipe dream is likely crushed at this point—and I enthusiastically support any science that is going to help get us out of this mess: vaccines, masks, social distancing. And if someone were to post a picture of outdoor dining, socializing while in masks, or being responsible in any capacity towards eliminating a virus that has killed 400,000 people, believe me, I’d be the first person to hit the “Care” button. But I could not help feel the incongruity of a photo of a decimated New York City with a series of comments that seemed to revel in it. And sure, I know it was just one photo and, like all of social media, it can’t possibly represent every single person’s (or anyone’s) viewpoint, but I do believe this convoluted mentality has permeated the country and, in particular, the arts community.
The country has bizarrely carved itself into an idealogical and political divide: wanting to reopen = “bad” (and Republican), while staying closed “because it’s the right thing to do” illogically equates to “good” and a more left wing point of view. The argument of whether or not to reopen and in what capacity has taken on a far bigger, messier discourse regarding our freedom and the role government can and should play in this crisis. But even though most musical theatre creators feel comfortable talking about topics they know nothing about, I’m going to abstain from going into a diatribe on constitutional law. I understand that the divides are far blurrier and complex. Only a fool would think it’s as cut and dry as “Team A wants to stay shut and Team B wants to reopen”. But any regional theatre announcement of an upcoming season is met with hundreds, if not thousands, of comments from other artists labeling the theatre reckless, insane, and calling for it to be shut back down. If you don’t believe me, just read the most profound source of news on planet earth: the Broadwayworld message boards. We are in an existential health crisis. I would not support any theater attempting to endanger the lives of its patrons. (Would anyone?) But putting aside the health metrics for a second, you might notice what seems to be an apparent victory from the theatre community that comes with the “security” of theatre remaining shut down. Just ask ElphabaGrl38. She is thrilled Wagon Wheel Dinner Theatre can’t open “Sunset Boulevard”.
Now I can’t entirely blame anyone for being reluctant to jump right back into things. The first day back in the rehearsal room will undoubtedly be awash with more tears than the final 25 minutes of “Dear Evan Hansen” but, at the risk of sounding overly pessimistic, I worry the days after the return of theatre will be fraught with a new kind of anxiety and pain mixed in with the joy. Reopening is going to bring up all sorts of PTSD for the theatre community. This extended period of shut down has been deeply traumatizing for artists, and it’s going to take years of healing to fully allow us to embrace our art in the ways we used to. All theatrical life is going to look very different. It will be like walking into your house and seeing all of the furniture rearranged. And the basement flooded. And your attic filled floor to ceiling with Easter grass. While theatre is of course going to return, the entire business model is going to have to be reimagined but…we can do it. F*cking Nascar already figured it out for Christ’s sake!! In order to survive, Broadway is going to have to break out of the traditional proscenium spaces and open itself up to more creative and site-specific theatre. Not to mention, the unions need to start being a part of the solution. Actors Equity recently told a number of regional theatres that they had to replace their entire ventilation systems (!!) before they would allow Equity actors to work there. Umm…ok?
Isolation, shutdown, and closures are a short term solution. We’re going to have to actually want things to open again. Or at least act like we do. My Facebook friend’s photo and the subsequent comments cannot be used as a representation of every single person in the industry, but there were enough comments—mostly from artists, I checked—overjoyed to see everyone locked in their homes that I could not help but think this mentality has become the norm in certain parts of the US. We have Stockholm Syndrome, the plight of kidnapped victims who start to identify with their captors. “No, really, I love being closed!!! I feel so safe!!!” Human beings are resilient by nature, and we cannot mistake our adapting to this period for being ok with it. A friend of my mother’s recently confessed, “I’m going to stay in even AFTER I get the vaccine. I just want to be safe!!”. We cannot use the public cry for remaining shut down as a way to give ourselves societal status. The performative virtue signaling of the community cannot be our driving factor or else we are never going to be able to get our lives back.
I’m not entirely sure I can explain this phenomenon honestly, partly because I’m not a psychologist and partly because it makes no sense to me. And I suspect this will in fact be studied by medical professionals for years to come. Celebrating a photo of a vibrant neighborhood being closed down is like a friend posting a picture of themselves starting chemotherapy and you commenting: “F*CK YES!!!” We need to treat New York City like our fallen friend. The arts community can walk and chew gum at the same time: we must strive towards and be proactive about safely, responsibly, and realistically reopening, while at the same time being optimistic and open minded to the new wave of theatre that will be coming our way. Covid will be looked at as one of the darkest periods of human civilization, on par with World War II and, well, all the other pandemics that have already happened. But we are about to turn a corner, and we have to fix our attitude towards this. My friend Allison and I have a date next weekend to go out for pizza, if anyone wants to join. I’ll leave you with the timeless, theatrical adage: “If Nascar can do it, anyone can.”
Nate Patten is a Broadway music director, conductor, pianist, and writer. A world renowned theatre artist, Nate is known primarily at Applebee’s and in parts of Staten Island. Well-loved, but often simultaneously hated, Nate is the host of the popular satirical podcast, “Booked It” where he is lauded for providing scathing commentary on the state of theatre. Keep posting: you will be found out.
