Free Republic
Browse · Search
General/Chat
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

Bye-bye Broadway: A grim prognosis for New York’s theaters - I see Broadway theater having the same chance in New York City as a statue of Robert E. Lee
American Thinker ^ | 05/18/2021 | Alexander Nussbaum

Posted on 05/18/2021 7:39:52 AM PDT by SeekAndFind

New York City Broadway theaters closed on March 12, 2020. The closure was supposed to be for just one month. Fourteen months later, the theaters are still closed. But now Governor Cuomo has announced New York’s theaters are cleared for reopening, starting September 14. No less than 23 plays are scheduled to open between September and November.

Theaters will be allowed to open at “full capacity,” but with “social distancing,” with “capacity limitations are only governed by the ability of people to socially distance by six feet.” Maybe this makes sense to someone who is “woke,” but it does not make sense to me.

Theater seats are not exactly six feet apart. In fact, a problem with Broadway’s theaters when they were open was that, when most of the theaters were built, only a tiny percent of the population was over 6 feet tall or over 250 pounds.

Broadway’s 41 theaters range in capacity from 600 to just under 2,000, but more than 30 seat more than 1,000. A play has to be at close to 100% audience capacity to be economically viable. Taking out seats would require drastically raising already pre-Wuhan Virus sky high prices. Cuomo has hinted all theater patrons will require proof of vaccination.

I keep hearing how resilient New York City is and that it will be back. But I think New York City is finished forever as a “world” capital; it is Karachi, Pakistan now – the biggest city and commercial, not political, capital of a populous nation.

I’ll believe the Broadway theater will be back and viable when I see it happen.

(Excerpt) Read more at americanthinker.com ...


TOPICS: Music/Entertainment; Society; TV/Movies
KEYWORDS: broadway; nyc; theater
Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-2021-4041-6061-67 next last
To: Oshkalaboomboom

Even better. Let’s go downtown, catch a show and pay for the privilege of getting a lecture from woke actors before we get beaten and robbed.

Great response, you left out being called Racists by the actors/actresses, we/you paid to tell us that.


41 posted on 05/18/2021 8:29:53 AM PDT by Grampa Dave (Don’t mask! Don’t tell! by GranTorino!!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 9 | View Replies]

To: Oshkalaboomboom

Even better. Let’s go downtown, catch a show and pay for the privilege of getting a lecture from woke actors before we get beaten and robbed.

Great response!

You left out the great honor of being called Racists by the actors/actresses, being paid by us, to call us Racists.


42 posted on 05/18/2021 8:35:26 AM PDT by Grampa Dave (Don’t mask! Don’t tell! by GranTorino!!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 9 | View Replies]

To: jersey117
They can forget about tourism.

Do you know what the split is on Broadway between tourists and actual New Yorkers (including metro area folks from the wilds of New Jersey and Connecticut) who might attend multiple performances? I've always assumed the ridiculously expensive ticket prices were sustainable in large part because tourists were being gouged for a rare -- maybe once or twice in a lifetime -- special New York experience. Joe from Dubuque might shell out the big bucks to take his family to a show because he might never be back, and almost certainly will never be back when his kids are young. Joe from Queens has a different calculation.

43 posted on 05/18/2021 9:02:27 AM PDT by sphinx
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 17 | View Replies]

To: dfwgator

First thing I thought of


44 posted on 05/18/2021 9:03:11 AM PDT by freedomlover
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 8 | View Replies]

To: brownsfan

Someone’s Ox is gonna get Gored.


45 posted on 05/18/2021 9:04:49 AM PDT by rlmorel (Leftists are The Droplet of Sewage in a gallon of ultra-pure clean water.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 2 | View Replies]

To: freedomlover

Mr. Liberty DeVitto on the drums, what a great live album that is.


46 posted on 05/18/2021 9:04:55 AM PDT by dfwgator (Endut! Hoch Hech!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 44 | View Replies]

To: Oshkalaboomboom

LOL, no kidding.


47 posted on 05/18/2021 9:05:22 AM PDT by rlmorel (Leftists are The Droplet of Sewage in a gallon of ultra-pure clean water.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 9 | View Replies]

To: Allegra

Yep. See my tagline...


48 posted on 05/18/2021 9:07:00 AM PDT by rlmorel (Leftists are The Droplet of Sewage in a gallon of ultra-pure clean water.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 32 | View Replies]

To: T.B. Yoits
The only way theaters have a chance -- and outside chance, at that -- to recover is if all -- and I do mean all -- Chinese Cooties restrictions are lifted. All restrictions. And in a Democrat/Left/communist-run enclave like NYC that is just not going to happen in the foreseeable future.
49 posted on 05/18/2021 9:08:20 AM PDT by glennaro ("Until it's safe" means "never" (Dennis Prager))
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 5 | View Replies]

To: SeekAndFind

may these sodomites and their theatres of virtue signaling fail.


50 posted on 05/18/2021 9:10:00 AM PDT by Levy78
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Rurudyne
Oh noes! Out of work actors!

Maybe they can get jobs working on the pipelines.Oh, wait!

51 posted on 05/18/2021 9:13:06 AM PDT by N. Theknow (Kennedys-Can't drive, can't ski, can't fly, can't skipper a boat-But they know what's best for you.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 12 | View Replies]

To: SeekAndFind

Who cares? If you do attend a NYC show you’ll be rubbing elbows with liberals and other undesirables!


52 posted on 05/18/2021 9:13:38 AM PDT by JimRed (TERM LIMITS, NOW! Militia to the border! TRUTH is the new HATE SPEECH.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: brownsfan

Broadway theater is a snob hobby.


53 posted on 05/18/2021 9:14:42 AM PDT by pfflier
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 2 | View Replies]

To: SeekAndFind

many of these same factors apply to movie theaters as well ... add to those applicable ones the fact that people have managed to find other entertainment to replace attending movies, so enough folks may not return to the movie theaters to keep theater chains out of bankruptcy ...

that would mean that hollywood productions (such as they are) will be severely devalued when distributed via streaming as an alternative to theaters, which means the whole hollywood financial structure, including big bucks for “stars”, will be severely diminished in much the same way as internet advertising is killing newspapers, namely digital distribution vs. physical distribution ...

hopefully, this will diminish the influence of entertainment “celebrities” as well ...


54 posted on 05/18/2021 9:29:08 AM PDT by catnipman (Cat Nipman: Vote Republican in 2012 and only be called racist one more time!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: PGR88
in 2019, Broadway was about extracting maximum tourist money with crappy and simplistic remakes of cartoons and distorting old stories and archetypes for political reasons.

True. Broadway theater was pretty much finished well before the C19 nonsense. There hadn’t been a good new show in a couple of decades. They relied on turning movies like “Dirty Dancing” “Aladdin” and “The Lion King” into stage shows, doing musicals based on rock bands such as “We Will Rock You” and reviving the classics. Nothing really innovative in a while.

“Hamilton” might have had a shot at being good, but they destroyed it with woke crap and having the cast lecture people. I never saw it and never intend to.

55 posted on 05/18/2021 9:35:55 AM PDT by Allegra
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 28 | View Replies]

To: SeekAndFind

Biden and Congress will send them truckloads of (our) money. They won’t need audiences.


56 posted on 05/18/2021 9:47:16 AM PDT by Hiddigeigei ("Talk sense to a fool and he calls you foolish," said Dionysus - Euripides)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: SeekAndFind

Hopefully Hollywood meets the same fate.


57 posted on 05/18/2021 10:03:36 AM PDT by aquila48 (o not let them make you care! Guilting you is how they control you. )
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Allegra

I am like you. Grew up in New York and saw the best of Broadway. Everything the left touches turns to crap.


58 posted on 05/18/2021 10:23:10 AM PDT by Hildy (In an unforgiving world, only the shameless survive.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 32 | View Replies]

To: Hildy

Ditto


59 posted on 05/18/2021 10:46:35 AM PDT by razorback-bert (This year shall be known as PANIC of 20.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 58 | View Replies]

To: dfwgator

Shattered!

(Curiously, I’m on a Rolling Stones kick lately in real life. LOL!)


60 posted on 05/18/2021 10:54:18 AM PDT by Lazamataz (I feel like it is 1937 Germany, and my last name is Feinberg.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 37 | View Replies]


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-2021-4041-6061-67 next last

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
General/Chat
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson