Broadway returns to stage, stays on screens

New York

THE coronavirus closures prompted many theatres around the US to experiment with online offerings. Now, even though theatres have reopened, a new Broadway play is planning to try streaming some performances.

Second Stage Theater, a non-profit that operates a small Broadway house, plans to sell a limited number of real-time, virtual viewings in January for the final 16 performances of Clyde's, a dramedy about a group of ex-cons working at a sandwich shop. The show, by 2-time Pulitzer winner Lynn Nottage, opened on Tuesday (Nov 23).

The decision to stream some performances, which Second Stage views as an experiment, suggests that some of the survival strategies theatres embraced during the pandemic could have a lasting effect on the art form.

"Over the 18 months when we had to pivot, and shift a lot of storytelling to Zoom, that opened up a new door of opportunity for many of us who make theatre," Nottage said. "What we're hoping is that folks who are reluctant to come out because of the virus, or for whom theatre is not accessible, will have access because of this streaming." They are not aiming for a mass audience. The streams will cost US$59, which is the same price as the least expensive ticket at the box office, so as not to undercut in-person sales. (There will also be a US$30 ticket for people aged 30 and younger, as with in-person performances.)

The virtual tickets will be limited in number - probably to around 200-300 a performance - because as part of an agreement with labour unions, the theatre will cap the number of streaming tickets sold so as not to exceed the total capacity of the theatre over the course of the play's run.

The move is significant because, even though the Metropolitan Opera has been streaming performances to cinemas for years, and a number of leading symphony orchestras have long been streaming their concerts, Broadway has been resistant to such a step - in part because of quality concerns, in part because of the cost of compensating artists, and in part because of a fear of eroding the appetite for in-person attendance.

In 2016, when BroadwayHD livestreamed a single performance of the Roundabout Theater Company's revival of She Loves Me, the event was so unusual that it was recognised by Guinness World Records; a few months later, the same company also livestreamed a performance of Roundabout's Holiday Inn.

The pandemic prompted theatres to take digital work more seriously. With their buildings closed, many off-Broadway and regional theatres, as well as some prominent theatres in Britain, embraced streaming as one way to continue connecting to audiences. There were complications both mundane (which labour unions represent theatre artists on-screen?) and existential (what is theatre, anyway?), but one upside was increased access for people unlikely to attend in-person performances because of disability, geography or finances.

For Broadway shows, there were some limited pandemic experiments with filmed performances, but not livestreaming. A Hamilton movie, using footage shot and edited in 2016, was released during the pandemic by a streaming platform, as was a filmed version of David Byrne's American Utopia. The musicals Come From Away and Diana filmed

invitation-only run-throughs during the pandemic, and those filmed performances were also released on streaming platforms.

Now, as theatres reopen, some are discussing the pros and cons as well as the feasibility of a so-called hybrid model, in which stage shows can be seen either in-person or at home. Second Stage, working with the company Assemble Stream, earlier this autumn offered its subscribers an opportunity to livestream some performances of an epistolary off-Broadway play, Letters of Suresh; encouraged by that experience, the non-profit decided to try the hybrid approach for Clyde's, which is its first post-shutdown Broadway show.

"In-person activity is our priority, but we've learned a lot from the pandemic, as far as finding other ways of engaging with audiences," said Khady Kamara, the executive director of Second Stage. There are a number of potential audiences - those still leery of public gatherings, those who live outside the New York area, those with a variety of accessibility concerns - and Nottage said she also hopes at some point that the play could be streamed in prisons.

Kamara said the theatre would livestream Clyde's, which stars Uzo Aduba and Ron Cephas Jones, in real time during performances from Jan 4-16 - it cannot be watched on demand.

Is there a risk that the project will dissuade people from coming to see the show at the theatre? "I really believe that the magic of being inside the theatre, and being so close to the stage, is not something that goes away," Kamara said. "I think that most people are still going to want to go with the in-person experience."

The performances will be captured by 5 to 7 cameras mounted by Assemble Stream inside the Helen Hayes Theater; the footage will be edited, remotely, in real time, as with a live television broadcast, said Katie McKenna, the company's vice-president of marketing and business development.

Kamara and McKenna said the theatre would not need to remove any seats to accommodate the cameras, and that the cameras would not obstruct any patron's sightlines; the cameras will be operated remotely. "Our goal is to be as non-disruptive as possible," McKenna said.

Neither party would detail the financing arrangement, but Kamara said, "To begin with, we're not looking at this as a revenue stream as much as we're looking at it as an additional avenue for us to provide access to the work that we put on our stages."

And will Second Stage seek to stream other Broadway shows in the future? Kamara described the Clyde's streaming as a pilot project. "We are learning, and will continue to learn, and we'll see what the future holds," she said. "Certainly, if there is a market for it, hopefully we're able to continue to offer it." NYTIMES