Consider This from NPR - To The Stage: After A Year Away, Broadway Is Back

Episode Date: September 17, 2021

After a year away, Broadway's lights are back on. Some of the biggest productions have returned for vaccinated and masked audiences. From "Wicked" to "Chicago" to "Hamilton," theaters in New York are open at 100 percent capacity.Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

Support for NPR comes from NPR member stations and Eric and Wendy Schmidt through the Schmidt Family Foundation, working toward a healthy, resilient, secure world for all. On the web at theschmidt.org. Broadway's lights dimmed in that first march of the pandemic. 2020 was a hell of a year. I lost my job. I had to move. I had to downsize. I had a bad breakup. Crystal Joy Brown. She had been playing the role of Eliza in Hamilton. I'm burning the memories, burning the letters that might have retained you. It has been an agonizing waiting game for actors like her, not knowing when they can return to the stage, not knowing how that'll work as the coronavirus remains a threat. So I guess the thing that concerns me the most is that it doesn't seem like anyone has real answers.

The level of stress and anxiety and having zero control. You know, sometimes you think, well, if I just take an acting class or if I get better headshots or if I get better representation, I can work. But this is a... Brown says that, yes, actors are used to the unexpected, having a job, not having a job. But the pandemic has introduced a different level of uncertainty. A couple weeks ago, I had kind of a tough day. So I called my friend, Karen Strader, to talk about it. Hello, my dear. How are you?

Yeah, I just had this really weird moment. All the news today, masks are coming back. We need to wear masks again. And I don't know, it got me really emotional today. I just don't feel safe anymore. And it's just like, how are we going to do this? I just like started crying, you know, everything you're bringing up are valid concerns. It has disrupted your life. I know you were able to hustle your way through it, but it's just the

hustle. It's like, it's hard constantly like hustling and pivoting and hoping that like things come through. Yeah, I know. I know. Oh my god, I'm such a mess right now. Well, things are finally looking up for Brown and her fellow Broadway actors. Thank you for getting vaccinated and wearing a mask. Thank you. This week, theaters in New York opened at 100% capacity for big productions like Wicked, The Lion King, and Hamilton. Here's playwright Lin-Manuel Miranda at opening night this week. I don't ever want to take live theater for granted ever again. And standing outside of the Richard Rogers Theatre,

here's theatre director Thomas Kael. Well, when you stand on 46th Street, where we are right now, and look and see the businesses that have been struggling or the businesses that are gone, I think it's just a reminder of how fragile the ecosystem is. But as other people have said before, the obituary for New York City has been written many times,

and it always comes back. Consider this. Broadway's lights are back on, but things are a little different now. Coming up, we'll hear from some of the actors and backstage workers who have been waiting in the wings. From NPR, I'm Mary Louise Kelly. It is Friday, September 17th. This message comes from WISE, the app for doing things in other currencies. Send, spend, or receive money internationally

and always get the real-time mid-market exchange rate with no hidden fees. Download the WISE app today or visit WISE.com. T's and C's apply. Support for NPR and the following message come from Carnegie Corporation of New York, working to reduce political polarization through philanthropic support for education, democracy, and peace. More information at carnegie.org.

It's Consider This from NPR. Before the curtains rose this week, before actors stepped back onto stage, there were a lot of questions about how all this was going to work in the middle of a pandemic. Usually what happened before the pandemic hit was that for dancers, we had lots and lots of people crammed into one tiny little room. Risa Tokahashi was in Mean Girls on Broadway as an ensemble member. My name is Karen. My hair is shiny. My teeth are perfect.

My skirt is tiny. Tokahashi had to start all over again when Mean Girls shut down. Her first in-person audition this year was for a part in Moulin Rouge. And I didn't know what to expect going into this audition. Are we wearing masks, no masks, all those kind of questions. So I guess everybody's kind of trying to figure out what's the new norm when it comes to auditioning. Being in close quarters with others is also a concern for Crystal Murdoch.

She's an assistant wardrobe supervisor for Aladdin. We have 337 costumes. We have lots of costume changes. 108 of those changes take place in less than one minute. How is it going to work backstage with dressers, with bite lights in their mouth? Dressers bite on a light so that they can see what they're doing in the dark and then they drop it. It's like a lanyard around their neck. Like, how is all that going to work?

Despite all the questions about safety and logistics, people are just ready to get back under those beaming white lights. Hi, this is Riza Takahashi after the Moulin Rouge Broadway's audition. Yeah, it was so fun to dance in the room. I forgot how that makes me feel. And here's Murdoch again from Aladdin. The energy that you get from a live performance, there's nothing like it. And I can't imagine what it's going to be like to go back. No need to use imagination anymore.

Entering the stage door today was the most incredible feeling. I was met by Micah, our incredible stage door man. I'm going to use that word a lot, I guess. It was just a surreal feeling. It was like I had never left, but it was also like I hadn't been there in years. There's a lot to do, but it was really fantastic just, you know, jumping in and getting started. NPR has been following these three industry veterans, Crystal Murdoch, Risa Tokahashi, and Crystal Joy Brown, who we heard from at the top. And we are going to let them take it from here.

This is Crystal Joy Brown from Hamilton. So every morning I sneak into the small rehearsal room and do a little vocal warm-up. Z And I am feeling rusty. Even though it's week two of rehearsal, I'm just like a I'll work in progress. This is Risa Takahashi.

Had an in-person audition for Moulin Rouge and Broadway. I didn't hear back. I'm currently waiting to hear back from a video audition that I've just submitted a couple days ago. And hopefully I'll hear yes or no or I might not hear anything live of an actor it would be a dream if every time I go in I book that job some people are like that but I've never experienced that before so you know you just keep auditioning until you're the right person who walks into the room. Follow me to a place where incredible feats are routine every hour or so.

Crystal Murdoch, Aladdin Broadway. We've been back in the theater for about a month now, working on alterations, refurbishing items that have been sitting, you know, for a year and a half. I think I was really nervous heading into all of this. I think we're working around different complications. The bite light situation, which I talked about. Dressers bite on the light so that they can see what they're doing in the dark, and then they drop it.

It's like a lanyard around their neck. We won't use them anymore. But we'll have headlamps. We'll have necklamps. So we're going to figure all of that out. Look around, look around at how lucky we are to be alive right now. This is Crystal Joy Brown from Hamilton. So I am in the lobby of the Richard Rogers Theater.

And I am waiting for my COVID results to make sure that I can start this tech rehearsal. We've been in rehearsal for two weeks, and it's exciting, but it's also terrifying because I just feel like I'm not ready for eight shows a week, and I'm going to do everything in my power to get on top of it and get ready, but I'm also, like, scared for what is next.

Crystal Murdoch, Aladdin, Broadway. I've worked on quite a few Broadway shows, and opening nights are always exciting. It's the great finish line after working extremely hard, long hours. I mean, openings are always emotional, but just the thought of Broadway returning, it just gets you choked up. It's going to be a different type of opening night. I don't think there's going to be a big, you know,

after party with everyone hugging and high-fiving, but it's going to be a real celebration that I think everyone on Broadway, everyone in New York City really is looking forward to. This is Risa Takahashi. Since I'm not in any Broadway shows at the moment, I'm staying active in the Broadway community by founding Celebrate Asian Joy Project. And the organization is currently producing a music video with a cast and creative team of Asian artists. And that's basically my entire summer. I've been working on this since May. I choose joy.

I choose joy. The fact that Broadway is reopening and I'm not in the Broadway reopening shows gives me mixed feelings. I'm really excited for everyone who's going back to work, but I can't help but feel that I'm not part of that exhilarating feeling in the rehearsal room the theaters are open so that's the bigger matter and that we can finally do what we love but also I'm letting myself feel a little bit of a hole in my heart where my show isn't coming back on Broadway. So this is Crystal Joy Brown, and I'm coming in from my dressing room. We are hours before we have our first ever audience. We did our run through yesterday, and it was so bizarre because it felt familiar.

But I also think that there's like, there's something that's changed. And today will be the first day that I get to participate in a collective consciousness of us all being together and being able to celebrate life. Look around, look around at how lucky we are to be alive right now. How true are those lyrics? How important are those lyrics right now. Totally different meaning than they've ever had before. So here we go. This is Broadway, y'all. Look around, look around At how lucky we are to be alive right now

This piece was produced by Morning Edition producers Nell Clark, Barry Gordimer, and Lily Quiroz. Greatest thing in the world Look around, look around Gordimer and Lily Quiroz. You're listening to Consider This from NPR. I'm Mary Louise Kelly. Support for NPR and the following message come from the Kauffman Foundation, providing access to opportunities

that help people achieve financial stability, upward mobility, and economic prosperity, regardless of race, gender, or geography. Kauffman.org.