NEW YORK — There's
More than a hundred blocks north of Manhattan's shuttered
But there was no applause. Instead, all that was heard was a strange command for the
Tony Award-winner Jefferson Mays was performing multiple roles for a high-tech “A Christmas Carol” that was being filmed for streaming this month at the empty 3,000-seat United Palace.
The one-man show is an example of how many who work in
“Because it’s such a roll-up-your-sleeves business,
Live
Mays' “A Christmas Carol,” which was filmed on a high-tech LED set, veers much more filmic than most other streaming
Other green shoots include radio plays, virtual readings, online variety shows and drive-in experiences that combine live singing with movies. A musical version of the animated film “Ratatouille” is being explored on TikTok.
“We will conquer it. We are
Her company has put on a free streaming holiday production of “Meet Me in St. Louis” with a dozen cast members, each filmed remotely and then digitally stitched together. Moore directed it — appropriately enough — from St. Louis.
The cast was mailed or hand-delivered props, costumes and a green screen. They rehearsed via Zoom and FaceTime. A masked and socially distant orchestra recorded the score.
Like many other theatrical hybrids venturing into the digital world these days, it's not clear what to call it. It's not technically live
“It’s not definable in our current vocabulary,” Moore said. “It has to have a new definition, truly, because it’s certainly unlike anything that has been done.”
One of the companies to show the way forward was Berkshire Theater Group in western Massachusetts, whose “Godspell” in August became the first outdoor musical with union actors since the pandemic shut down productions.
Artistic director and CEO Kate Maguire refused to entertain the notion that the company — established in 1928 — would have an asterisk beside 2020 that said no shows were produced that year.
“We’re
So they used plexiglass partitions between each masked actor. The performers were tested regularly — at a cost of close to $50,000 — and had their own props and a single costume. In an open-air tent, they managed to pull off a crucifixion scene without any touching or lifting, itself a miracle.
Audiences underwent temperature checks and were separated by seats. Staff were placed in three protective bubbles: artistic, production and front-of-house. And there was monitoring: Last year it was an intimacy officer; this year it was a COVID-19 one.
Since that first brave step, other
“We’re seeing many groups applying for small cast, easy to produce, plays and musicals. They’re even seeking casting flexibility and asking for permission to perform with or without an ensemble,” said Sean Patrick Flahaven, chief theatricals executive.
Playwright Natalie Margolin decided to write a new play during the pandemic but not a conventional one. She imagined what the world would look like when it was a given that all social life existed on Zoom.
Hence “The Party Hop,” a play specifically to be performed on Zoom that's set three years into quarantine in which three college girls hit the town — online. It became her first published play, and she got stars such as Ben Platt and Ashley Park to perform in an online version, currently on YouTube. She hopes high schools and colleges will be attracted to a play reflecting the era.
Theater makers have also leaned into the storytelling part of their craft, making The Broadway Podcast Network a hub for everything from audition advice to behind-the-scenes stories.
Launched shortly before the pandemic with 15 podcasts, the
“It’s not anything that will ever replace live
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Mark Kennedy is at http://twitter.com/KennedyTwits
Mark Kennedy, The Associated Press