UPDATES FOR READERS OF "THE BUSINESS OF BROADWAY"
June 2022
BEYOND BROADWAY… A recent study conducted by a group of arts organizations, L.A.’s Performing Arts and Reopening Survey, found three troubling trends: Both operating capacity and audience attendance are down to almost 50% of pre-pandemic levels, and ticket revenue is about one-third of what it was before COVID-19 struck. Expenses, in the form of COVID safety, as well as general inflation and rent increases, are also way up. Artistic directors say this is not sustainable. “There’s a foreseeable financial cliff ahead of us.” If Broadway is a testing ground for trends in the rest of the country, the numbers there are not encouraging. Forbes recently reported that Broadway grosses fell 15% to $29 million in the last week of April, with attendance taking a nosedive as well, leaving at least one-quarter of all seats unoccupied.
BROADWAY COVID RULES CHANGE AGAIN (Valid through June 6):
Updates shared with each Broadway unions (and those that affect sit-down Road shows) (18 of them) are shared and possibly changed weekly! There are different requirements based on your city’s Red, Yellow or Green status.
In Green: the only testing is for symptomatic, exposure in the workplace, or unmasked actors including swings and understudies – testing must happen once a week.
In Yellow (NYC is currently in Yellow as of May 6): unmasked Equity actors must be tested twice a week, all others once a week. The tests can be ANY kind of FDA authorized test. Masking is required. Individual producers may require additional masking requirements (i.e. N95 masks only).
In Red: N95 masks are required. Producer can ask for tests whenever you want.
Testing: If you require a home test result (or any test), the actor does not have to report the result until 12 hours after they have left the theatre after a show. Otherwise, it counts as rehearsal time.
If show does the testing, you can call people in 30 minutes in advance of call (15 minutes for some unions). Cannot keep musicians after a show for testing.
Authorized Covid Safety Manager is not required to be hired under Green and Yellow conditions: Must be someone who is not the show’s ATPAM Company Manager but the show must assign “someone” to check people in and administer tests. No longer must they be onsite in the theatre, but there must be a way to reach them/find them and someone who is close by to be able to get to the theatre. If the city is in RED, the rules revert to a required Covid Staff officer.
In your building (not just the company): If you have 5 new positives within 5 days, the show goes into the mini-outbreak category. Then everyone backstage must be tested every day for the next 14 days.
New rules say that positive staff/actors do not have to see a doctor.
No backstage tours, no meet n’ greets, no visitation rules remain in effect.
Interactive actions involved in the audience seats require a special discussion with Equity.
Sick pay rules are different for companies of less than 100 employees and those with more than 100 employees: First 12 performances of Covid sick leave at full pay up to $4000/wk, then minimum; Stagehands: 10 DAYS of Covid sick leave; musicians are paid using NY State laws on sick leave. These payments are valid for up to 3 different Covid incidents per person (noting that people can get Covid more than once).
Reporting to entire company: Within 24 hours (best efforts), everyone in the building should be informed about positive cases and whether they are a possible “proximity” concern.
CHAPTER 4: UNIONS
Stage Directors and Choreographers Society (SDC) is partnering with American Guild of Musical Artists (AGMA). "The unions, which previously collaborated to determine best safety practices throughout the pandemic, will offer a 50% discount on initiation fees if members of one choose to join the other. New members will still need to meet that union’s rules and policies. AGMA represents musicians and performers, while SDC’s membership includes a roster of directors and choreographers. Robert O’Hara, who directed “Slave Play” on Broadway in 2019 and its return engagement this season, will be the first artist to leverage the reciprocal agreement."
Often, when there is a serious impasse in negotiations, or if there are scheduling obstacles for discussions between union leaders, a temporary extension of current regulations with a slight pay increase is put in place (similar to what Congress does with the National Debt – d’oh!). That’s what happened this week: The Local One agreement for stagehands (and the Nederlander Local One agreement) are extended from July 25, 2022 to July 23, 2023, with a 3% increase.
CHAPTER 6: TONY AWARDS 2022
This year over 50% of the announced nominators will not in fact be nominating anyone. There are now only 29 essential players in the Tony nominator pool. ... Eight nominators dropped out in recent weeks alone ... inside sources say it was the end of season crush, and Covid issues impacting both nominators and potentially nominated actors, that caused these nominators to drop out.
Other reasons for nominators to “drop out” – “Recusal.” The rule on recusal - at least from the last time the rules were published - is: A Nominator must recuse himself/herself from the Nominating Committee for any year during their three-year term in the event that any of the following situations apply to him or her: Active participation in a Tony Award eligible Broadway production; Inability to attend a performance of all Tony Award eligible productions in a season: Inability to view a performance of all Tony Award eligible Actors and/or Elements in a season; or Employed by or a Board Member of an organization that has a financial interest in a Tony Award-eligible Production.
Re: Tony Voters. There are currently 650 voters (who get a free pair of prime orchestra seats during voting season to see every nominated show). About a decade ago, there were over 1000 voters.
CHAPTER 6: AWARDS 2022
While there are many more awards for theatre, here are the key awards that celebrate Broadway shows.
75TH ANNUAL TONY AWARDS: Named for Antoinette Perry, The American Theatre Wing's Tony Awards originated in 1947 when the Wing established an awards program to celebrate excellence in the theatre.
66TH ANNUAL DRAMA DESK AWARDS: Honor outstanding achievement by professional theater artists on Broadway, Off Broadway, and Off Off Broadway. What sets the Drama Desk Awards apart is that they are voted on and bestowed by theater critics, journalists, editors, and publishers covering theater.
88TH ANNUAL DRAMA LEAGUE AWARDS: First awarded in 1922 and formalized in 1935, The Drama League Awards are the oldest theatrical honors in America. They are the only major theater awards chosen by a cross-section of the theater community - the industry professionals, producers, artists, audiences, and critics who are Drama League members nationwide.
71ST ANNUAL OUTER CRITICS CIRCLE AWARDS: The Outer Critics Circle (OCC) is the official organization of writers on New York theatre for out-of-town newspapers and national publications.
76TH ANNUAL THEATRE WORLD AWARDS: The oldest of these awards, given to six actresses and six actors in recognition of their debut performance in a Broadway or Off-Broadway production.
PULITZER PRIZE FOR DRAMA: The Pulitzer Prizes were established by Joseph Pulitzer, a Hungarian-American journalist and newspaper publisher, who left money to Columbia University upon his death in 1911. It is uniquely awarded based on the written pages of the script, and not the live production.
CHAPTER 5: MARKETING
(Adapted from ‘The Stage’ newsletter) One of the very few positives of an otherwise bleak situation was that the pandemic had thrown into sharp relief just how interconnected the performing arts sector was. When that machine was forcibly shut down, it became clear we needed all the various parts to start up together, if it was to work again. This meant that people stepped out of their silos, talked to each other, and started to think about what the sector needed, rather than what individual parts of it wanted.
This was, admittedly, an imperfect process – and not undertaken without some elements of personal interest – but at least the effort was made, possibly for the first time ever, for the sector to think and speak with one voice, in the interests of the whole. How quickly this lesson has been unlearned.
There have been depressingly frequent examples of people falling back into bad habits. Most Broadway and West End shows are run as standalone investment vehicles and, from that perspective, producers have a duty to their investors to try to make as much return as they can from a short run. So they raise prices. Or at least test what the market will bear. The market has said it won’t bear it, so prices have come down.
The reputational damage to “the theatre” by raising top-end prices widely could be severe, at a time when employers have yet to address issues of poor pay in theatre, and the wider population is facing a cost-of-living crisis. It makes theatre look unaffordable, out-of-touch and elitist. In the end, this may come back to bite everyone in the future.
CHAPTER 10: PRODUCERS
Performers and stage managers will be released from the nondisclosure agreements they signed to work on four Broadway shows connected to the producer Scott Rudin under a settlement between the Broadway League and Actors’ Equity Association.
The union said that the two parties had agreed that, going forward, producers would no longer require actors or stage managers to sign such agreements unless approved by the union, which might sign off on them in limited circumstances to protect things such as intellectual property or financial information. The League (the association of Producers) declined to comment.
The settlement arises from a labor dispute that began last year, when Rudin, long one of the most powerful producers on Broadway, was facing accusations that he had behaved tyrannically toward a variety of people who worked with him, prompting an Equity stage manager to alert the union to the nondisclosure agreements required by some Rudin shows.
In January 2022, the union filed a pair of unfair labor practice complaints with the National Labor Relations Board regarding Rudin’s “To Kill a Mockingbird” and “West Side Story.”
The union argued that nondisclosure agreements illegally restricted worker rights. Its complaints were initially filed against Rudin and his general manager; in recognition of the fact that Rudin is not currently actively producing on Broadway or in Hollywood, and last year resigned as a member of the Broadway League, the complaints were expanded to include the Broadway League, which is a trade association representing producers.
The union said it has since learned that nondisclosure agreements were being used by four recent Broadway productions, including not only “Mockingbird” and “West Side Story,” but also “The Iceman Cometh,” on which Rudin was a lead producer, and “The Lehman Trilogy,” on which Rudin was among the lead producers.
The union withdrew the National Labor Relations Board complaints earlier this month, after reaching a settlement agreement with the League. According to a copy of the settlement agreement, the League has agreed to release from confidentiality, nondisclosure and non-disparagement agreements any actor or stage manager who signed such an agreement with the four recent productions. (The agreement does not affect workers in Rudin’s office, many of whom were required to sign detailed nondisclosure agreements as part of their employment contracts.)
CHAPTER 13: BOX OFFICE
GREED: Standing room tickets, sold only when the rest of the theatre is sold-out, has been a life-saver for many less-affluent theatre-goers. Twenty-years ago, the price was between $17 and $20 a seat. Then “Beautiful, The Carol King Musical” raised it to $35. And “Hamilton” brought it to $40 (if you could get one). Now “Music Man” starring Hugh Jackman and Sutton Foster, announced: “A limited number of standing room tickets, priced $76, will be available for every performance beginning May 17”.
CHAPTER 22: THEATRE OWNERS
Construction on TSX Broadway which houses Broadway’s Palace Theatre has reached a significant milestone with the completion of the historic Palace Theatre’s lift to its new position 30 feet above street level within the podium of the 47-story Times Square hotel tower. The engineering challenge was overseen by Urban Foundation and Engineering and used a system of 34 hydraulic jacks to hoist the 14-million-pound venue at a speed of about a quarter of an inch per hour over the span of four months. Work will now commence on the architect’s restoration of the theater, whose new elevated position will make way for 100,000 square feet of retail space at the base of the structure.
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