On Saturday, just over a year since COVID-19 shuttered Broadway, three-time Tony winner Nathan Lane and Tony-winning choreographer Savion Glover performed before an audience at the St. James Theatr…
performed before an audience at the St. James Theatre, marking the first time since Broadway’s closure that the door to one of its houses opened.
Glover, who won a Tony Award for choreographing “Bring in ‘Da Noise, Bring in ‘Da Funk,” performed an improvised tap retrospective of Broadway numbers like “I Hope I Get It,” “Memories” and “Black and Blue.” Lane, alone on the stage, recited a new monologue by Paul Rudnick, called “Playbills.” As of April 2, New York has permitted theaters and concert venues to begin limited indoor performances. But with prohibitions against indoor gatherings larger than 100 untested people, theater restrictions still stymie any financially viable path for Broadway producers. When Broadway officially resumes is up to the complicated network of unions, producers, theater owners and trade associations which preside over the industry.
Governor Andrew Cuomo announced the NY PopsUp initiative in February as a way to ease theater-starved New Yorkers back into the performing arts. Since, NY PopsUp has featured performers like Amy Schumer, Jon Batiste and Patti Smith, as well as Broadway’s Gavin Creel and Shoshana Bean, at impromptu events around the city. The festival plans to produce over 300 pop-up performances until Labor Day, imaginably coinciding with Broadway producers’ unofficial hopes to open theaters in the fall.