I was supposed to take my girls to see Wicked: the Broadway Musical last week. Of course, it was cancelled by CoVID. Wicked is one of my favourite shows. I’ve seen it 5 times, but I couldn’t wait to share it with my daughters when we bought the tickets 21 months ago. I imagined their excitement and responses as Elphaba flies at the end of Defying Gravity, their laughs during Popular, and their tears during For Good. I knew they’d love it, but now, I’m not sure when they’ll see it. They’ve seen other shows and for that, they are fortunate. I certainly hadn’t seen as many Broadway-caliber productions at their age. But Broadway, I fear, may never be the same again.
Living in Montreal, I went to New York for long weekends all the time. You could travel there by bus, stay at a cheap hotel and see 2 shows with last-minute ticket purchases for less than $300. The city that never sleeps inspired dreams, imagination, ambition, art, and business. You could walk the busy streets for endless hours and soak in culture and history. Eat awesome food cart meals. See an off-Broadway show in which a nobody becomes a somebody the next year.
I saw a ton of shows and became a Broadway Across Canada member when I moved to Alberta to see every possible show that would come through town. The girls and I planned a Broadway weekend for their 16th birthdays, but I’m not sure that will happen now. Yes, because of CoVID. Media has written that Drumheller tourism has remained alive and well. But we barely hit the double digits. New York is quite a different story.
The US hit over 5 million cases last week. New York has nearly half a million. Over 30,000 people have died in New York alone. That’s 3 x the amount of deaths as the number of deaths in all of Canada. New York is seeing a mass exodus as jobs are lost and businesses continue to work from home. Fox News reported this weekend a record amount of vacancies, lower rent prices, and a terrifying raise in violence.
Sure, New York has survived recessions in the past, as well as 9/11. But even lifelong New Yorkers, such as James Altcher, are writing that New York is dead.
My good friend, J, is a well-published author and publisher who loved New York with every ounce of her being. She moved out of the city last month.
When I’m in the yard, playing with my kids on a bright sunny evening, it’s easy to forget CoVID. Having the luxury of seeing friends to play a board game with truly minimal risk of exposure, is a gift many still don’t have. Then when a song from a musical pops up on my playlist, what used to make me smile and sing for joy, makes my stomach sink.
Is this the end of Broadway as we knew it? Will we see the arrival of virtual productions, like Disney’s release of Hamilton? A virtual production is definitely not the same as a live performance, but...it certainly would make Broadway accessible to more people. If they released Wicked on Disney+, I’d watch it for sure. A few times.
But my heart breaks to think I may never experience the anticipation of an Overture in a theatre as the curtain rises for a show I’ve been waiting years to witness.
Dear COVID-19 is a weekly column supplied by Drs. Rithesh and Veronique Ram
