Theater

As theaters look to see how they might reopen with safety accommodations including mask use, Dr. Anthony Fauci says it will likely be more than a year before people feel comfortable returning to theaters without masks.“If we get a really good vaccine and just about everybody gets vaccinated,” he said in an Instagram Live interview with Jennifer Garner on Wednesday, “you’ll have a degree of immunity in the general community that I think you can walk into a theater without a mask and feel like it’s comfortable that you’re not going to be at risk.”He said that would likely not be until mid- to late 2021.But that doesn’t mean he is saying when it would be safe to go to the theater without a mask. Dr. Fauci, the country’s leading infectious disease expert, clarified in a phone interview on Friday that he was referring to when people could return to theatergoing at their pre-coronavirus comfort levels. “Words like ‘safe’ are charged,” he said. “I’m talking about the general trend of when we’ll start to feel comfortable going back to normal if we get a safe and effective vaccine.” More

The Pulitzer Prize in drama is ordinarily given to work that is performed onstage. But this year, because of the coronavirus pandemic, that will change.The board that administers the prizes said Thursday that theatrical work streamed online, as well as shows that were scheduled to be staged in person but were canceled, would be eligible for the honor.“The spread of the COVID virus has closed theaters but has in no way dampened the creativity of the nation’s playwrights,” the prize’s co-chairs, Stephen Engelberg of ProPublica and Aminda Marqués González of the Miami Herald, said in a joint statement. “In this year, of all years, we wanted to honor the work that is being done. The shows are going on, if the audience is remote.”The prize, a highly prestigious recognition for an American dramatist, is granted each spring for “a distinguished play by an American author, preferably original in its source and dealing with American life.” It has been granted most years since 1918; this year, the musical “A Strange Loop,” by Michael R. Jackson, won the prize.Eligibility for the prize previously required an in-person production. But most American theaters have been closed since March, forced by government edict and union restrictions to shutter to slow the spread of the virus.So for the 2021 award — recognizing work from 2020 — the eligible entrants will include “full-length dramatic works” that were scheduled to be produced this year, “as well as plays produced and performed in places other than theaters, including online, outside or in site-specific venues.” Eligible works will also include, of course, works that did manage to open in the first few months of the year, before the pandemic.Playwrights can also choose to wait. “Creators of dramatic works can determine when it is ready for award consideration, as it may be submitted only once,” the board said.Among the shows that managed to open early this year, and might be contenders, were “Dana H.,” by Lucas Hnath, and “Cambodian Rock Band,” by Lauren Yee. Among those with scheduled, but canceled, productions: “The Minutes,” by Tracy Letts, “Sanctuary City,” by Martyna Majok, and the musical “Flying Over Sunset,” by James Lapine, Tom Kitt and Michael Korie. And among the dramas created for streaming: an Apple family pandemic trilogy by Richard Nelson, and “The Line,” a documentary play about medical workers responding to the pandemic, by Jessica Blank and Erik Jensen. More

In a recent essay, The New York Times critic Maya Phillips confessed that she discovered musicals “in a way theater die-hards might find gauche — via the widely panned film adaptation of ‘Rent.’”Yes, that “Rent.” The 2005 flop, which everyone agreed was a pale comparison to the 1996 Broadway hit. No matter, Phillips wrote. “That movie eventually led me to the real deal onstage.”So we asked readers: What was your gateway musical — the show that turned you onto Broadway and the smaller, weirder corners of the theater world?You named classics like “The Sound of Music” and “The Music Man.” Many of you cited Andrew Lloyd Webber’s “Phantom of the Opera,” with one reader sheepishly admitting her love for “Starlight Express.” And, in the ’70s, a lot of you were really, really into “Pippin.”More moving were the many ways you discovered these shows — not just onstage but also through V.H.S., vinyl, YouTube. As plays migrate to Zoom these days, it’s a heartening reminder that technology has long let theater reach audiences beyond Broadway.Below are a few more of your answers, lightly edited and condensed.‘Sweeney Todd’It was 1979, and I was 11, going to a sleep-away camp. Every night after lights out, a counselor played the Len Cariou-Angela Lansbury album and would explain what was going on in the show, like one character’s hair going white overnight. It is a powerful show made then more powerful by our imaginations.Adam Herbst, New Jersey‘In the Heights’I had always loved musical theater, but it always seemed like a completely different world, like a dream. But for the first time, while watching the 2008 Tony Awards, I saw myself. I saw my people. I listened to the cast album and was able to see all these characters within my barrio and myself. That’s when I realized that musical theater wasn’t just dreams. It’s our lives put on display in one of the most beautiful ways it can: through song.Tamara Fuentes, North Bergen, N.J.‘Wicked’In the summer of 2007, a girl at summer camp told me to go home and look up “Defying Gravity” on YouTube. I was a bookish, introverted 12 year old in Miami, and I had never seen anything more captivating in my entire life. I watched dozens and dozens of videos and kept a ranked, ever-changing list of my favorite Elphabas.Ali Sousa, New York City‘Carousel’The 1953 performance of “Carousel,” one of a Starlight Opera series at an outdoor venue in San Diego’s magnificent Balboa Park, hit me like a thunderbolt. I went with my mother and her best friend at the end of summer when I was 11. It was a rare treat for me — my mother didn’t drive, and my family did not spend money on movies, much less these kinds of shows. As a feminist, I struggle seriously with the line that someone can “hit you — hit you hard — and not hurt at all.” Yet I console myself that the role of women has changed considerably, and the music still soars.Daryl Ann Glenney, Berryville, Va.‘Les Miserables’I was 9 years old when my best friend played “Do You Hear The People Sing?” for me on her record player. I was immediately hooked. I had no idea what a prostitute was or why Javert spent his whole life pursuing Valjean. But I knew that after school, with snacks in hand, I could march out to my backyard and shout-sing “Les Miz” at the top of my lungs and feel proud and strong.Alysson Caine, Queens, N.Y.‘Jesus Christ Superstar’At first, I only knew the music from the scratched vinyl my parents bought at a library sale and blared on the Radio Shack record player in the kitchen. A few years later, my family purchased a VCR, and I finally saw the 1973 film. My brother and I acted it out with our stuffed animals — Kermit was always Jesus.Josh Flynn, Kokomo, Ind.‘The Fantasticks’Christmas break, 1965. College buddies and I were traveling from Providence to New York City and had heard of a little show down in Greenwich Village — at that time (in our minds, at least) a fabled, bohemian and seductively exotic part of town. We wrangled up $4.50 apiece, fumbled our way to snow-covered Sullivan Street, and meandered into “The Fantasticks.”It was then (and is now) beautifully constructed and intimate, with a gorgeous score, and it’s both genuinely funny and unabashedly romantic. At college age, I saw myself in the callow young hero, Matt; in my 20s, fancied myself the dashing El Gallo; in my 40s, identified with the barely coping dads; and these days I’m a dead ringer for Henry, the befuddled old actor.Charlie Fontana, Washington, D.C.‘Annie’I saw a community theater production in my hometown, Lynnfield, Mass., and it changed the game for me. I thought “Tomorrow” was the most magical thing I’d ever seen. The girl playing Annie slid across the floor with such confidence, ease and hope. And there was a REAL dog!Paige McNamara, New York City‘Company’I grew up in China, so there wasn’t and still isn’t a culture of musicals. Came across stuff like “Cats” or “Phantom,” but besides finding the music lovely, I didn’t have much feeling about it. That changed after I saw the PBS recording of the 2006 revival of Sondheim’s “Company” with Raúl Esparza. That production blew me out of my mind. I realized that music in theater doesn’t have to do a “narrative” job, but can exist as a kind of comment and have a space of its own.Peilin, Germany‘A Chorus Line’The year after kindergarten, I was in a show at day camp. I can’t imagine we actually did the full musical — maybe a revue of some sort — but I definitely sang “One” in a chorus wearing a glittery gold top hat. My parents bought me the cassette of it, and I knew all the words.Clearly, I didn’t really understand much of what the show was about until I was older — I just liked the idea of a show about putting on a show. But like many things, something about its queerness must have been legible to me even then. I’ve since performed drag numbers to its songs, and a couple of years ago I got to see it staged again at the Hollywood Bowl. I cried.Lil Miss Hot Mess, Los Angeles‘Starlight Express’I’m embarrassed to admit this. I was taken to see “Starlight Express,” the Andrew Lloyd Webber shocker about loved-up trains with a cast entirely on roller skates. It spoke to my 7-year-old soul.Nat Whalley, London‘Pal Joey’In the spring of 1952, a revival of Rodgers and Hart’s “Pal Joey” was at Manhattan’s Broadhurst Theater on West 44th Street. I was a junior at Weequahic High School in Newark, N.J., and was seeing my first Broadway show. My date and I sat in the mezzanine. The overture began, and I wasn’t in the real world any longer.Ron Bruguiere, Los Angeles More

Thanks in part to a donation from the estate of one of England’s most esteemed poets — and some dancing cats — the Brontë Parsonage Museum’s doors will remain open, for now.The estate of T.S. Eliot has gifted the struggling museum, which reopened in late August after being closed since March, 20,000 pounds (or approximately $26,000) last week. The donation was first reported by the BBC.The parsonage, located in Haworth, said it was facing a loss of expected income of more than £500,000 because of the coronavirus pandemic.There is a connection between Eliot and the Brontës: The “Bradford millionaire” who appears in the Eliot poem “The Waste Land” is thought to be Sir James Roberts, a Yorkshire philanthropist who was also a customer at the bank where Eliot worked. Mr. Roberts donated Haworth Parsonage — once the home of the Brontë sisters, Charlotte, Emily and Anne — to the Brontë Society, which operates the museum, in 1928. Roberts knew the family as a child.But the Eliot estate’s gift didn’t come with any fanfare: Rebecca Yorke, the head of communications and marketing at the Brontë Society, said she discovered the donation when it showed up on the museum’s crowdfunding campaign page with a message of support. “Realizing that it was from the T.S. Eliot estate was a very special moment,” she said.Yorke said the Eliot estate told the organization that the donation was possible thanks to the success of the Tony-winning Andrew Lloyd Webber musical “Cats,” which is based on Eliot’s playful 1939 poetry collection “Old Possum’s Book of Practical Cats.”The parsonage houses the largest collection of Brontë manuscripts and personal possessions in the world and attracts more than 70,000 visitors each year. “Jane Eyre,” by Charlotte Brontë, and “Wuthering Heights,” by Emily Brontë, were both written there.The museum has been hard hit by the pandemic because more than 70 percent of the Brontë Society’s income comes from admissions, events and retail, according to its website. The typically busy spring and summer months normally sustain it through the slower winter season.The museum has furloughed a majority of its staff and applied for grants and emergency funds, but still faces an end-of-year deficit of £100,000. As of Tuesday afternoon, its crowdfunding campaign had raised approximately £53,000.Yorke said the donation from the Eliot estate gives the museum hope. “We are very grateful for the support,” she said, “and are pleased that there is still a connection between Eliot and the Brontës all these years later.” More

Ms. Bey, known as “Canada’s first lady of the blues,” broke ground in her adopted country by creating opportunities for Black people in the theater. More

The coronavirus pandemic has brought various hardships. An artist, bookseller, comedian and five others share their stories of how they are coping with all the uncertainty. More

How can you get your cultural fix when many arts institutions remain closed? Our writers offer suggestions for what to listen to and watch. More