Theater adds online experience
When Goodspeed Opera House reopens 10 months from now, theatergoers will be able to choose whether to watch its musicals in person or at home.
The theater is expecting to start staging live indoor shows again in
June of 2021, coronavirus permitting. It will be a shortened season, made up of two of the shows the Goodspeed had initially planned for 2020: the Rodgers & Hammerstein classic “South Pacific,” directed by Rob Ruggiero June 11 through Aug. 22, and a new musical adaptation by Matte O’Brien and Matt Vinson of the classic L.M. Montgomery children’s book “Anne of Green Gables,” directed by Jenn Thompson, Sept. 10 through Nov. 14. The theater is dedicated to American musicals, classic and new, and is keeping true to its mission in 2021 by doing one of each.
Theaters across the country have been exploring ways to assure audiences that they won’t miss performances due to ongoing COVID concerns. Livestreaming shows as they happen, or filming them for online screenings, is an obvious solution, but involves breaking down barriers between how plays are produced compared
The Goodspeed Opera House hasn’t had a musical on its stage since“Billy Elliot”(shown here) in the fall of 2019. For 2021, Goodspeed has arranged to stream its musicals for those who don’t want to come to the theater.
with films and videos. This includes how a show’s creators and performers are compensated.
The Goodspeed’s streaming option is the result of lengthy negotiations among the Goodspeed, the League of Resident Theatres and several unions: Actors Equity, the Stage Directors and Choreographers Society and United Scenic Artists. It specifically covers “remote audiences for social distancing during the run of a production.” If the COVID pandemic ends
and the Goodspeed still wants to stream shows, it would have to start fresh negotiations.
The deal limits the total audience for each performance to the usual Goodspeed Opera House capacity of around 400 seats. The ticket for those who decide to stream the show at home is for a single viewing of the show and is non-transferable. A ticket costs the same for the streaming version as for the live one.
“It allows us to bridge
that gap,” says Goodspeed Musicals director of marketing Dan McMahon, who had a role in forging the agreement. He explains that many of the Goodspeed’s followers want to support the theater and see its shows, but may not feel ready to go into the building yet. “We’ve already had responses from subscribers saying ‘This is what I needed to hear.’” The Goodspeed has just begun its subscription renewal program for this year.
The streaming show will
be a filmed version of a live performance from early in the run. Home viewers can arrange the night on which they want to see the show (via a link unique to each viewer), just as they would if going out to see it. McMahon likes the idea of subscribers who take the video option watching the show on their regular subscription night.
Of course the Goodspeed has no idea what the state of the virus will be in the middle of next year. But the ability to stream means that if live performances have to be canceled mid-run, the show can still go on.
After several rounds of rescheduling, the Goodspeed announced in
June that it would not be producing any of the shows it had scheduled for 2020. It recently began a series of safely distanced outdoor concerts on the lawn outside the Opera House.
Goodspeed continues to postpone its new Worklight Project series of readings of new musicals. A revamping of how the Goodspeed presents works-in-progress at its smaller Norma Terris Theater in Chester, the Worklight Project was originally meant to launch this past spring. It has now been shifted to 2022.
McMahon says “the jury is still out” on whether the Goodspeed will be able to hold its annual Festival of New Musicals, a January weekend which offers readings, concerts and panel discussions. If it does happen, it could be later in the year. The Goodspeed’s retreat for musical theater creators, named for composer Johnny Mercer, will likely happen, perhaps online rather than on the Goodspeed campus.
The Goodspeed’s executive director for the past five years, Michael Gennaro, announced in February that he will be retiring at the end of this year. A search for his successor is underway.