Goodspeed pushes live indoor shows to September
Goodspeed Musicals, which had planned for a June reopening, has had to reconsider. The popular theater’s shortened two-show season of “South Pacific” and “Anne of Green Gables” is now down to just one.
“South Pacific,” which has already withstood numerous postponements, is now scheduled to open in September, while “Anne of Green Gables” has been shifted to the 2022 season. Precise performance dates for either show have not been released.
In a statement, Goodspeed Musicals’
new managing director David Byrd explained that “based on what we know now about the state of Connecticut reopening guidelines, the need for continued social distancing and the safety protocols required by the unions representing our artists, we will not be able to fully reopen indoors this summer.”
But while indoor shows have been delayed, the Goodspeed will ramp up the series of outdoor events on the Opera House lawn (along the Connecticut River) that the theater began experimenting with last summer. Details of the concerts, including performance dates, are yet to
come. Artistic director Donna Hilton has described them as “show tunes and stories — old and new.” Last year the lawn shows featured actor musician David Lutken (who starred in the Goodspeed revival of
“Will Rogers Follies”) and the bluegrass/showtune ensemble The Playbillies.
When it had announced its now-defunct June reopening plans, the Goodspeed negotiated the ability to offer performances either in person or livestreamed. Besides the “Goodspeed by the River” concerts and a lavish filmed gala fundraising performance, public performances in the past year have mostly been podcasts. This month the theater was able to begin airing archival videos of some of its musical productions, beginning with the new musical “Passing Through” which had a workshop at the Goodspeed’s Norma Terris Theater in Chester in 2019. The Norma Terris has been shuttered throughout the pandemic and there are no plans to reopen it this year.