Audiences will return to venues, but going out will require planning
Since so much of the entertainment world depends on putting shoulder-to-shoulder crowds into enclosed spaces — where social distancing seems both impossible and financially impractical — the pandemic is dramatically reshaping how audiences will consume the arts.
For one thing, going out will require more planning. With venues restricting capacity, encouraging buying tickets in advance and switching to online ticketing, it’s going to be harder to just show up at a venue and expect to get in. Here’s what it’s going to look like.
Movies
The major chains — AMC, Regal, Alamo Drafthouse, Cinemark — won’t begin opening their doors again until later this month, but the smaller Texas exhibitors that went back to business in May offer a peek into our new moviegoing reality.
At Austin’s EVO Entertainment as well as Houston’s ShowBiz Cinemas, Star Cinema Grill and Rooftop Cinema Club (which is reopening June 16), there is a mix of new policies including reduced-capacity auditoriums, touchless ticketing through apps, roped-off aisles for 6-foot-distancing patterns, mask and/or glove requirements, hand-sanitizer stations, increased cleaning and disinfecting between showings and temperature checks.
Plano’s Cinemark, which is starting a phased reopening June 19 in the Dallas-Fort Worth area, told the Hollywood Reporter that the chain will have a maximum 50 percent seating capacity, with 6 feet between patrons for social distancing, and is introducing deep cleaning, plexiglass barriers, hand-sanitizing stations and contactless ticketing. AMC told the Hollywood Reporter last week that it expects to be fully open globally in July.
What moviegoers will be seeing on screen is less clear. Right now, theaters are showing mostly classic films or movies that were current right before the shutdown took effect as studios have moved their major titles to later in the year or to video-on-demand. That is expected to change July 17 with the release of Christopher Nolan’s “Tenet,” but it’s possible Warner Bros. may waver on that date as some major markets — such as San Francisco — may not allow theaters to reopen until August.
Museums
Many area museums are open again but, as with movie theaters, there are new procedures.
The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston is requiring face masks for all visitors older than 2, temperature checks, social distancing, cashless entry (only credit cards are accepted), no large bags (coat check is closed) and no food (the cafe is closed). Visitor capacity is capped at 25 percent.
At the Children’s Museum of Houston, tickets are now timedentry, meaning you select the time you’re going in advance, offering the museum the chance to control the flow and keep capacity at 20 percent. Patrons can stay up to two and a half hours. Masks are required for those older than 2, and hands-on activities have been minimized. Fresh Café and Fiddle Sticks Toys are open.
Houston Museum of Natural Science’s restrictions include operating at 25 percent capacity, masks for those older than 10, curbside pickup for the museum store and encouraging museumgoers to buy tickets online, though the box office remains open.
Much the same will be true for Space Center Houston when it reopens July 1. The facility will have one-directional flow through galleries, hand-sanitation stations, plexiglass shields at ticket counters, touchless entry with self-scan turnstiles, special hours for vulnerable populations from 9-10 a.m. on Tuesdays and touchless creditcard transactions.
Live performances
Concerts and live theater will be the last spaces to fully reopen.
Smaller pop-music venues, such as McGonigel’s Mucky
Duck, Warehouse Live and Satellite Bar, are either back in business or will be reopening soon. Austin singer Monte Warden was scheduled to play a Mucky Duck show June 12 that would be capped at 25 percent, meaning there would be only 30 people in the room. However, fans could access the show through a livestream on Warden’s Facebook page that also included a Venmo tip jar and PayPal capacity to buy his albums.
Bands are also playing shows at drive-ins where fans stay in their cars. Houston ska band Los Skarnales was scheduled to headline such a show June 13 at Minute Maid Park.
Music fans should get used to these kinds of alternatives to the crowded-concert experience. It will be at least a couple of months before larger concerts return.
According to their websites, Revention Music Center has an Australian Pink Floyd show on Aug. 7 and Sugar Land’s Smart Financial Centre has a Kidz Bop event scheduled for Aug. 8. Harry Styles’ Toyota Center show, scheduled for Aug. 10, is now set for Sept. 13, 2021.
Several of the major arts organizations have announced new seasons: the Houston Symphony’s opening concert is Sept. 12, the Alley Theatre’s kickoff is Oct. 2, and Houston Grand Opera’s begins Oct. 23 with “Carmen.”
Though they haven’t announced yet how their performances will be configured, it’s expected that they will include reduced capacity to maintain social distancing and will likely require masks.