WORSE THAN IT

Broadway’s shutdown cripples Garment District shops

If nothing else, Tova Moreno’s plight might make a decent drama, even if it is a little hard to believe.

A terrifying pandemic shuts down Broadway and all its popular shows, crippling theater industry workers, including a creative costume designer whose only company are the mannequins who model her clothes.

“We have a lot of work to do, but we want to keep our employees safe,” said Moreno, 42, who manages Artur & Tailors, a Garment District shop that has stitched costumes for shows such as “Hamilton” and “Wicked.”

Moreno and her boss, company owner Artur Allakhverdyan, 54, had to send their workers home to keep them from having to share close quarters amid coronavirus fears.

Beyond safety, Moreno and Allakhverdyan have other worries. The Broadway shutdown, put in place to help stop the spread of COVID-19, has the industry bracing for an economic backlash more punishing than a thousand bad reviews.

“Today we just talked with the landlord about rent, because we don’t know what it’s going to be or how long it’s going to be,” Allakhverdyan said. “For me, it’s like I’m ready to lose everything, but to save people and myself and everybody who’s around me, that is more important than everything else.”

Tutu maker Coco Dupont knows a little about hardship. A year and a half ago, Garment District landlords doubled her rent, so she had to move her shop to a brownstone in Harlem.

Most of the company’s business comes from Broadway, and the virus has created some hurdles that would have been unthinkable just weeks ago, when they were busily working on a new show. Now, the business has had to lay off staff.

“It was a project that was destined to go to Broadway, and we were about halfway through,” Dupont said. “They were already in rehearsal. I had my last fitting there last Tuesday, I fit 10 of the actresses at the rehearsal space, and then Friday the design associate called up and told us it was on hold.

“Then on Sunday we got the call that it was basically over and that we should stop work right away.”

Dupont said she was worried about the industry’s older workers because the virus has been especially tough on the elderly.