Speaker 1: This is Bloomberg Business Week with Carol Masser and Jason
Speaker 1: Kelly on Bloomberg Radio. All right, so, when we talk
Speaker 1: about how New York City has changed because of the virus,
Speaker 1: one of the areas where the change is rather stark
Speaker 1: is along the Great White Way Broadway in New York
Speaker 1: City's Fame Time Square area. It's home to, you know,
Speaker 1: so many theaters where millions typically flocked to every year
Speaker 1: to see shows. And while it doesn't happen often, it
Speaker 1: is happening now. The theaters are dark and have been
Speaker 1: shut down like the rest of the city. Let's talk
Speaker 1: about that and how Broadway finds its way back post
Speaker 1: COVID nineteen. Charlotte st Martin is president of the Broadway League,
Speaker 1: and she joins us on the phone in New York City. Charlotte,
Speaker 1: nice to have you here with us. UM. First of all,
Speaker 1: I hope you're doing okay, your family, UM, and your team.
Speaker 1: I know it's a devastating time for so many it is,
Speaker 1: and fortunately everyone is well. Early on we had quite
Speaker 1: a few of our people affected with the virus, but
Speaker 1: with the exception of Terence McNally, I think everybody has
Speaker 1: made it so we feel great well, and that really
Speaker 1: was quite a moment, his passing and just the the
Speaker 1: reminder of just how how awful this is and and
Speaker 1: certainly felt widely among those of us who have patronized
Speaker 1: Broadway over the years. I mean, I have to ask you, Charlotte,
Speaker 1: just to to go back a little bit. What was
Speaker 1: it like sort of that moment where everything literally just
Speaker 1: sort of went dark. Well, it was probably more shocking
Speaker 1: than any business situation I've ever experienced, and I've experienced
Speaker 1: quite a few strange ones, but the fact that we
Speaker 1: were in the heat of our season. We were about
Speaker 1: to have sixteen shows open in the next four weeks
Speaker 1: when we closed that day. One was literally opening that night.
Speaker 1: So we saw the hopes in dreams of sixteen producers
Speaker 1: and all of the casts, uh, just throttled down into
Speaker 1: pure misery that day. And some of those shows may
Speaker 1: not ever make it back or won't be back for
Speaker 1: some time sometime. And of course, with the Tony Awards
Speaker 1: coming up, this was the heat of the Tony Awards
Speaker 1: selection of nominees, so none of those shows can be
Speaker 1: nominated at this point unless they do come back. Well, yeah,
Speaker 1: I mean, you know, it's a reminder right that these
Speaker 1: are you know, when you put together production, it's expensive.
Speaker 1: It's a lot of money up front, and I do
Speaker 1: think about, you know, financially, it's not easy for you
Speaker 1: to either to you know, kind of be on hold
Speaker 1: for a few months or even come back on the
Speaker 1: other side. Right Well, I mean Broadway is a risky
Speaker 1: business in the best of times, and we've certainly been
Speaker 1: experiencing the best of times in the last ten to
Speaker 1: fifteen years. But it's you know, one out of four
Speaker 1: shows recoups on their investment if we're really lucky. And
Speaker 1: these are very very expensive shows. A typical musical is
Speaker 1: at least fifteen million dollars, and certainly some go thirty
Speaker 1: five million, forty million. A typical play is three to
Speaker 1: five million. And the only way they recoup is filled
Speaker 1: those seats. And you know, you're looking at eight shows
Speaker 1: a week with anywhere from seven hundred to two thousand seats,
Speaker 1: so it takes a while just to recoup, not to
Speaker 1: mention making money, and then the unemployment and the people
Speaker 1: that have to put their careers on hold is just
Speaker 1: so sad and so devastating, I have to say. And
Speaker 1: you know, I think Jason, you'll agree, and Charlotte. One
Speaker 1: of the things that made us realize, wow, this virus
Speaker 1: going back to March was going to whole other level.
Speaker 1: It was certainly when the sports franchises just said they
Speaker 1: were shutting down and then to see that, you know,
Speaker 1: Broadway was just shutting down completely, because these are things
Speaker 1: that just are open through almost every crisis that we've
Speaker 1: seen in the past. Um I do wonder too about
Speaker 1: workers within the theater, and I think you know, we've
Speaker 1: been trying to educate our audience to um or at
Speaker 1: least provide information when it comes to restaurants, like you
Speaker 1: know that there's not a lot of safety nets there
Speaker 1: when things like this happen. What about within the theater industry, Well,
Speaker 1: it's very much the same way. I mean, you certainly
Speaker 1: have your stars that uh do film and television and
Speaker 1: do theater because they either started out in theater or
Speaker 1: it is their passion. But most of the people that
Speaker 1: work on Broadway and that work for Broadway, they work
Speaker 1: there because it's their passion. They almost can't do anything
Speaker 1: else because their passion is so strong. And that goes
Speaker 1: all the way to producers. I mean, most of these
Speaker 1: shows take six eight years to just bring to life,
Speaker 1: and the blood, sweat and tears that goes into making
Speaker 1: these shows, and all of the designers and people involved
Speaker 1: while they're making it are all shut down at once.
Speaker 1: Even after nine eleven, I think Broadway was only closed
Speaker 1: for three days, and this will be at least six months,
Speaker 1: six months. That's so, that's the soonest that it comes back, right,
Speaker 1: I mean we closed March twelve. We're talking about refunds
Speaker 1: and exchanges through September six, so in one more week
Speaker 1: that would be six months, and there's absolutely no guarantee
Speaker 1: that will be back on September six. I mean, we
Speaker 1: are in the fourth phase of the governor's plan to reopen,
Speaker 1: and a lot of that will depend upon, you know,
Speaker 1: how all of the reopenings that he goes through with
Speaker 1: all the different stages, and also, honestly, what kind of
Speaker 1: medical treatments there are. I don't think we expect a
Speaker 1: vaccine by the fall, but there may be other things
Speaker 1: that make it easier for us to come back, but
Speaker 1: we don't know that yet. Right, there's still so many questions.
Speaker 1: We're going to come back there and continue that conversation
Speaker 1: because I am curious about some of the conversations you
Speaker 1: are having with UM public officials and others within your
Speaker 1: industry and maybe even in other industries to figure out
Speaker 1: how do you come back on the other side. I
Speaker 1: also know you bring theater around the country, so we'll
Speaker 1: get into that too, because certainly each state is experiencing
Speaker 1: this virus to some extent. Uh differently. All right, we're
Speaker 1: talking with Charlotte St. Martin, president of the Broadway League,
Speaker 1: on the phone in New York. Will continue that conversation
Speaker 1: in just a moment. Let's continue our conversation with Charlotte St. Martin,
Speaker 1: president of the Broadway League, joining us on the phone
Speaker 1: from New York City. And as I joked a little
Speaker 1: bit going into uh that last news update, Charlotte, I
Speaker 1: could tell from the moment you open your mouth that
Speaker 1: you are not a New York City Nate. If I
Speaker 1: can spot that lovely Texas accent from a mile away.
Speaker 1: I do want to ask you sort of what it
Speaker 1: looks like, what the theater business looks like beyond Broadway,
Speaker 1: because I know you're talking to people all around the country. Well,
Speaker 1: the Broadway League's members are in two hundred and forty
Speaker 1: two cities where the Broadway series take place. So yes,
Speaker 1: I talked to my colleagues in Dallas and Houston and
Speaker 1: San Antonio in Austin. But the other two hundred forty, right,
Speaker 1: you talked to them too. You don't just favor them, Yeah,
Speaker 1: I do, would just stay with Texas. Uh. And it's
Speaker 1: interesting there is talk of, uh, the touring market coming
Speaker 1: back a bit faster because there are locations where they
Speaker 1: haven't been as you know, as impacted as greatly as
Speaker 1: New York has. But like we're thinking potentially October November
Speaker 1: for the for the touring market to be up uh
Speaker 1: and beginning to to do their annual tours. And we
Speaker 1: do a lot of tours in this country. Hey, you know, Charlotte,
Speaker 1: one thing I'm wondering too, because man, we've all realized,
Speaker 1: I mean, here we are doing our four hour radio
Speaker 1: show that we normally do in this incredibly gorgeous studio
Speaker 1: back in our New York headquarters. And yet I'm at home,
Speaker 1: you know, sitting at a desk, and we're able to
Speaker 1: do this, And I do wonder. It's interesting as we've
Speaker 1: seen more musical acts go on line and do performances
Speaker 1: for people. My daughter's giving me heads up about something.
Speaker 1: Taylor Swift is going to do a concert or an
Speaker 1: old concert and they're gonna put it online. Do you
Speaker 1: guys think about I know there's nothing like being a
Speaker 1: Broadway being in a Broadway theater and seeing a production,
Speaker 1: but I do wonder if you start to think about
Speaker 1: doing something online where people can pay and and see performances.
Speaker 1: We just haven't adopted that method yet. It's a completely
Speaker 1: different financial model. That would basically means starting over with
Speaker 1: all of our seventeen union contracts, so that that's a
Speaker 1: significant effort. Now I can't say we will never do it.
Speaker 1: We also have a number of producers who feel very
Speaker 1: passionately about the fact that yes, it's good to see
Speaker 1: it if you on air or online if you can't
Speaker 1: see it any other way, but that there truly is
Speaker 1: nothing like the live experience, sharing the emotional closeness with
Speaker 1: the other people in the audience. And for so many
Speaker 1: it's escape. You can't get up and go get a
Speaker 1: cup of coffee or take a phone call or whatever.
Speaker 1: And I think that's part of what makes theater special.
Speaker 1: Is it truly is an escape, whether it's a funny
Speaker 1: escape or a happy escape. Or even drowning yourself in
Speaker 1: a tragedy. It is escape from whatever you left outside
Speaker 1: the door of that theater. So if if the emails
Speaker 1: and texts and uh tweets that we're getting are any indication,
Speaker 1: I have a feeling people will be lined up to
Speaker 1: get back to theater once they know it. And so
Speaker 1: what are the what is this sort of the interim
Speaker 1: step look like, because obviously we're all looking forward to
Speaker 1: a day where you know, we've got this totally under
Speaker 1: control and there's a vaccine and people feel safe sort
Speaker 1: of sitting next to a stranger. Is there a middle step, Charlotte,
Speaker 1: or is this a business that really can't get back
Speaker 1: to anything resembling normal until there is a vaccine, either
Speaker 1: a vaccine or something medically or some products that make
Speaker 1: the danger seem significantly left. I mean, we're not a
Speaker 1: business that can socially distanced. And really, for the same
Speaker 1: reason that we can't do online streaming of our shows,
Speaker 1: we'd have to redo seventeen union contracts because it's not
Speaker 1: you can't have a audience. I've already explained that Broadway
Speaker 1: is a very risky business, and you know, one of
Speaker 1: our bigger producers socially distanced his theater on in concept
Speaker 1: and he could get of the audience he used to get,
Speaker 1: and that was not anywhere going to even cover the
Speaker 1: weekly running costs. So unless a whole new financial model
Speaker 1: is developed, and that's not only employee wages, it's theater rent,
Speaker 1: is design fees, it's all of the things that make
Speaker 1: up Broadway. They're eighty different careers that make a Broadway
Speaker 1: show happen. People think of actors and ushers, they don't
Speaker 1: think about all of the other people that put on
Speaker 1: a Broadway show. But our theatrical and ployees are the
Speaker 1: best in the world. But they're also the most expensive,
Speaker 1: and we would have to find a way to make
Speaker 1: that happen uh differently. So we just need our theaters
Speaker 1: to get back up full or at least almost full
Speaker 1: with those sharing audiences. You did say eighty three different careers,
Speaker 1: Is that correct? That is wow? Yeah, it's it's massive.
Speaker 1: I have to say, having seen Hamilton's and To Kill
Speaker 1: a Mockingbird in the last year or so, um, it's
Speaker 1: just there's nothing like it. I totally agree with you,
Speaker 1: and it's I I look forward to things getting back
Speaker 1: to normal, if only for for so many reasons, but
Speaker 1: also to be able to go back, uh and see
Speaker 1: a Broadway show. Charlotte, thank you so much. We wish
Speaker 1: you well and hopefully we can check in with you again.
Speaker 1: Charlotte Say Martin, she's president of the Broadway League, joining
Speaker 1: us on the phone in New York City. I mean,
Speaker 1: it's tough. It is tough, Jason. This is not one
Speaker 1: of those things that you can do. Partially. Yeah, I
Speaker 1: was really interested in that, and I really appreciate and
Speaker 1: I think you do to her candor on that, because
Speaker 1: there wasn't a sort of like, well we'll see and
Speaker 1: we're we're sort of, you know, experimenting with some things.
Speaker 1: She is realistic about the fact that the model as
Speaker 1: it is currently created and as it will be for
Speaker 1: the foreseeable future, will not be socially distanced. We call
Speaker 1: this simple, we call this week reality check, right, and
Speaker 1: it was very realistic.