Sandy, arriving angrily last Monday, shocked New York, leaving much of the city, including most of its theater, in disarray. If New Yorkers have never completely embraced Spider-Man, they surely took up its subtitle as their rallying cry this past week: Turn Off The Dark.
Both New York and New York theater are making a slower-than-hoped-for recovery from the storm, thanks to the severity of the damage and unanticipated delays in restoring both power and public transportation to full capacity. But Broadway came back relatively quickly – after three days of cancelations, all Broadway shows resumed on Wednesday, and Thursday’s opening of “The Heiress” went on as scheduled. Downtown theater, harder hit, is back on the boards this weekend, and luring theatergoers Off-Broadway with weeklong deep discounts.
Help is being organized for those who need assistance because of Sandy, including theaters and theater artists.
This past week in New York featured countless tales of tragedy and heroism – the stuff of drama. But for most of us, a week that began with lots of levity turned into day-to-day drudgery filled with petty and irksome inconveniences. The week in New York Theater, October 29 to November 4, 2012, reflects both.
Monday, October 29, 2012
@NYCMayorsOffice: All @NYCSchools & all @NYCParks are closed today, & all @MTAInsider service is suspended. #Sandy
Jonathan (@NewYorkTheater): Not so bad out, except the street looks like hit by Zombie Apocalypse
Hope Baugh (@IndyTheatre): Hope you and everyone “out east” make it through safely, Jonathan!
Mayoral update: Water surge as high as 11 feet will peak in NYC at around 8 pm tonight. “Tomorrow morning we expect to be very wet.”
Women won the right to vote in the United States 92 years ago today.
James Sims (@SimsJames): Sandy must not be a suffragette.
“Ask My Friend Sandy,” a play by Stanley Young,was performed at the Biltmore (now the Samuel J Friedman) from February 4-13, 1943
#Sandy Alvarez, Sandy Baron,Sandy Binion, Sandy Bozoki,Sandy Brown,Sandy Campbell & of course Sandy Dennis all performed on Bway
Scott Heller (@hellerNYT): Don’t forget Gary Sandy, replacement Pirate King in “Pirates of Penzance”
“Karen Wilson” (@akakarenwilson) #Sandy Duncan
George Washington Bridge, Verrazano and several other bridges (Throgs Neck, Whitestone etc.) closing at 7 p.m.
Tyler Moss (@TylerJMoss): Guess I’m not leaving NYC now…
All Broadway performances canceled for Tuesday, says Broadway League.
Bloomberg: “The time for relocation and evacuation is over.” From now on, stay indoors.
@ElBloombito Por favor to no run under los trees. Que get bonked on su cabeza. Que migraine.
Jonathan Mandell Who else got a recorded announcement from Con Ed that they may shut off your electrical power “as a precautionary measure”?
Catherine Porter @CatPeculiar We got it earlier today
Tyler Moss They said they’d be notifying most of lower manhattan and parts of Brooklyn and Queens.
Residential building on 14th St. & 8th Ave. (across from Google’s NYC headquarters) has collapsed, according to @FDNY
Shirlz @Shirlz1123 that’s insane!!!
Water level at the Battery has reached 11.25 ft, says @nycgov, surpassing the all-time record of 11.2 ft set in 1821.
70,000 New Yorkers have lost electrical power. #ConEd shut down 6,500 more as “precautionary measure.” We could be next.
Jonathan Mandell Threat of no electricity is less scary than the spooky sounds of wind. I suddenly really want a cupcake.
V (@IMV55): In preparation I baked chocolate cupcakes, cornbread, blueberry muffins and pies yesterday
Jason Robert Brown (@MrJasonRBrown): Except that since there’s a marquee for “Follies”, it was probably last year during Irene.
Cara @cgtheatregeek: Also, Memphis.
Natalie Chernicoff (@n2natalie): Yep, it’s from Irene last year. Note the Memphis billboard in the upper left as well.
Nina M’Shine (@unusualway) It’s definitely not from today as that Mamma Mia billboard is actually a Mary Poppins/Newsies billboard now!
Jonathan Mandell Ok, well, there goes my electricity
“Power went out in parts of Manhattan as subways and tunnels flooded” NYT
250,000 people are reportedly without electricity in Manhattan alone. Downtown, the waters surged an unprecedented 13 feet.
@NYCMayorsOffice Things have gotten tough, but we will get through this together, as New York City always does. #Sandy
Tuesday, October 30, 2012
Jonathan Mandell: 16 hours without power….It’s like I Am Legend outside.
Kathy Perry (@krperry2): do you know if any theaters got flooded & sets destroyed?
Partial bus service will reportedly be restored at 5 pm today
Victoria Barbarino @VictoriaBarbss I never thought I would see the day when Staten Island is absolutely destroyed. #SaveStatenIsland #Prayingforeveryone
Wednesday, October 31
18 New Yorkers died. Breezy Point completely destroyed. No subway service for days more. 600,000+ still without power.
Jonathan Mandell: I saw that the Playwrights Sidewalk marquee at the Lucille Lortel Theater was smashed by wind.
“All artists are making art by cleaning right now”~Martha Bowers of Dance Theatre Etc. (@RedHookArts) as quoted by Akers.
Checkers, with Anthony Paglia as Richard Nixon, will NOT open today at Vineyard Theatre, thanks to Sandy. Not sure when it’ll resume
Vineyard Theatre (@vineyardtheatre): We are still without power, sadly. Theater facility is fine otherwise. We will let you know when we’re back!
The Village Halloween Parade has been postponed, probably until next week. (But you couldn’t ask for a scarier Halloween)
Halloween 2012 on Christopher Street
Broadway always wears a smile Jonathan Mandell: My search for electricity would make a bad TV series. The Power Seekers?
(Incongruously, theater news:)
Harvey Weinstein wants in on Broadway: Movie mogul in talks to mount his first Broadway musical as lead producer, Finding Neverland
At the beginning of “The Heiress,” the heartbreaking story of an abandoned love, Jessica Chastain descends the staircase of a sumptuous mansion in a dazzling red dress and a glorious smile – and right away, we see the problem with the fifth Broadway production of this celebrated play…
Chastain’s beauty and grace throw the delicate dynamic of “The Heiress” out of whack….
t takes an intense willingness to overlook the miscasting of Chastain in order to gain maximum pleasure from director Moises Kaufman’s other choices. Derek McLane’s set is elegant in its rich hues and delicious in its details. Albert Wolsky’s costumes and David Lander’s lighting take us back to mid-19th-century New York. Dan Stevens is nearly as dashing and personable here as when he plays the dreamboat Matthew Crawley in the BBC TV series Downton Abbey…
Friday, November 2
#Sandy death toll in NYC rises to 41, in US as a whole, more than 100
@fema If you’ve been affected by #Sandy apply for assistance online at http://www.disasterassistance.gov or call 1-800-621-FEMA(3362)
@nycmayorsoffice: We’ve decided to cancel NYC marathon. The NY Road Runners will have additional information in days ahead…
Off-Broadway promising $20 tickets to many shows once they reopen
Jonathan Mandell: MTA bus drivers are forbidden to enter the Dark Zone at night — just where public transportation is needed most. Hey MTA, are you afraid we Dark Zone residents will hijack your buses?
Jonathan Mandell: 98 hours, no power.
The Moon — from the Dark Zone
Saturday, November 3
Jonathan Mandell: And the power is back — 105 hours after it disappeared.
It is not easy to treat “Alone” as just another play, for two reasons. First and foremost are the circumstances in which I saw it: an Off-Off Broadway production that went on when the blackout that followed Hurricane Sandy shut down most of the others. Its lead actor, Timothy McCown Reynolds, had walked from his home in Bushwick all the way to the theater in midtown Manhattan for the tech rehearsal the day before it opened. The night I attended “Alone,” I was nearly alone in the audience. How can one help but be impressed by the dedication of Rabbit Hole Ensemble?
But “Alone” is also difficult, because its writer and director, Edward Elefterion, the artistic director of Rabbit Hole Ensemble, claims that it is inspired by the life and work of August Strindberg and created in honor of the centennial of his death. Yet it is about as far from a bio-drama of the great Swedish dramatist as a play whose main character is named August Strindberg could be.
