After more than 21 months away from the theatre, the audience didn’t even wait for the first note to be sung before erupting into applause. On Dec. 15, Toronto’s Mirvish Productions brought up the lights once more on the feel-good blockbuster, reopening the musical after an epic pandemic pause to a sold-out house of more than 1,200 jubilant patrons at the Royal Alexandra Theatre.
Over the next 12 days, a slow-motion, multifactorial cataclysm triggered by COVID-19 rocked the company, Canada’s largest commercial theatre producer, just as it was hoping to find its feet again. The crisis forced Mirvish to shutter three of its biggest shows, includingafter only one week’s worth of performances. It also offered a gutting illustration of how the virus continues to scramble the live entertainment landscape, reinforcing what the company says is a new need for government support.
Digging into the industry math – including figures shared with The Globe by Mirvish and a spokesperson for Mirvish Productions – illuminates the increasingly precarious nature of commercial theatre. It also underscores the unusual role it plays in Canada, where it is regarded as a significant driver of tourism , but is something of an odd duck in a field dominated by not-for-profit companies.
But the economics were still acceptable for that show because of a U.S. federal government program, the Shuttered Venue Operators Grant, which provides a safety net of up to US$10-million to cover pandemic-related losses incurred by commercial shows on Broadway or on tour. The U.S. producer ontapped that fund, allowing Mirvish Productions to cover its own share of the weekly costs through the reduced box-office revenues.
Theatres much like everything else the pearl clutchers demand be closed is subject to ad hoc knee jerk lockdowns. No bums in seats is a sure way to have a production end. The steel trap grasp of the obvious by wokies who create these cause and effect situations makes me smile.
Shocking? Now there's the most overused word from last year