It seems you can’t keep England’s antic, anarchic holiday tradition down, even as disease stalks the land. Chris Wiegand talks to producers who are putting their pantos on film and in car parks. – The Guardian
Building Audiences
How The Houston Symphony Returned To The Stage For Live Performances
To be honest, part of the reason this could even be tried was that the governor of Texas didn’t institute a wide lockdown. That said, the symphony, which resumed weekly live concerts in July, consulted researchers from Rice to figure out where “microparticles” from musicians go within the symphony hall, and to institute better ventilation and filtration systems. (But the concerts have a livestreaming option for audience members who are not persuaded.) – Houston Chronicle
Some Of The Many Books That Helped Us Cope In 2020
Mysteries, children’s books, nonfiction, romance, books about race and racism, and so much more – along with an awful lot of screentime and chill, it’s how we coped with this, OK, yes, unprecendented year. – Washington Post
In-Person Theatre During Covid-19: Quarantine, Ventilate, And Be Ready To Quit
A recent New Jersey show demonstrates that, if the perfect factors come together, Equity theatre can happen – though it will be more rare in the winter, certainly. “The whole time we were working on it, I would wake up feeling like Icarus and wondering if my wings were going to melt. But it was worth all the hurdles.” – American Theatre
“Wonder Woman” Plan Threatens Movie Theatres
“By now, you’ve read a million paeans to the magic of sitting in a darkened theater, but it’s not just the evanescent experience of the silver screen that’s been whisked away. On a purely practical level, theaters act as a filter, a way of separating out a small handful of the hundreds of movies released every year, and although the system by which they end up there is riven with biases and blind spots, on balance, the movies that end up there are better than the ones that don’t, and their limited runs create a sense of occasion and urgency that the boundless availability of streaming can’t match.” – Slate
Australia Gets Ready To Restart Live Performance As (Almost) Normal
“Live performance venues and events will be allowed to reach capacity of up to 75% in states that have recorded no new locally acquired coronavirus cases in 14 days. … In what has been labelled the ‘Covid normal’ of the near future, indoor events and seated outdoor events will still be ticketed only, and additional restrictions will still apply to large-scale multi-day outdoor music festivals.” – The Guardian
Hallmark Has Been Broadcasting Christmas Shows Since Before Halloween — And It’s Ruling Cable TV With Them
“What’s most striking about Hallmark’s continued yuletide success is that the network hasn’t suffered the same ratings erosion as most of its cable peers. … It’s harder than ever to get holiday TV commercials in front of holiday viewers, but Hallmark is still doing so with relative ease.” – Vulture
Most Musicians Earn Tiny Pittances From Streaming. China May Have A Solution
“On several streaming platforms under the umbrella of China’s Tencent Music … micropayments from fans help compensate artists where royalties fall short. This has partially allowed artists to do some smaller-scale hustling every time they release a new album. In part it’s given them a digital tip jar. But it hasn’t been all small change. … [And] there’s no reason why Tencent Music’s model can’t be applied beyond China.” – Slate
Groundbreaking: “Wonder Woman” Will Be Released Online And In Theatres Simultaneously
The decision to forgo a traditional theatrical release is surprising because “Wonder Woman 1984” was expected to be one of the biggest films of 2020 and had the potential to surpass $1 billion in ticket sales. The $200 million-budgeted movie was originally supposed to hit theaters this past summer. However, it was delayed time and time again amid the coronavirus crisis. – Variety
Here’s One Country Where Theatre Is Alive And Well Despite COVID
“When the second wave of [the pandemic] hit, theatres in South Korea remained open. How? By approaching theatre as a controlled event, says New York-based director Sammi Cannold, who observed Seoul’s approach first-hand.” – The Stage
Study: Americans Feel Positive About The Arts, But There Are Demographic Differences
“The extensive survey, coordinated by the American Academy of Arts and Sciences’s Humanities Indicators project, … [found that] 80% of American adults hold a ‘very favorable’ or ‘somewhat favorable’ view of the arts … but only 11% of them said they visit art museums or attend arts events regularly, while another 29% said they do so ‘sometimes.'” Interestingly, Black and Latinx Americans are far more likely to attend poetry and literary events than are their white compatriots. – Hyperallergic
In Pandemic-Inspired Theatre, The Critic Can Also Be The Audience, And The Star
Says one critic of the Dutch Kills Theatre Company’s Temping: “‘Seen’ is wrong — there’s no audience, live or otherwise — but ‘done’ is right. The audience member does everything, including, if your brain works like mine does, thinking about what you’re going to wear on your first day.” – The New York Times
Theatres That Were Already Working On Flexibility Have The Advantage Now
As Atlanta’s Alliance Theatre director of development Jamie Clements notes, “Patrons tend to fall on a continuum between wanting fixed seats and wanting options; providing a flexible membership opened the door to those on the continuum looking for the ability to adjust.” And, obviously, 2020 demands the utmost flexibility from theatres and their patrons. – American Theatre
How One Theatre Tried To Make Waiting In A Georgia Voting Line A Little More Fun
The theatre chosen as a polling place wanted to make sure first-time voters had a good time just the way they tried in non-Covid times to make sure first-time theatregoers enjoyed their time. So: Snacks, apolitical music, “line-warming” activities, a slideshow, and more. “One of the women working with me day of said, ‘More theaters should run voting. This is what the voting experience should be.'” – Slate
Disney+ Now Has 73 Million Subscribers
That marks a leap from the 60.5 million paying subscribers that Disney Plus had when Disney last reported earnings in early August. Hulu now has 36.6 million total paying subscribers, up from 35.5 million in late June, while ESPN Plus has grown to 10.3 million subscribers, up from 8.5 million reported last quarter. – Variety
The Collapse Of Quibi: An Inside View
“While employees were trying to figure out how to get people to sign up and actually watch a series, creatives working on the shows were wondering why anyone would voluntarily spend $5 a month to watch anything on Quibi at all.” (And they all found out about the company’s end in the press, not from executives.) – The Verge
How Theatre Audiences Have Responded To Digital Performances During The Pandemic: New Study
“Key findings of the study include that 43% of audiences for digital programming were new to the organization; that digital audience members who previously attended in-person events are paying higher ticket prices; that digital performances with multiple dates have higher revenue potential; that audiences for digital performances book their tickets closer to the performance date than in-person audiences did; and that 10% of digital audiences add a donation on top of the ticket price.” – American Theatre
Playing Tetris With Patron Seating And Whack-A-Mole With Problems: How Front-Of-House Staff Reopened UK Theatres Under COVID
Before the latest lockdown, “it was all looking so hopeful. Reopening theatres after seven months was never going to be easy, but big and small teams across the country had been rising to the challenge and welcoming audiences back with gusto.” Here’s a look at how the ways they went about it. – The Stage
Research: How Coronavirus Changed TV Viewing Habits
Coronavirus fundamentally changed people’s reasons for watching TV. Whereas before it was often associated with distraction and unwinding, the people we spoke to were rife with anxiety and turned to TV to relieve the stress of COVID-19. Television provided a sanctuary during lockdown for those seeking familiar and “safe” content which offered an escape from the worrying realities of the pandemic. – The Conversation
The Smithsonian’s Slow Walk To Re-Opening
“The building is cleaner than it’s been since 1964. It’s fabulous,” said Anthea M. Hartig, director of the National Museum of American History. Daily attendance there is about a tenth of normal, Hartig said, creating a different experience. “Instead of doing the rush through, people are spending more time because they can.” – Washington Post
D.C. Begins Pilot Program To Restart Live Theatre
While almost all performance venues in the District remain closed, the first company there to produce a play under new local COVID-safety protocols is GALA Hispanic Theatre, with a staging of Spanish Golden Age playwright Lope de Vega’s El perro del hortelano (“The Gardener’s Dog”, usually known in English as “The Dog in the Manger’). Thomas Floyd reports on how it’s working. – The Washington Post
Classical Concerts Under COVID: Where Things Stand In Asia, Australia/New Zealand, And the Americas
With governments in China, Japan, South Korea, and Singapore mostly able to impose safety measures without too much pushback, case numbers are down and concert numbers are up, though usually with reduced audience. New Zealand is almost back to normal and Australia is getting there, with even a Ring cycle planned for Brisbane this month. Alas, reports David Karlin, “the contrast between Asia and the Americas could not be more stark,” though tentative returns to concert life are happening in Canada, Colombia, and Chile. – Bachtrack
Researchers Have Some Good News About Indoor Concerts And COVID
“Analysis of an indoor concert staged by scientists in August suggests that the impact of such events on the spread of the coronavirus is ‘low to very low’ as long as organizers ensure adequate ventilation, strict hygiene protocols and limited capacity, according to the German researchers who conducted the study.” Be aware, though, that the paper has not yet been peer-reviewed. – The New York Times
Prognosis For Cable TV Is Even Worse Than You Think
“It’s all over for cable. Even Nielsen is saying that 25% of television viewing time is now streaming. Samsung is saying that if you’re a smart TV owner, over 50% of viewing time is streaming. That’s a problem for the cable networks. They have to follow the audience.” – Protocol
Cable TV Is Falling Off A Cliff
They expect about 25 million U.S. households to cancel their pay-TV subscriptions over the next five years. This is on top of the 25 million homes that have already cut the cord since 2012. At least three major media companies now expect pay-TV subscriptions to stabilize around 50 million, according to people familiar with the matter, who declined to speak on the record because their company plans are private. – CNBC
What Classical Music Loses In Screen Translation
The novelty of watching concerts over Zoom has worn off, and though audiences are still pleased to have anything, anything at all, to watch, the loss of physical space is real, and musicians and conductors feel it. “The absence of an audience subtracts something essential from the music as well; it becomes an unbalanced equation, an unanswered question.” – Washington Post
In Isolation, Listening To The World
You want to hear Japanese psychedelia from 1971? Johnny Hallyday and Edith Piaf? The indie music of Mexico? The internet, of course, is there for you (and for all of us). – The New York Times
The Dream Of Private Theatre Support Lives
Outdoor theatre was a risky bet in 2020, but in the Berkshires, it more than paid off. The artistic director of the Barrington Stage Company on the conversation that changed this winter’s planning: “My development director almost passed out.” – The New York Times
Online Theater Gets More Interactive
“Several months into the pandemic, performers, designers and writers are using technology … with more ingenuity. They’re skillfully adapting some of the devices honed in live performance over the years — namely, techniques to break the fourth wall and lure spectators into the show. And in the process, theater is reclaiming for these trying times its rightful status as the most intimate of art forms.” – The Washington Post
Eight Small Theaters Sue New York State And City For Right To Reopen
“The lawsuit, filed Friday in Federal District Court in Manhattan, argues that the orders shutting down theaters ‘shock the conscience and interfere with plaintiffs’ deeply-rooted liberty and property rights, including the right to work, right to contract, and right to engage in commerce.’ The theaters filing suit … have 199 seats or fewer, and most of [them] are commercial operations.” – The New York Times