{"id":107255,"date":"2020-11-07T20:19:47","date_gmt":"2020-11-07T17:19:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/en.buradabiliyorum.com\/how-9-11-brought-broadway-to-a-standstill-until-nycs-mayor-revived-it\/"},"modified":"2020-11-07T20:19:47","modified_gmt":"2020-11-07T17:19:47","slug":"how-9-11-brought-broadway-to-a-standstill-until-nycs-mayor-revived-it","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/how-9-11-brought-broadway-to-a-standstill-until-nycs-mayor-revived-it\/","title":{"rendered":"#How 9\/11 brought Broadway to a standstill until NYC’s mayor revived it"},"content":{"rendered":"

“#How 9\/11 brought Broadway to a standstill until NYC’s mayor revived it<\/strong>”<\/p>\n

\n Like the coronavirus pandemic, 9\/11 brought Broadway to a standstill \u2014 until NYC\u2019s mayor took incredible steps to save it. The New York Post\u2019s Broadway columnist MICHAEL RIEDEL recounts the inspiring tale in this excerpt from his upcoming book \u201cSingular Sensation: The Triumph of Broadway.\u201d<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

The summer of 2001 was a heady time for \u201cThe Producers.\u201d The show was sold out for the duration of co-stars Nathan Lane and Matthew Broderick\u2019s contracts. Scalpers had tickets, but the price was now $1,500 and climbing. Producers Mel Brooks, Thomas Meehan and Susan Stroman frequently stopped by the theater, sat on a flight of stairs at the back of the orchestra, and watched 1,700 people split their sides laughing. Broderick and Lane were on the covers of magazines and news<\/a>papers and in constant demand on the talk show circuit. Whenever Brooks came into restaurants like Angus McIndoe, Orso or Joe Allen, he hopped from table to table, accepting praise for his show. His wife Anne Bancroft, waiting patiently at their table, would let him lap it up for a bit and then yell, \u201cMel \u2014 eat!\u201d<\/p>\n

Though \u201cThe Producers\u201d was the undisputed king of Times Square that summer, it helped all the other shows by putting Broadway squarely in the mainstream of American popular culture. The total box office gross for the 2000\u201301 theater season hit an all-time high of $665 million, a 10.3 percent jump from the previous season. Paid attendance soared 500,000 to set another record \u2014 11.9 million. It was the tenth year in a row that Broadway had smashed its own records.<\/p>\n

Attendance dipped slightly during the summer as the economy began to sag. Jed Bernstein, the head of the League of American Theatres and Producers, said, \u201cWe are far from a panic situation, but it certainly bears watching. It means keeping the marketing pressure on.\u201d Nobody was too concerned, especially since another blockbuster was around the corner \u2014 \u201cMamma Mia!\u201d the ABBA musical from London, set to open Oct. 18, 2001, at the Winter Garden. It already had an advance of $20 million.<\/p>\n

\"New
After Sept. 11, Mayor Giuliani said he took inspiration from Churchill, who insisted the theater go on as usual during the Battle of Britain \u201cto show the Germans \u2026 can\u2019t defeat our spirit.\u201d<\/span>Getty Images<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

On Sunday, Sept. 9, Broadway kicked off the fall theater season with \u201cBroadway on Broadway,\u201d an annual free concert in Times Square featuring performances from all the current shows.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou know what the No. 1 attraction in the city of New York is?\u201d then-Mayor Rudolph Giuliani asked the crowd. \u201cBroadway!\u201d<\/p>\n

Bernstein thought the mayor looked tired. He was coming to the end of his term \u2014 and his marriage to Donna Hanover. The tabloids had relished the news of his affair with Judith Nathan. He\u2019d battled cancer and ended a lackluster bid for the United States Senate.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was obvious he wasn\u2019t having any fun,\u201d Bernstein said.<\/p>\n

Everybody else was, however. Joe Bologna, starring on Broadway with his wife Ren\u00e9e Taylor in \u201cIf you ever leave me \u2026 I\u2019m going with you!,\u201d summed up the afternoon: \u201cOn this beautiful, perfect New York September day to be on Broadway \u2026 there is nothing more exciting.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Hijacked
The devastating events of 9\/11 led many to fear Broadway would also be a target.<\/span>Getty Images<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

On Tuesday \u2014 another \u201cbeautiful, perfect September day\u201d \u2014 Bernstein was having breakfast with Paige Price, the star of the musical version of \u201cSaturday Night Fever,\u201d at the Polish Tea Room.<\/p>\n

Price was thinking of becoming a producer, and Bernstein was giving her advice. Harry Edelstein, the owner of the Edison, came over to their table and said, \u201cA plane just hit one of the World Trade Center towers.\u201d Bernstein thought, as so many people did, it must be a small plane. He remembered that in 1945 a plane crashed into the Empire State Building. He finished breakfast and went to his office at the League.<\/p>\n

Everybody was in the conference room watching television. The South Tower had just collapsed. Bernstein sent all but a few people home and then arranged a conference call with theater owners the Shuberts, the Nederlanders, and Jujamcyn Theaters to consider the threat to Times Square. Some planes were still unaccounted for. They also had to decide if the shows would go on that night, and what they should tell the press. As events unfolded, it became clear Broadway would have to shut down. The city was cordoned off, all bridges and tunnels closed, the Manhattan sky ringed by fighter jets.<\/p>\n

I spoke to Gerald Schoenfeld, then chairman of The Shubert Organization, that morning. \u201cBroadway is world famous and as much a target as any other landmark,\u201d he said, adding that he and the other theater owners would talk to city officials before deciding when \u2014 or if \u2014 to reopen.<\/p>\n

All through that day, Giuliani kept thinking, Where can I go for guidance on this? Two places came to mind: Israel and London during the Battle of Britain. After the Jaffa Road bus bombings in 1996, Giuliani went to Israel to ride the bus with Jerusalem Mayor Ehud Olmert.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey got that bus running as quickly as possible to show the terrorists you can\u2019t deter the Israelis,\u201d Giuliani said. When the attack on New York occurred, Giuliani was reading Roy Jenkins\u2019 new biography of Winston Churchill. He tried to get an hour or so of sleep in the early morning of Sept. 12, but couldn\u2019t. He picked up the Churchill biography and read that, during the Battle of Britain, Churchill insisted the theater, the opera, the ballet and the orchestra go on as usual \u201cto show the Germans that you can\u2019t defeat our spirit,\u201d Giuliani said.<\/p>\n

\"People
People line up in April 2001 for the hottest show on Broadway, \u201cThe Producers.\u201d<\/span>New York Post<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The next morning Bernstein got a call from Cristyne Nicholas, the head of NYC & Company, the city\u2019s tourism office. She summoned him to a meeting with the mayor at the Police Academy on East Twentieth Street. Richard Grasso, the head of the New York Stock Exchange, was there, along with officials from the Metropolitan Museum and the hotel industry.<\/p>\n

A grim Giuliani said, \u201cWe have to put our emotions aside for a moment and figure out how we are going to save New York.\u201d He turned to Grasso. \u201cWhen can you get the stock market reopened?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you can give us power, we can reopen,\u201d Grasso said. (The stock market opened one week later.)<\/p>\n

Giuliani turned to Bernstein and Nicholas. \u201cWhen can Broadway reopen?\u201d Bernstein and Nicholas hesitated and then outlined the problem. Many people who work on Broadway live in the suburbs. With the bridges and tunnels closed they would not be able to get to work.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you can get our employees over the bridges we can reopen,\u201d Bernstein said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThursday,\u201d Giuliani said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis isn\u2019t going to be as easy as Rudy thinks,\u201d Bernstein told Nicholas as they were leaving the meeting. \u201cI don\u2019t know if we can just flip the switch, turn on the lights, and have a Broadway show.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Writers
\u201cThe Producers\u201d writers Thomas Meehan (left) and Mel Brooks accept the Tony Award for Best Book of a Musical on June 3, 2001 \u2014 just months before the world changed forever.<\/span>Reuters<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Bernstein convened a meeting of producers, union heads and press agents \u2014 over a hundred people stuffed into the League\u2019s conference room. He told them the mayor wanted Broadway open on Thursday, Sept. 13. There were questions about safety, logistics, economics, whether there would even be an audience.<\/p>\n

But in the end, everyone agreed to light the lights of Broadway Thursday night.<\/p>\n

Someone mentioned that on Tuesday night all the members of Congress had gathered on the steps of the Capitol and sang Irving Berlin\u2019s \u201cGod Bless America.\u201d Why not have the casts of every show sing the song during the curtain call, the person suggested.<\/p>\n

Nicholas met with over two hundred actors, musicians, stagehands, stage managers, and press agents that afternoon in a Broadway theater to tell them the mayor wanted them at work Thursday night. There was resistance \u2014 concerns, again, about safety and getting into the city. An actor stood up and said, \u201cYou\u2019re not the one who has to get up there and perform. You have no idea how hard it is. We\u2019re human beings. We\u2019re hurting, we\u2019re suffering.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Actors
\u201cThe Producers\u201d stars Nathan Lane (left) and Matthew Broderick got back on stage on Sept. 13 \u2014 just two days after the attacks.<\/span>Getty Images<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Nicholas understood, but said, \u201cPlease do your best, for the city.\u201d She relayed concerns about safety and being able to get into the city to Giuliani. He had already stepped up the police presence in Times Square as it was on his list of the city\u2019s top ten potential targets.<\/p>\n

As for getting into the city, he said, \u201cTell them to show their union card at the bridges and tunnels and I guarantee they will get in.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI want Broadway open on Thursday,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe focus was on New Jersey,\u201d Giuliani recalled years later, \u201cbecause that\u2019s where the terrorists came from that did the first bombing of the World Trade Center in 1993. But I thought if people say they\u2019re working on Broadway and we examine them a little bit, we could let them in without too much of a risk.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Empty
With Broadway shuttered till 2021 due to the coronavirus pandemic, the story of its return 19 years ago after 9\/11 offers a glimmer of hope.<\/span>Taidgh Barron\/NY Post<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Giuliani called the big three theater owners \u2014 Gerald Schoenfeld, James L. Nederlander Jr., and Rocco Landesman \u2014 to enlist their help in getting Broadway up and running on Thursday night. He told Landesman, \u201cGet \u2018The Producers\u2019 back up because then everybody will follow suit.\u201d Landesman said he would.<\/p>\n

It was clear by the end of the day on Wednesday that Broadway could reopen. But would there be an audience? As he was dealing with the untold horrors of the attack, Giuliani, surrounded by media<\/a> wherever he went, said several times, \u201cIf you want to help the city \u2014 if you want to show the terrorists that we can handle this \u2014 come to the city. Come to a play. Go to a movie. Go to a restaurant. Spend some money here. We need the money.\u201d<\/p>\n

Matthew Broderick made his way to the St. James from his Soho apartment Thursday afternoon. There were checkpoints everywhere, but he showed his ID and got through. Is it OK to be in Times Square, he thought as he headed to the theater. Is this still going on? And yet \u201cwe had something to do,\u201d he said. \u201cThe world was going to go forward in some way, maybe.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Singular<\/p>\n

The cast gathered backstage to prepare for the show. The stage manager told them the sound effects of the bombs falling during \u201cSpringtime for Hitler\u201d would be cut.<\/p>\n

The cast rehearsed \u201cGod Bless America.\u201d Broderick didn\u2019t know all the lyrics, but he was determined to learn them.<\/p>\n

Giuliani went to \u201cThe Lion King\u201d for the start of the show that night. Nicholas attended \u201cThe Full Monty.\u201d The majority of the press covering the reopening of Broadway attended the hottest show in town, \u201cThe Producers.\u201d The house, to everyone\u2019s surprise, was about two-thirds full. But it was quiet. The buzz of excitement at a hit musical before the curtain goes up was missing. Rocco Landesman walked out on stage and told the audience, \u201cYou have permission to laugh tonight. That\u2019s the best app<\/a>roach. We\u2019ve come together and we will laugh together.\u201d<\/p>\n

Lane got muted laughs during the number \u201cThe King of Broadway.\u201d \u201cThe big laughs weren\u2019t there,\u201d Jeffrey Denman recalled. \u201cWe had to gradually pull people in. It was, \u2018We can do this, we can do this together.\u2019\u2009\u201d By the time the number \u201cKeep It Gay\u201d was off and running, the laughs came. They also came for \u201cLittle Old Lady Land.\u201d And they came for \u201cSpringtime for Hitler.\u201d At the curtain call Lane and Broderick joined hands with the cast and led fifteen hundred people in tears through \u201cGod Bless America.\u201d<\/p>\n

Excerpted from SINGULAR SENSATION: The Triumph of Broadway<\/a>, by Michael Riedel (c) 2020. Reprinted by permission of Avid Reader Press, an Imprint of Simon & Schuster, Inc.<\/em><\/p>\n

Michael Riedel will be doing a two-part virtual event series<\/a> with 92Y:<\/b><\/p>\n

Tuesday, November 10 @ 7 PM (ET) w\/ Rocco Landesman and Tom Schumacher<\/b><\/p>\n

Tuesday, November 17 @ 7 PM (ET) w\/ Jerry Zaks and Nathan Lane\u00a0<\/b><\/p>\n

For tickets, visit <\/b>92y.org\/event\/the-triumph-of-broadway<\/b><\/a>\n <\/div>\n

\n

For forums sites go to Forum.BuradaBiliyorum.Com<\/a><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

\n

If you want to read more News articles, you can visit our News category.<\/a><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Source<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

“#How 9\/11 brought Broadway to a standstill until NYC’s mayor revived it” Like the coronavirus pandemic, 9\/11 brought Broadway to a standstill \u2014 until NYC\u2019s mayor took incredible steps to save it. The New York Post\u2019s Broadway columnist MICHAEL RIEDEL recounts the inspiring tale in this excerpt from his upcoming book \u201cSingular Sensation: The Triumph…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":107256,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2020\/11\/broadway-on-broadway.jpg?quality=90&strip=all&w=1200","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[70897],"tags":[79021,70629,17209,29467,70418,4953,70631],"class_list":["post-107255","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-11-7-20","tag-9-11","tag-books","tag-broadway","tag-broadway-musicals","tag-new-york-city","tag-rudy-giuliani"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/107255","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=107255"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/107255\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/107256"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=107255"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=107255"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=107255"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}