Even though I’ve been to the Hollywood Bowl for a handful of shows this summer and the Santa Fe Opera, I wasn’t sure how prepared I’d be for the new ritual of showing my ID, my proof of vaccination and watching a Broadway show with a mask on. Would others be inclined to follow the rules? Would two-and-a-half hours with a mask on watching a show stifle my enjoyment of it?

Before answering those questions, I should state that I’ve seen Bruce Springsteen over 75 times in my life. In addition to countless concerts since The River tour, I had previously seen Springsteen on Broadway two times. I was predisposed to liking the show and hoped that my mask wouldn’t get in the way of being able to shout Bruuuuuuuce.

The process of getting in was actually easier than it’s been for many a show – whether in New York or elsewhere – without the extra precautions. A quick show of my vaccination card and my ID and off I went to security. An easy walk through the metal detector followed and then I showed my digital ticket and walked into the theater.

The lobby was the most challenging component of it all. As with many New York theaters, the lobby isn’t large enough to satisfy all those who wanted a drink or two to enjoy during the show and all those who wanted to buy some merchandise to take home.

Luckily enough for me I discovered there was a beer and wine stand placed for easy access by those in line for merchandise. I partook of both the drinks and the merchandise.

I didn’t see anyone trying to get by without a mask. To a person everyone, including Bruce Springsteen as he walked on the stage, was wearing a mask. As a result, I never felt uncomfortable nor did I feel at risk. Once the show started I never thought once about COVID.

The show, which I believe has more changes in it than was previously reported, was exceptional. (I know…I’m biased.) There seemed to be more melancholy, more emotion, more spontaneity and more hope for better days all mixed into Springsteen’s stories and this slightly revised selection of songs. Often when you see the same show several times you see the same show several times. This was not the case on Friday night. (For die-hard Springsteen fans, I did not miss Born to Run.)

I’m grateful Springsteen on Broadway marked my return to Broadway. I can’t wait to go to more shows. And I will. I hope you will, too.

Springsteen on Broadway continues through September 4th. For tickets please go here.

Photo: Bruce Springsteen in Springsteen on Broadway (Photo by Rob DeMartin)

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When I spoke to Edmunds on Wednesday, March 18th by phone, it would be another full day before the Metropolitan Opera in New York cancelled the rest of their season. Other venues have since started to make similar announcements.

These are edited excerpts (for length and clarity) from my conversation with Edmunds.

Before getting into the practical part of the world in which we find ourselves, after working so hard to put together your 2019-2020 season, how did you and your team navigate the emotional part of seeing it come apart?

It was certainly one of the hardest things I’ve ever had to do. I think, if I understand the community and our fans and audience enough, as hard as this it, it is a line that at least creates some clarity that allows us to redirect our energy into the things we need to do. Which is cope, keep ourselves healthy and safe and protect the community. Then look out to the future differently. It was really really hard.

This is a team of people who are doers, as all of us are in the arts. Part of it is scrambling to go, “there must be something else we can do; there must be something can do for our fans, our artists,” so you start sequencing that. We realized we were heading to the whole of the season. I had a chance to prepare my team so that announcement was something we can do with less chaos.

You were the first performing arts organization in Los Angeles to announce the suspension of the entire remaining part of your season. What, if any, conversations did you have with other institutions about their long-term plans and is there a consensus amongst other venues that this is the inevitable path going forward?

I’ve been in conversations with colleague organizations small, medium and large; locally, statewide, West Coast, nationally and internationally. Because I am at UCLA, an institution that has academics, research, a hospital and more, we were part of preparedness planning. I felt it was imperative to speak with colleagues who wouldn’t have that information about what the government – state or city – would be doing. Everyone will speak to what their own duty of care and community is needed and to their operating models. But we try to be in touch regularly.

Beyond suspending the season, what does this do to your artists, many of whom are on tours?

When a performance project cancels or when it is suspended, and I’m now speaking broadly, it tends to be in the contract that the performers are paid when they complete the performance. Wanting to get on the front foot to address that, let’s begin rescheduling. If everyone is up for that, that’s what we’ll be doing. We’re already involved with protecting and structuring dates. However uncertain future dynamics will be, it allows a future time we can work towards. On an emotional and structural level that is important.

There are some other things that are probably not unique to us, but there is a sequence of determinations that had to do with international performers about to land in the United States or were already here and they were working their way to Los Angeles. We had Ladysmith Black Mambazo returning back from their memorial services in South African for the death of their founder (Joseph Shabalala). They are in grief, but feel it is an absolute duty to carry on their music as he wanted. When they returned to the United States, they landed in Cincinnati who announced urgently they were cancelled. They didn’t even know the venue they were headed to had cancelled. I said to the tour manager, “You’re coming here, whatever you need.” On Monday we had them on the Royce Hall stage performing and we filmed it and will get it to people. It was a way to let them do spiritually and structurally what their mentor and founder had asked them to do. They are now in transit back and they have not yet landed as I speak to you now.

How do you see the role of the arts once this crisis has passed?

How do I say it? Artists and theatre makers and musicians and performing arts and visual media and everything, essentially we’ve always been working on some way to give form to an essentialness that we offer. We do that out of a professional call to our practices. I keep thinking about we’re all going to experience these new contours when we get back together as a community as very differently ravaged and all impacted human beings. And in that time period, I feel like then it is going to be our turn to support that essentialness that the arts have provided far differently than we ever have before.

Playwright George Bernard Shaw said, “Without art, the crudeness of reality would make the world unbearable.” In our world today, what would you suggest those of us who love the arts do while we all wait this out?

I don’t want to sound too esoteric, but honestly, the arts have always helped us practice who we are in relation to it. It helps us practice who are with that which is other or like in the moment that we are there. We can still practice that before we needed to understand ourselves in this moment. I feel like reflecting on that artistry that mattered a lot to us and talking about it and using it for its inspiration and resilience and prescientness is useful to us. We practiced how we encountered that feeling in a fictional environment and now in a very real set of environments. And that’s useful. It’s useful to communicate hither and yon the importantance the arts play in our national fabric.

The other thing is we are going to need all matter of shekels to come forward, wherever possible, to get on the other side. You want to make sure people are in place when we come roaring back with a community that is going to be differently attenuated and hopefully craving our offer.

Photo of Kristy Edmunds by Reed Hutchinson (Courtesy of CapUCLA)

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Our government will soon announce plans bailing out the airline and travel industries. What you won’t hear them discuss, and it is highly unlikely they would even contemplate this, is support for the performing arts and the artists who create and perform. But we, who love the arts and know how much they enrich our lives, can.

Rather than ask for refunds for canceled performances, I’d urge you to consider donating the price of your ticket to the company that has had to outright cancel remaining or upcoming performances. (Many, but not all, such donations will be tax-deductible.)

Certainly longer-running shows will probably have the flexibility to offer you an exchange of tickets for another date. But what of something like Sweet Land by a small company like The Industry? A company that continually invests their assets into their next creative endeavor? Or CAP UCLA which just today announced the suspension of the rest of their 2019-2020 season?

Profits are not guaranteed in the arts. If you drive through town you’ll often see banners along the streets for LA Opera or Center Theatre Group or other performing arts organizations. Those banners are only available for non-profit companies. Even one as large as Center Theatre Group is a non-profit.

The federal government does very little to support plays, musicals, dance, music, artists etc… This isn’t Europe where the arts are supported by the government. In fact, America has a pretty lousy reputation for trying its best to not support the arts. In his most recent budget, Trump has suggested eliminating the National Endowment for the Arts – again!

As PBS says their programming is made possible by viewers like you. So are the performing arts. But ticket sales don’t cover all operating costs. Imagine what the cost of all these refunds would be not just in the short-term, but in the long-term.

And what of the actors, singers, dancers, musicians and more who make their livelihoods by sharing their talents with us?

Chances are that if you can afford a ticket to the opera, a play, the ballet, a concert or a musical, a certain percentage of your income is expendable. If it truly is expendable, and you value the arts as much as I do, I hope you’ll think twice about requesting a refund for a canceled performance.

In fact, while you’re thinking about that, perhaps a donation to Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS and/or The Actors Fund, can be added to your charitable donations to help performers who find themselves out of work. Why wait until December to make last-minute tax-deductible donations when those dollars can be put to very good use right now?

We are all going to make it through this crisis, but no one can predict how long this pandemic will last. The longer it goes on the closer we get to the point where companies large and small have to close or significantly scale back their programming. The end result is we will all be much poorer.

But when it is over, we will all be clamoring for the opportunity to share in the magic of live performance with one another as quickly as possible. So I ask, brothers (and sisters), can you spare your dimes?

Photo by D. Sharon Pruitt

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