By Judy O’Gorman Alvarez
Autumn traditionally brings about a new season of concerts, shows and plays. From Broadway to London’s West End to theaters everywhere, it’s time to cue the lights.
After 18 months of virtual, outdoor and canceled performances, venues are opening their doors, dusting off the seats and welcoming back audiences to a new season of entertainment.
Your favorite theater may look a little different – hand-washing stations, signs reminding guests to distance themselves and wear their masks – all an effort to ensure everyone’s safety during the continued threat of COVID-19 and its variants. Many theaters are following suit as government offices, businesses and health care industries require proof of COVID-19 vaccinations or negative test results (see below).
In the meantime, here are some of the shows theater fans can look forward to:
Broadway At the Barn, Holmdel Theatre Company, presents its first performance since the pandemic inside the barn with internationally acclaimed singer, actor and impressionist Christina Bianco Sept. 18.
Known for her versatile vocals and uncanny impressions, Bianco will celebrate the world’s most iconic vocalists and pop-culture personalities from yesterday and today. With music direction by Brad Simmons, Bianco will reinvent favorite pop songs, standards and show tunes, spanning a staggering range of styles and genres.
Future shows of the upcoming season include “Jim Caruso’s Cast Party” featuring Billy Stretch at the piano with an open mic/variety show; “An Evening with Eden Espinosa,” Broadway icon; and Broadway star Betsy Wolfe returns with a holiday show.
For more information, visit holmdeltheatrecompany.org.
Axelrod Performing Arts Center in Deal Park will reopen in October. Four main-stage musicals have been announced as well as a youth production from the Axelrod Performing Arts Academy. The concert schedule will be announced after Labor Day.
The season’s opener will be “A Bronx Tale, The Musical,” based on Chazz Palminteri’s autobiographical play and film Oct. 29 to Nov. 14. Directed by Broadway veteran Richard H. Blake, one of the musical’s original stars, it features a Motown/ rock-infused score by Oscar winner Alan Menken.
The Axelrod Performing Arts Academy, formed in 2020, presents it first fully staged musical, opening Thanksgiving weekend. “The SpongeBob Musical,” based on the animated series created by Stephen Hillenburg, Nov. 27 to Dec. 5, will be directed by Broadway’s original Mrs. Puff, Abby C. Smith. The popular reimagined holiday ballet favorite “The Nutcracker Rocks” returns to the Axelrod stage Dec. 11 to 19.
Other productions will include “The Bridges of Madison County,” “Grease” and Rodgers & Hammerstein’s “Cinder- ella.” For a full lineup, visit axelrodartscenter.com.
Two River Theater kicks off its 2021-22 season with August Wilson’s “Radio Golf” Nov. 6 to 21. Returning under the direction of Obie Award winner Brandon J. Dirden, it includes much of the original cast from March 2020.
Also in the 2021-22 season: playwright Madeleine George and director Sara Holdren reimagine Anton Chekhov’s “Three Sisters”; playwright Tony Meneses returns home to Red Bank with an intimate and hilar- ious portrait of machismo culture “The Hombres,” directed by Annie Tippe; and “A Little Shakespeare,” now in its ninth season, returns to introduce the works of Shakespeare to hundreds of young people each year.
A special event Oct. 2 to benefit Two River Theater’s new plays and musicals development programs will feature Joe Iconis and family, live, in person, at Two River’s Rechnitz Theater. The evening will also celebrate the upcoming release of the “Love in Hate Nation” original cast recording, a new musical written by Tony-Award nominee Joe Iconis which premiered at Two River in 2019.
For more information, visit tworivertheater.org.
Patrons Must Present Tickets – and Vaccination Status
As the COVID-19 pandemic continues, and the delta variant increases anxiety levels, many theaters, museums and other venues are starting to require proof of vaccination.
Count Basie Center for the Arts is the latest theater to require proof of vaccination or negative test results from all event attendees. Beginning Sept. 8, the Count Basie Center for the Arts will require patrons to present either proof of full COVID-19 vaccination or a negative COVID-19 test taken within 72 hours of door time to attend events at Hackensack Meridian Health Theatre, The Vogel or Basie Center Cinemas. Patrons aged 12 and under are not required to present test results, but must remain masked during all events.
For events prior to Sept. 8, all patrons must remain masked except while eating or drinking. Masks are still strongly encouraged at all performances.
According to its website, for Holmdel Theatre Company performances inside the Duncan Smith Theatre, “proof of Covid Vaccination will be required for entry.”
Axelrod Performing Arts Center’s website reads: “All patrons must be vaccinated. Patrons must show proof of vaccination before presenting tickets… Masks are required for patrons… Children ages 2 to 12 (who are ineligible for the Covid-19 vaccination) are required to wear masks in the theater.”
Similarly, from New Jersey Repertory Theatre in Long Branch: “All audience members attending a performance need to show proof of full vaccination against Covid-19 with a vaccine approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Ad- ministration (FDA) … If not vaccinated because of a doctor-approved medical exemption, audience members need to present a negative COVID-19 PCR test taken within 72 hours of the performance date. In addition, all patrons need to wear masks at all times regardless of vaccination status.”
And according to Two River Theater, they are “continuing to monitor the evolving COVID-19 situation. Requirements and recommendations surrounding mask wearing, proof of vaccination and/or negative COVID tests are all being considered for the upcoming season and will be communicated to ticket holders closer to the performance date.”
This article originally appeared in the Aug. 26 to Sept. 1, 2021, print edition of The Two River Times.
