Arts is Entertainment

Broadway Bounces Back

Offering a slew of new plays for the fall season,
the Great White Way beckons terror-wary tourists to the Big Apple.

ALICE BURDICK SCHWEIGER
Special to the Jewish News

1 ust days after the Sept. 11 World Trade
Center tragedy, Mayor Rudolph Giuliani
asked Americans to visit New York and go
to the theater.
Overwhelmed with shock and grief, New Yorkers
and out-of-towners had shied away from Broadway, but
just weeks later, the Great White Way is bouncing back.
"Support from out-of-towners is enormously
important, both emotionally and economically,"
notes Jed Bernstein, president of the League of
American Theaters and Producers.
"Emotionally, New Yorkers are not very used to
being liked by the rest of the country, and the out-
pouring of sympathy and affection has heartened
many of us.
"Economically, half of Broadway attendance
comes from tourists. The concern is that as we
approach the holidays and the long, cold winter, the
burst of enthusiasm that Broadway has gotten this
past month will start to fade."
Indeed, the effect the terrorist attacks have had on
Broadway is far-reaching. Some longstanding shows,
like The Rocky Horror Picture Show, were forced to
close. Because of delicate themes, there also have
been some postponements.
For example, The Assassins, a controversial Stephen
Sondheim musical about the assassinations of presi-
dents, was due to start previews this fall. But the
producers felt the show would be inappropriate to
open at this time.
Detroit's own Douglas Sills, who created a stir with
his performance in The Scarlet Pimpernel on Broadway,
was slated to star as John Wilkes Booth in The
Assassins. The show has not yet been rescheduled.
Bernstein says the hot tickets in town, like The
Producers, are just as hard to get as before Sept. 11.
"The shows that were selling out before the World
Trade Center attack are still selling out," he says.
With the fall season upon us, here is a sampling of
some of the new and upcoming Broadway and Off-
Broadway shows, many with Jewish themes, stars or
playwrights.

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• An Adult Evening of Shel Silverstein features 10
quirky one-act plays written by the late children's
author/cartoonist/lyricist.
The anthology, definitely not geared for children,
includes "Smile," about police torturing the inventor
of the smiley face; "The Bag Plays," in which a
woman is accused of deteriorating mental health;
"Buy One, Get One Free," featuring two prostitutes

11/9
2001

Among the theater
advertisements in Times
Square, visitors will see
reminders of the spirit
of patriotism enveloping
the Big Apple.