New York Post - 13.03.2020

New York Post, Friday, March 13, 2020

nypost.com

W

ith the coronavirus
outbreak, Broadway
is facing its worst
crisis since 9/11. But
it got a lifeline, albeit
a thin one, from Gov. Andrew
Cuomo, who yesterday prohib-
ited gatherings of more than 500
people. That ruling allows Broad-
way producers, whose shows
have been shut down through
April 12, to collect insurance
money. The payments won’t
cover everything — and many
shows may close or not even
open — but as one producer said,
“It’s something.”
As the week began, Broadway
seemed determined to stick to
the old adage, “The show must go
on.” But as the virus — and the
panic — spread, producers were
shocked to see so many theater-
goers clamoring for refunds or
new dates.
After President Trump an-
nounced that he was prohibiting
tourists from Europe to America,
the bottom fell out. Tourists buy
nearly 65 percent of the tickets

Andrew Lloyd Webber tells me

that he has no intention of clos-

ing his musical. There are “huge

plans to remarket and refresh it,”

he says, adding that he plans to

keep it open for another 30 years.

Matthew Broderick and

Sarah Jessica Parker were due

to begin previews today in “Plaza

Suite.” They both got sick with

flu in Boston during the out-of-

town tryout and were under-

standably worried about opening

during the coronavirus outbreak.

(Broderick’s sister was just diag-

nosed with the virus.) But they’re

both troupers and have let it be

known that when Broadway is up

and running again, they’ll be

ready to perform.

At the end of the day, that spirit

is what will save Broadway. Not

only has the Great White Way

weathered 9/11, but it also sur-

Yep, Pete Davidson plays a good troubled stoner

I’m a little worried about Pete Davidson.

Then again, that’s the enduring brand of Davidson,

the proudly unstable “Saturday Night Live” comic

who’s having a moment with a Netflix special, an

upcoming semi-autobiographical Judd Apatow

movie and this dramedy. In “Big Time Adolescence,”

he’s playing, not against type, a witty, underachiev-

ing slacker with a predilection for weed. His charac-

ter, Zeke, is the short-lived high school boyfriend of

Kate (Emily Arlook), whose little brother Mo (Griffin

Gluck) gets so attached to him that the boys stay

friends long after the couple breaks up. But Zeke

also stays, resolutely, a boy, as he ages into his 20s

— and he also, frustratingly for Mo’s parents (Jon

Cryer and Julia Murney), remains Mo’s best friend.

Director-writer Jason Orley (whose directing debut

was Davidson’s comedy special “Alive From New

York”) deploys a gradual shift in tone, as Zeke’s disdain

for anything resembling adult life goes from amusing

to worrisome to just plain sad. What begins as a com-

edy, with Zeke the kind of zany, inappropriate older-

brother figure every socially awkward kid might

dream of, drifts into darker territory. (Your age will be

inversely proportionate to how quickly you start to

find all of this upsetting.) When Zeke comes up with

the bright idea of having Mo sell pot at high school

parties, you know things are headed south.

Gluck (“Locke & Key”) is smart and precocious and a

little square, cut from the Joseph Gordon-Levitt mold.

Mo’s insecurities make him the perfect follower of

Zeke, who may lack for a decent job or the ability to

remain faithful to a girlfriend, but never for confidence.

The musician Machine Gun Kelly shows up as one of

Zeke’s lowlife friends, who seem to be endlessly eating

greasy takeout, drinking crappy beer and playing

video games. What’s for a teen boy not to aspire to?

Davidson expertly plays the role like he’s playing

... well, Pete Davidson, which is how I imagine his
career will go. Having gone public with mental ill-
ness and addiction struggles, he brings a believable
note of pathos to Zeke, whose reaction to a mod-
ernist painting hints at some sophisticated darkness:
Life is “just a bunch of scribbles and d - - ks and
violence, all in a void,” he says. Ultimately, though,
he can’t escape his own juvenile impulses — hence
the title, perhaps. In any case, I’m still going to worry
about Davidson.

Sara

Stewart

movie review

big time

adolescence

Running time: 90 minutes.

Rated R (drug use,

profanity, sexual

situations). Now playing.

★ ★ ★

Griffin Gluck (left) and Pete Davidson in

“Big Time Adolescence.”

sold on Broadway, especially in

the spring and summer.

Until the coronavirus abates,

very few people will be traveling

anywhere. Actors’ Equity, which

represents Broadway performers,

advocated for a shutdown. An actor

in “Moulin Rouge!” stayed home

with a fever, and everybody back-

stage was fearful of his

condition. It’s not been

determined if he has the

virus.

Broadway producers

met Thursday at noon

to decide what to do,

and everybody was

“calm,” a source said.

The producers realized

Broadway had to close,

but believe the industry

can bounce back once

the fear has abated.

Whether some of its new shows

will survive remains to be seen.

A few shows in previews don’t

have enough cash reserves to see

them through this storm. Tracy

Letts’ new play “The Minutes,”

which was to open Sunday, was

rumored to be in trouble. But a

spokesman insists: “ ‘The Min-

utes’ will reopen.”

Martin McDonagh’s

“Hangmen,” which won

great reviews when it

played off-Broadway,

was also in previews

and could find itself in

trouble. But its producer

Robert Fox says: “We

will be looking at the

situation, and if there is

potential to reopen, we

will reopen along with

the other plays that are

in the same situation.”

There were rumors that Broad-

way’s longest running show —

“The Phantom of the Opera” —

may have to close down for good.

After 32 years, it’s dependent on

the tourist trade, which will be

thin for the next few months. But

Michael

Riedel

ON BROADWAY

Hot Ticket

Curtains

for B’way

The show must not go on!

NYC’s theaters shutter

during coronavirus outbreak

Workers remove signage at the

Booth Theatre, where an usher

was recently diagnosed with

coronavirus. Broadway theaters

will be closed through April 12.

Robert Miller

vived the Great Depression, the

financial crises of the 1970s and

2008, and another virus more

deadly than corona: AIDS.

That one wiped out untold

numbers of theater people.

Broadway will come back, one

press agent says, because “we’re

good at staging comebacks.”

And when it does, I see Patti

LuPone, the star of the upcom-

ing revival of “Company,” Broder-

ick, Parker, Hugh Jackman and

the casts of “Moulin Rouge!,”

“Wicked,” “Dear Evan Hansen”

and “Hamilton” leading the

charge.

If only Elaine Stritch could be

there to lead everybody in “I’m

Still Here,” Broadway’s true

anthem, now and forever.

“Len Berman and Michael

Riedel in the Morning” airs

weekdays on WOR Radio 710.