“The show must go on!” The official trailer for the Amy Rice-directed feature documentary, Broadway Rising, has been released. The trailer reveals a glimpse into the impact that the COVID-19 shutdown had on the Broadway community when all productions had to close and how businesses built their way back to the stage through determination and resilience.
The trailer for the new documentary highlights the impact of a Broadway shutdown no one thought would ever happen. Immediately, viewers are introduced to the intrinsic connection people have to Broadway, including Ginna Claire Mason, who played Glinda in Wicked. “Doing something eight times a week, it’s your entire existence being in theater, essentially,” Mason says, before the lights go off. No one could have predicted that Broadway would ever shut down — as one participant of the film says, “cancelling a show is unheard of” — yet we see that is exactly what happened during the COVID-19 pandemic when theaters were shut down on March 12, 2020, after a part-time usher tested positive for the virus.
“I was hospitalized for a week. By the time I came out of that, my business had been shut down, my industry had gone away,” John Kristiansen, a New York costume designer for Broadway, says in the trailer. His story is soon followed by glimpses of other men and women who have lost their businesses and jobs because of the shutdown, in which over 96,000 people lost their jobs industry-wide, including directors, painters, cleaners, artisans, prop masters, ushers, doormen, and embroiderers. “What are we supposed to do? We’ve been trying to keep the doors open until Broadway returns,” one voice asks in the trailer.
The documentary will also highlight the dedication of the industry to returning to thearers. With shorter time limits imposed and spending money they simply don’t have, the trailer indicates the journey back to the stage on the opening night of September 14, 2021, was only possible with perseverance on everyone’s part. “It doesn’t feel good, but someone’s got to do it,” Kevin McCollum, the Tony Award-winning theater producer, says. Indeed, we catch a glimpse of the triumph made possible by their sacrifices, with several production staff seen celebrating the re-opening of Broadway.
The ninety-three-minute-long feature documentary is directed by Rice and will include stories from Mason, McCollum, Kristiansen, Jewelle Blackman, Ruben Santiago-Hudson, Adam Perry, Robbie Fairchild, Lynn Nottage, Brian Blythe, T. Oliver Reid, and Tom Kirdahy. Tony Award-winners Jesse Tyler Ferguson (Modern Family) and Justin Mikita (Oklahoma!) are producers under their A Kid Named Beckett Productions, alongside Sam Bisbee (Park Pictures), Christopher Cowan (STATION 10), and Rice (World of Ha and XTR). A release for the film is set for December this year, following the world premiere of the feature documentary on June 13 at the 2022 Tribeca Film Festival.
Broadway Rising will be released in theaters on December 5, 2022. Watch the official trailer below:
