Streaming Broadway

 BY CASEY LANE

If you believe theatre, among many art forms, will return to “normal” with the end of the Corona Virus pandemic, please stop reading. For those who, like me, are realistic about the future of theatre and receptive to the inevitable changes that will ensue, I welcome the discourse. 

Those who are paying attention know that earlier this year, Disney had the privilege of releasing the pro-shot of Hamilton on Broadway to its streaming platform to the tune of 75 million dollars. After extensive filming of the final performances with the original cast, the producers planned to hold on to the footage until the production had run its course and profits stalled. Though, with the onset of the corona virus pandemic, this bumped the release date up by several years. The Tony Award-winning show was released to Disney+ subscribers on July 3rd during the height of the pandemic lockdown in the United States. So why and how was Hamilton filmed in the first place? 

Most shows are recorded for the sake of archiving them—not to stream to non-live audiences. However, for a Pulitzer prize and Tony Award-winning musical where shows regularly sold out, having a recording of the original cast performance seemed obligatory for its preservation within history. Once the producers decided it was time to film the pro-shot, the creative team got to work preparing to capture the live show feel for the silver screen. With the help of nine cameras and over 100 microphones scattered throughout Richard Rogers Theater, the creative team captured the massive spectacle of choreography and group numbers down to costume details and raw emotion.

Why can’t we stream more Broadway shows? 

Two main concerns plague producers who are faced with the prospect of recording a pro-shot of a Broadway hit: cost, and the idea that streaming will eat into already small profit margins. Hamilton, an anomaly in the Broadway world, had enough of a profit margin to cushion any reduction in sales due to its streaming. Also, the producers of Hamilton financed the filming themselves, removing the risk for the theatre. 

How will this impact theatre and what does this mean for the future of Broadway? Hamilton was not the first and will certainly not be the last play to be broadcast to wider audiences. For example, Newsies on Broadway starring Jeremy Jordan and Kara Lindsay, premiered in 2017 and streamed to multiple platforms including Netflix and Disney+. There are also hundreds of titles included in the “Netflix of Broadway,” BroadwayHD. Although Hamilton was scheduled to be released in theatres later in 2020, both the producers and Disney agreed that the early release date would benefit not only the corporation hurting for new material, but also for the production and Broadway itself. The shutdown of Broadway due to the coronavirus pandemic has stalled much of theatre making and put millions of artists and production teams out of work. Yet, with the release of Hamilton, we will see a renewed interest in theatre from the public and the adaptation of the artform in the coming years.