INTERNATIONAL: After an unprecedented 18-month shutdown, the jazz hands are back on Broadway this month. 18 musicals and five plays open over the course of next month. The challenge is going to be filling seats and keeping them full.

The instantly-recognisable voice of Oprah Winfrey is being used for a glitzy new promo, heralding the fact that Broadway is back in business. After the longest shutdown in its history, thanks to the pandemic, New York’s ticket booths are open, and theatres are being lit up again along the iconic great white way.

Casts and crews are also back in rehearsals. Under protocols agreed with unions, producers and the New York city authorities, all actors, audiences, musicians and backstage staff must be fully-vaccinated. Audiences will also need to wear masks, but venue capacities are not being limited.

At the Richard Rodgers Theatre, home to the multi-award winning “Hamilton”, hopes are high that Broadway pulls this off, says Lin Manuel Miranda, the show’s creator and producer:

"You only get one chance to get it right, to get people going back in a way that feels safe and people are safe and feel safe coming back to the theater. I'm encouraged that as soon as the shows announced, people started buying tickets. That gives me hope that the appetite is still there to gather in the dark and tell stories."

To drive ticket sales, a television special is planned along with a week of outdoor performances in New York's Times Square. Tickets are selling well through September, but the following months could be a test of nerves given the Delta variant and the lack of tourists, but as any theatre person will tell you – despite the masks, vaccinations and Delta variant - the show must go on.

^{Photo: INTERVIEWS WITH BROADWAY ACTORS; CELEB THEATER STARS; PROFESSOR OF THE ARTS; FILE OF BROADWAY SHOWS; ACTORS REHEARSING IN MASKS}