Before I get to COVID, let me remind you I told you the Britney Spears jukebox musical, “Once Upon a One More Time,” was doing terrible business and would close soon. Now they’ve announced a closing date of September 3rd. The show got terrible reviews and was a bad idea. Britney, who lives in her own world anyway, never came to see it. Of course, she was busy with a third divorce. But New York in the summer heat? No way.
COVID — is it back on Broadway? “Sweeney Todd” stars Josh Groban and Annaleigh Ashford have it, and this started last week. The result is “Sweeney Todd” — with excellent understudies — still dropped to 79% capacity and by around $350,000 at the box office. There’s definitely a feeling that COVID is sneaking back in through the stage door. Twitter/X account @Broadwaycovers is full of listings of standbys who are filling for ailing featured performers this week in shows like “Wicked” and “…& Juliet.”
