♪ All aboard!

♪ ♪ Way down ♪ ♪ Hadestown ♪ ♪ Way down under the ground ♪ I've always thought that I belonged in that theater community, and Broadway was the place to be.

♪ Somewhere in the middle of... ♪ Smith: I get an email from my agent for this show called "Come From Away."

It's about "9/11," and I was like, "I don't know if I want to do a musical about that.

That sounds odd to me."

♪♪ Dulude: I had read the book, loved it, and now I was designing what ends up being one of the biggest hits on Broadway, which who would have ever known that was gonna happen?

It's showtime.

Kukul: I think turning movies into musicals is tricky.

There is an expectation from people who love the movie.

There's an expectation from people who love musicals.

And if the movie is beloved, it's even harder.

♪♪ Maliakel: It's such a team effort -- what we do every night on stage.

It's an army of people that it takes to put this together.

And without one of those parts working at prime condition, things unravel.

♪ Phone rings, door chimes ♪ ♪ In comes company ♪ Sessions: The thing about being an artist of any kind, I imagine, is that, unlike some other occupations, it's part of who you are.

So I think a lot of us had to reckon with, "Well, if I'm an artist, who am I when I'm not practicing my art, when I'm not allowed to practice my art?"

♪ You're the best ♪ Yamashita: I almost cried the moment the curtain opened up to have the band revealed.

That was the moment I felt, "Okay, we are back."

♪♪ ♪ Church house, gin house ♪ ♪ Schoolhouse... ♪ You got that gift inside you -- that voice.

My name is Yuri Yamashita.

I play percussion in "The Tina Turner Musical."

♪ Big wheel keep on turnin' ♪ ♪ Turnin' ♪ ♪ Proud Mary, keep on burnin' ♪ ♪ Burnin' ♪ ♪ Rollin' ♪ Yamashita: Growing up in Japan, I knew Tina Turner and how powerful a performer she is.

♪ Rollin' on the river ♪ Yamashita: She was my role model -- not so much her music, but as a strong woman becoming independent and overcoming all the struggles.

I didn't want his money.

All I wanted was my name.

♪ I'm your private dancer ♪ ♪ Dancin' for money ♪ ♪ Do what you want me to do ♪ ♪ Just a private dancer, dancin' for money ♪ Yamashita: I was able to overcome my challenges through her life story.

So it was very mystic for me to be considered for this percussion role.

♪♪ My name is Joe Dulude II, and I am the makeup designer for "Wicked."

♪♪ You can room with Miss Galinda.

[ All gasping, exclaiming indistinctly ] Dulude: So in most Broadway shows, the actors do their own makeup.

So what I do is I go in, and I usually teach them.

And then I also allow them to have fun because they're wearing it, I'm not, and they have to be comfortable wearing it, and they have to know why they're wearing it.

And I think when you empower the artists like that, then the work is better.

Boo!

[ Laughs ] When we were coming up with the concepts for each of the makeup designs, we were creating our own world.

And with Elphaba, the concept in the book -- she's not the most attractive, but in our world we wanted to make sure that she was attractive and that the reason that people disliked her was because of her skin.

So that was really important in it.

♪♪ My name is Michael Maliakel, and I play Aladdin on Broadway.

When this audition came across my desk, so to speak, it was -- I was ecstatic, just incredibly excited, especially after the year and a half that we've all had.

It was my first in-person audition, once that was deemed safe again.

♪♪ This role in particular is huge.

I mean, he's on stage the whole time.

It's very physical, you know, all -- all through the singing, the dancing, the acting, all of it.

It was such a learning experience for me.

♪♪ As a kid, Aladdin was -- he was it.

You know, for a young, brown kid growing up here, first generation Indian-American, seeing someone that looked like me on a screen, being celebrated as a, you know, a hero, a prince even, was -- it was everything.

It was incredible.

I have two brothers, and the way we wore that VHS out at home, it was pretty remarkable.

If you grew up in a place that doesn't have much diversity, you looked to the media to inspire you and shape your worldview.

It means so much.

It -- It would have made all the difference for me as a young kid to see someone who looked like me leading a Broadway show.

Just here in New York, you walk out into Times Square, and it's the most beautiful cornucopia of cultures and gender identities and orientations, and why shouldn't the world onstage look like that if the whole point when we're telling stories is to reflect the world that we live in?

♪ You are here ♪ ♪ At the start of a moment ♪ ♪ On the edge of the world ♪ My name is Q. Smith, and I play Hannah and others.

♪ Here... ♪ Smith: I often wonder why I was chosen to play Hannah.

Still to this day, I just sort of shake my head like, "Hmm, I wonder why they -- I wonder."

But I'm grateful.

For whatever reason, they chose me, I'm so grateful for it.

We rarely as artists get to tell stories about things that are happening today.

It's always, you know, hundreds of years ago.

But to actually play a role about someone who's living and breathing, just telling their stories and sharing your stories -- I had never heard of Gander.

I didn't even know where Newfoundland was until this show.

♪ Now, there's a solemn, old tradition ♪ ♪ For admission or audition ♪ ♪ To transition from a Come From Away ♪ ♪ To be a Newfoundlander ♪ Smith: So that was really touching -- All these planes, all these people from all over the world landing there -- didn't know where in the world they were.

And the minute they arrived, they were no longer strangers.

They were family.

They were friends.

And the stories just kept unfolding.

And it's such a beautiful story to tell.

I love telling the story.

[ Whistle blows ] ♪ Hi, I'll be your guide ♪ My name is Chris Kukul, and I am the music director of "Beetlejuice," the musical.

The composer is where everything starts.

So the music and lyrics are written first.

Then that is delivered to the music director, who then takes that music and then adjusts it credit for the script.

♪ Mama, won't you send a sign?

♪ Kukul: The smartest thing that they did was focus the story on Lydia.

♪ A plague of mice... ♪ Kukul: It really gave it a-a musical-theater beating heart, following her trajectory and her story and progression and making it about the family.

♪ I'll go insane if things don't change ♪ Kukul: Even though the movie is not a musical, it has such iconic music and iconic musical moments.

♪ Day-o ♪ ♪ Me say day, me say day, me say day, me say day, me say day-o ♪ Kukul: It's the exciting part of it, the collaboration part of it, and combining that with a totally original score -- it's just a dream.

♪♪ The show is built for this giant cheer the moment the downbeat happens, and you can feel it -- like, the wave of the audience come over you and then go onto the stage.

It was just this over pouring of love all the time.

It was -- it's really special.

♪ Phone rings, door chimes ♪ ♪ In comes company ♪ My name is Tally Sessions, and I am a standby in "Company."

I cover the roles of Harry, Peter, Larry, and PJ.

♪ Late nights, quick bites, party games ♪ A standby is an offstage understudy that covers principal roles in a show.

♪ Thoughts shared, souls bared ♪ ♪ private names, all those photos... ♪ Sessions: They do the show when they're called upon.

It could happen 15 minutes before a show, in the middle of a show, so they don't regularly appear in the performance every night.

The key of being, like, a really great understudy or swing or standby is that, if not for that little slip of paper falling out of your program, you should never know that an understudy is on because that's how seamless it -- it -- it should be and most often is.

♪ So a person could be had, ba-da-da ♪ Sessions: People that swing in and save the day, especially in the midst of a pandemic and this current surge, they're the lifesblood of -- of -- of our industry, truly.

♪ Bobby is my hobby, and I'm givin' it up, whoo!

♪ [ Cheering ] ♪ Way down ♪ ♪ Hadestown ♪ ♪ Way down under the ground ♪ My name is Beverly Jenkins, and I'm the production stage manager of "Hadestown."

♪ Everybody hungry, everybody tired ♪ ♪ Everybody slaves by the sweat of his brow ♪ Jenkins: The stage manager is the person that is left with the job of making sure the show happens, making sure it gets rehearsed.

♪ Way down under the ground ♪ Jenkins: I deal with the actors, I deal with the tech crew, I deal with management, and so it's my job to make sure everyone is informed and the show runs as smoothly as possible.

♪ Who makes the summer sunshine bright?

♪ ♪ That's right, Persephone ♪ Jenkins: The first we really got wind of something happening to Broadway was when we heard that someone over at another theater -- one person had come down with it and that show had to shut down and stop.

♪ All I know is you're someone I have always known ♪ And then the hammer came down.

It's like, and the -- and the governor said we have to shut down for four weeks.

Four weeks went into four months, went into a year, and went into 17 months for us.

♪♪ I'm a workaholic, and I don't stop.

I had several children, and I-I never stopped.

I had the children and went right back to work.

And so this was a forced stopping.

And because that was gonna be four weeks and then when four weeks went on more and more, you know, you do miss your -- your friends.

You do miss the -- the theater.

You know, you miss telling that story.

♪♪ ♪ Someone is waiting ♪ ♪ Sweet as David ♪ Sessions: It was very mysterious, you know?

I think, like many people in the country and certainly in our industry, they were like, "Wait, what is this?

It's a virus?

And we're gonna close down for a few weeks?

Okay."

♪ Someone... ♪ Sessions: The reality of it and what it was doing to our industry, how it had decimated it, became very stark because so much of what we do is predicated on a thousand people getting together -- a thousand strangers sitting next to each other.

And that's difficult to do when you're dealing with an airborne virus and a pandemic.

♪♪ Smith: During the pandemic, I tried desperately not to forget the -- the roaring applause of the audience.

That sound is like nothing you've ever experienced before.

And the moments where I would get sad or depressed, I would try to remember that sound because I'm so grateful for that sound.

I was like, "I will never, never complain about doing eight shows a week.

I promise I won't complain."

♪♪ Maliakel: It's been such an interesting process in so many great ways.

"Aladdin" has been on Broadway for, I believe, seven years now.

Reopening the show, it's the Jasmine and the Aladdin in our company that are new, and Shoba and I -- who plays Jasmine -- Shoba and I felt so supported by this company.

Obviously, the feeling of -- of everyone who had been in the show, coming back to their jobs that they had just set aside for all this time -- the energy around that was extraordinary.

...fantastic point of view.

And I think that fueled us all to really be grateful for what it is we do and not take it for granted, knowing how, you know, how that was -- that -- that feeling was taken away for so long.

♪♪ Yamashita: When shutdown was announced, I found out later that I already had COVID, so my first few weeks was recovering from the virus.

♪ Big wheel keep on turnin' ♪ Yamashita: I didn't feel like a touching an instrument.

I didn't feel like playing music It was first about the health, recovery, and it was the longest time without performing.

And it was very strange, but I think in the beginning was the -- I was in shock.

[ All exclaiming indistinctly ] ♪♪ Smith: The first day of rehearsal was just very emotional -- very emotional.

Just talking about it makes me -- just seeing everyone again and knowing that everyone had been through something.

♪ ...all you pretty ladies waving from the dock ♪ We're bringing all of our experiences and all of our sadness and all of our joy back into this show.

I feel like the show is richer because of it.

I feel like our performances are more honest and more real because of it.

I feel more transparent as an artist because of what we went through during the pandemic, and I'm grateful for that.

I am grateful for that.

Then we get the karaoke going.

♪ Near, far ♪ ♪ Wherever we are ♪ ♪ Simply the best ♪ ♪ Better than all the rest ♪ ♪ Whoa, better than anyone ♪ Back in May, we had a company Zoom call, and that's when the producer announced that we are coming back.

So I was very excited to go back to the theater.

You know, it's just amazing to see that many people in one space.

♪ Yes, I hear that sound ♪ ♪ Yes, we hear that beautiful sound ♪ ♪ Yes, we do, it's beautiful ♪ ♪ A sound that means ♪ ♪ No more condescending adults hanging around ♪ Kukul: Concurrently, we had some struggles with the -- the owners of our theater, who had already promised our theater to another show.

We knew this before COVID was happening.

We knew we had an end date.

We had to be out of the theater.

And so we were all on pins and needles for most of last year, waiting for the confirmation and the announcement and not knowing if it was, you know, actually gonna happen -- you know, that everything shut down, and in the midst of the shutdown, we were never coming back, and all these other shows were able to come back, and our set was sitting there in an empty theater, and it was -- it was painful, you know?

♪ So, Lydia, don't end yourself, defend yourself ♪ But we got lucky, and another theater opened up that we were able to move to.

So when spring comes around, we will reopen in a new home, and just so excited, especially after this crazy trajectory between our shutting down and restarting, COVID -- everything.

Just be there with your camera 'cause I think it's gonna be an amazing, amazing moment.

I'm really excited.

♪ Beetle?

Beetlejuice?

♪ ♪ Yes ♪ ♪ Wow, I'm impressed ♪ ♪ And all you got to do is say my name three times ♪ ♪ Three times in a row, it must be spoken unbroken ♪ ♪ Ready?

♪ Yeah ♪ ♪ Okay, go ♪ ♪ Beetlejuice ♪ ♪ Yes?

♪ ♪ Beetlejuice ♪ ♪ Yes?

♪ ♪ Beetlejuice ♪ ♪ Oh, oh, God, this is gonna be so good!

♪ ♪♪ Dulude: On the reopening night, in the audience, you could feel the energy of everybody.

You could feel how excited the entire audience was to be seeing live theater again.

And when the show started, it was that eruption of applause, but at the same time, for me, there was -- I got very emotional.

[ Cheers and applause ] It's going to see me, isn't it?

[ Cheers and applause ] To be in this space with these people who didn't have access to this for so long and were so excited to be back, like, just feeling that energy, like, made me start to tear up.

It was like this moment of where it's just so emotional, and -- and for me, you know, this is my work.

And to see that, you know, I'm part of something that is having this kind of effect on people means everything to me.

♪♪ ♪♪ Smith: Knowing that we were about to walk onto this stage with this audience who had also been through a trying year, trying couple of years, that we were all in this one room together, grateful, with open hearts, ready to share our experiences with one another through "Come From Away," I mean, my heart was palpitating.

I-I think I was in tears before I even stepped on stage.

In the dressing room, probably had to reapply my mascara multiple times.

But we walked out there, and we couldn't even hear our cues, right?

Everyone has, like, a little solo at the beginning, and people were screaming Every time someone walked out.

people were screaming, and I couldn't even hear what the person was singing.

And I'm like, "Am I next?

Is this person -- who's next?"

It was -- I'll -- I'll never forget it.

It was a night I'll never forget.

I don't want to forget.

I'll cherish it all the days of my life.

It was -- It was so memorable.

It's just been a challenging year for all of us.

But we have persevered.

I'm proud of all of us for persevering through this pandemic.

It has been hard.

It's been trying.

It's just a new world we're living in.

It sort of shifted everything It shifted how the way we look at one another, how we cherish the moments that we have, because you never know what's gonna happen tomorrow, right?

And that's what this show was about -- sharing love, sharing our experiences with one another.

And although we may not look alike or sound alike, we're all the same at the core.

We really are.

♪ Show the way ♪ ♪ I'm coming, wait for me ♪ ♪ Show the way ♪ Jenkins: It was going back home.

I went back home.

It felt good to walk back in the door.

It felt good to sit at my call desk and put my headphones on.

It felt good to flip those buttons and then watch something happen.

♪ I'm coming ♪ ♪ Coming, coming ♪ It seemed like the audience were people who knew what the show was, who desperately needed to see it again.

And you could hear it in their yelling and their applauding.

Every time anything happened, they were happy, and I was happy for it, because there's nothing like live theater.

There's nothing like it, and so to have my family back and to be without them for all this time, it was just good to be home.

♪ I hear the rocks and stones ♪ ♪ Echo in my song ♪ ♪ I'm coming ♪ [ Cheers and applause ] The opening night bow is a moment I will never forget.

I remember standing in the wings.

Genie and Aladdin have a moment across the stage, just offstage where the audience can't see, where we kind of just check in with each other.

And I looked at Michael James Scott, who is an icon, and he just looked like he was proud.

So he walks out for his bow, I walk out for my bow, and time sort of just stood still for a second, as tacky as that is to say.

I just allowed myself to feel proud for having made it.

Everything about it was really deeply emotional and special, and I can't believe that I get to do this for a living.

It's -- It's incredible.

♪ Good and crazy people, your friends ♪ ♪ These good and crazy people... ♪ Sessions: The coolest thing about our first preview was this palpable experience of gratitude.

The audience was so grateful to be there.

We were so grateful to have them there.

There is still an immense amount of -- of thankfulness for getting to do it 'cause, as we know, in March of 2020, it can be taken away like that.

And to get to walk in this building and to be an artist and to articulate yourself as an artist every day is a true luxury, and it's certainly not something that I'll ever take for granted.

♪♪ [ Finale plays ] [ Cheers and applause ] ♪♪ [ Drums beating ] Yamashita: By the time the reopening happened, we'd been playing together, rehearsing together for a week or so.

So, you know, just seeing each other for the first time, hugging each other and, you know, catching up and actually start playing that music that we longed to play together, that -- that was very special.

♪♪ ♪♪ Kukul: In 1987, my mom took me into New York City to see a Broadway show.

We went to see "Big River."

And I mean, it changed, obviously, everything.

That -- from that moment, my life was on a different path.

But New York, to me, meant a Broadway show.

But I think that's true for a lot of people.

I think that it's the essential part of the New York experience.

So when Broadway was completely shut down, you could feel it missing.

You could feel a part of the soul of the city had just disappeared, you know?

And without it, it's just not -- it's not New York.

Dulude: I think Broadway is essential because it brings people into the city.

I mean, it's not just Broadway and the employees of Broadway that are relying upon these shows, but it's the restaurants, it's the bars, it's the stores.

When you don't have this part of it, some of that can still function.

But you're not getting this influx of tourists who are coming just for that.

And I think that's part of what Broadway does for this city and then all the tourists as well.

♪ The wickedest witch there ever was ♪ ♪ The enemy of all of us here in Oz ♪ ♪ Is dead ♪ Like, it -- it brings in people and puts them in a space that sometimes they don't normally have access to.

And to be in that space and -- and the joy that it brings them and the delight that it brings them and the emotion that it brings them is just really unique.

You don't get that.

Like, you may get that at a concert, but a concert is there and gone.

With Broadway, it's there.

And so all the time you're getting that.

♪♪ Smith: When something breaks, there is a way to put it back together and make it more beautiful.

And I think that's what Broadway does.

We've taken this tragedy and sort of put it back together, and it's -- our lives are richer, and we have more hope.

And we have this hope that we want to share with the rest of the world, that there -- there is kindness in the world, and there is hope.

Jenkins: We're always a family.

That's the beauty of being in theater -- you are a family.

No matter how much you try to act out, your 're -- you are my family member.

In a Broadway company, like any other group that relies on the success of its individual parts for the success of the whole, I think, you know, the leading roles certainly have a public face to a Broadway show.

But I think it's -- it's really -- the crucial aspect is how we all interact together.

They are just as much responsible for the success of this show as -- as Aladdin would be.

Sessions: This is what I'll say about theater.

Whether you're an understudy or a star above the -- the title, none of this happens without every person in the building working toward a common goal.

And that means the backstage crew, the stage managers, spot-ops, the dressers, the front-of-the-house people, the box office, the people that do the press, you know, casting.

It all -- it takes a village.

It truly does.

And no one person is more important than any other.

If the crew doesn't do their job, then the actors can't do their job and vice versa.

It's this incredible symbiotic relationship, and we don't get to create this wonderful thing without everyone pulling.

their own weight.

♪♪ All: We are Broadway.

♪♪ There are things that are inconvenient about the -- the new way that we have to do things, for sure.

Like, it's -- it's certainly -- we're aware that, you know, the pandemic is still ongoing.

But I think that we're all rallying about -- around this experience, knowing that it's so special that we even get to gather in spaces.

And so whatever efforts we have to take, if it's all in service of actually doing what it is we love and have trained our lives to do, then it's worth it.