NYC Theater Industry Up and Running (Mostly!) After the Big Blackout of 2003

The New York theater industry has returned to something close to normal following the Big Blackout of 2003. Still, the darkness of anger and doubt lingers in the wake of the monumental event that left 50,000,000 people in the U.S. and Canada without power for much of Thursday and Friday, August 14 and 15.

The exact cause of the blackout remains unknown. While the impact on Broadway was fairly minimal, with all shows up and running again on Friday night after having missed only their Thursday performances, productions both on and Off-Broadway suffered from such related problems as diminished means of transportation. Most significantly, New York City subways weren’t running until late Friday or early Saturday.

Though power and phone service was restored to parts of Manhattan and NYC’s other boroughs as early as Friday morning, some denizens of the theater district were not so lucky. “I did not have phone service until this morning,” reports press agent Kevin McAnarney. “My entire building was out — and that’s 18 floors.” Nor have several of the businesses located on Restaurant Row, 46th Street between Eighth and Ninth avenues, had phone service restored as of this writing (Monday evening, August 18).

McAnarney was less than thrilled with much of the media coverage of the blackout’s aftermath; he stated that, despite reports to the contrary, many businesses didn’t have power until Friday afternoon: “A couple of billboards were lit in Times Square but there were no lights in the buildings. The McDonalds was open and they literally had lines of people.” As to the general attitude of those stuck in Times Square, McAnarney confirmed reports that calm and orderliness prevailed but disputed press accounts that described “a party atmosphere” in the area.

Oddly enough, according to McAnarney, the Imperial Theatre remained lit after all of the other theaters on West 45th Street had been blacked out. (“With the power of Hugh Jackman, the chandeliers and marquee were lit!” he exclaimed.) McAnarney also reports that on Friday morning, “even before the box office [of the Plymouth Theatre] opened for Long Day’s Journey Into Night, there were huge numbers of people lined up to get tickets. It’s that old cliché: Plays don’t sell on Broadway unless you have the right combination of actors plus a disaster.”

David LeShay of the Theatre Development Fund tells TheaterMania that many of the people who hung around Times Square in the wake of the blackout were interested in seeing shows: While TDF’s discount ticket booth at the South Street Seaport had no power on Friday and was therefore closed, the Duffy Square TKTS booth alone sold 4,400 tickets after power was restored, compared to 6,900 for both booths the week before. With both facilities open again on Saturday, TKTS sold 8,300 tickets, up 600 from the previous week.

According to LeShay, power came back on at the Duffy Square booth on at 9am on Friday, just in time for the booth’s opening at 10am. Since operations resumed, much of the staff’s time has been spent in refunding money paid for tickets for canceled performances. TheaterMania’s ticketing system remained operational during the blackout and refunds for tickets ordered for canceled shows will be processed this week; for assistance or further information, phone 212-352-3101.