With the stress of schoolwork off my shoulders over the summer, I was able to dive back into one of my lifelong pleasures: theater. While I tend to stay in the audience, whenever I watch a live performance, I feel connected to every single thing happening on stage—every laugh, every gasp, every breath. And every time I leave the theater, I gain a new outlook on life.
That is one of the special gifts of the arts.
I am fortunate to have Broadway just a short train ride away, but New Jersey Transit can be expensive, and costs pile up. However, with the help of today’s technology, I, along with many others farther from the Big Apple, can experience the joy of theater right from the couch.
In May, PBS released a professional recording of the West End production of the musical “Next to Normal.” After it aired live, the recording was available for free on PBS’s website for about two months. While I had heard of the show previously, I had no clue what “Next to Normal” was actually about, so I was ecstatic to be able to immerse myself in a story once more. A couple of days before the free version of the show was set to expire, I sat down with my mom to watch it, and needless to say, we were blown away.
Art is built differently for the stage, thought about carefully for live audiences, and while this pro-shot was recorded with a live audience for reactions, it was clear that the production team working on it kept the theater-lovers across oceans in mind. Each shot felt purposeful, highlighting small but poignant choices by the actors that might be missed in-person. The story was captivating and equally heart-wrenching. The vocals and acting were intoxicating. My newfound love for this show was nothing next to normal.
And the best part? It was free.
The pro-shot of “Next to Normal” didn’t just blow up because of the show itself, but because of how the show could be accessed. With just one Google search, anyone could be transported into the theater and watch the story unfold on the screen in front of them. My TikTok feed was full of edits of the characters, analyses of the underlying messages, and covers of the show’s score—art born from art. This pro-shot and the utilization of widely available technology breathed new life into the show, positioning it in front of new audiences across the globe.
One of the more notable recent pro-shots is “Hamilton”, which became available on Disney+ in July 2020. The show is honoring its 10th anniversary on Broadway by re-releasing the pro-shot in theaters, making it more widely available for those who don’t have a Disney+ subscription or can’t travel to New York City to see the show in-person. While “Next to Normal” and “Hamilton” aren’t the first shows to film pro-shots, the hope is that they won’t be the last—but it’s up to us to maintain the accessibility.
Live theater is a dying art form. In order to keep it alive, it must remain accessible to everyone, and there are barriers preventing this. The National Endowment for the Arts provides grants for arts programs in non-profits, colleges and universities, and tribal communities around the U.S. However, there is an ongoing defunding of the arts, and especially public access to the arts, at the hands of the Trump administration. After a proposed shutdown of the NEA, hundreds of arts groups across the country had their grants terminated. The “starving artist” isn’t just a stereotype; it’s a reality.
Additionally, attacks on public media stations like PBS are undermining the theater landscape. While the “Next to Normal” pro-shot was only available for free for two months, a monthly donation as small as $5 to PBS grants you access to the show until 2028, along with an entire library of films, shows, and specials. And while these pieces of media do sit behind a paywall, donations to PBS help ensure that this art isn’t locked away forever.
However, even if there was full federal funding to the arts, a production isn’t fully successful—or alive—without an audience. Theater is meant to be shared. The truth is that the Broadway theaters will always be filled, but mostly by the same demographic of people who can consistently afford to see shows. Why should the doors be shut to those who can’t buy a $300 ticket or fly across the country to New York City? That is the reality for the majority of people.
Art should be—and needs to be—accessible. By making more professional recordings of shows available, either available for free or at a huge fraction of the price of in-person tickets, the art of theater stays alive against the forces trying to shut the curtains.
But despite all this, a recording of a show almost never beats seeing it in person. Even if you can’t travel to the big stages, continue to support local theater—go to that reading of Shakespeare in the park, buy a ticket for your community theater’s shows, go back to your high school and see their productions. Even when theater is being attacked on a federal level, the arts are closer, and even more alive, than you may think. So laugh, gasp, and soak up every breath, whether it’s on Broadway’s biggest stage or on your TV screen.
This is how we keep theater alive—by living in it.
