New Bedford Festival Theatre Excited for Spring Production

The show must go on, and it will go on virtually from April 8-11 at New Bedford's Zeiterion Theatre. While the rows of seats will stay empty for one more year, New Bedford Festival Theatre and Executive Producer Wendy Hall have developed an exciting way to bring theatre back to the SouthCoast with a spring production.

One year to the day, Broadway theatre took a bow and shut down, thanks to the pandemic, and with that, the Z and Bedford Festival Theatre followed. Hall and her fellow thespians have been anxiously awaiting the moment when they could return to the stage, and that day is finally here. Hall and her crew will be taking the stage at the Z today to finish filming their upcoming virtual show, To Broadway, With Love!, their first production since March of 2020.

To Broadway, With Love! recreates an evening at the theatre virtually, and showcases songs from Broadway musicals that Hall looks forward to producing in the future. It will include songs from the musicals Once On This Island, Man of LaMancha, Ragtime, Company, The Wiz and more as the magic of the stage comes back to life on our smart devices.

“It’s surreal and absolutely inspiring,” Hall said of returning to the stage to finish production. “When Broadway shut down, the Z and NBFT shut down with it. We had no access to be on stage to create since then, so it’s really an honor to be there on the stage, being able to safely perform and have that captured on video. Obviously, we want a live audience, but we realize that we have to be safe about it.” This hybrid model allows the NBFT to begin the rebirth of theatre.

It will be an emotional day for Hall as she films her curtain speech that will open the virtual show, exactly one year since they shut down. She looks forward to the future of broadway and is eager to share To Broadway, With Love with the SouthCoast.

Tickets are on sale now, with options to join the Zoom after-party for each performance, at zeiterion.org/nbft-virtual-cabaret/.

For more information on To Broadway, With Love! visit nbfestivaltheatre.com.