Shea’s Performing Center is a landmark in Buffalo. As it continues to stay shut down because of the coronavirus pandemic, questions are flooding in from patrons about plans to reopen.

“I miss being here in the theatre and the noise at intermission. The excitement at the end of the show,” said Albert Nocciolino, NAC Entertainment president.

Theatre lovers have been echoing this sentiment and wondering how everything is going to work when Shea’s is finally able to reopen and Broadway touring productions start up again.

“It’s almost nine or ten months since we have been shut down. We will come back and when we come back, every single show…the three left over from the past season…and the titles from the new season will all be back. We will have to spread them out,” Nocciolino said.

Shea’s execs say that they aren’t sure when the theatre will reopen, but even when it’s not a pandemic, the work of bringing Broadway shows to Buffalo and other cities is a juggling act.

“Touring Broadway across America is a very difficult adventure. It takes a lot of cities, a lot of coordination, a lot of booking agents, a lot of shows, a lot of producers,” says Michael G. Murphy, Shea’s president.

Anticipating when the tours will be able to start up again and how that will play out on the Buffalo stage is a whole other challenge.

“It takes a lot of planning and thought to put a season together. And then you look at kind of crunching two seasons together, because we weren’t able to have this season and we have a couple shows from last season,” Murphy said. “We’re also looking at there not being any Broadway shows this year, so how do we look at the market two or three years down the road? Our audiences will see everything at some point.”

Patrons have been asking many more questions about reopening plans ranging from seat assignments to how the shutdown is impacting the economics of theatre and COVID-19 safety precautions.