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0000017b-652b-d50a-a3ff-f7efb02e0000KPCW's COVID-19 news coverage for Summit County and Wasatch County, Utah. 0000017b-652b-d50a-a3ff-f7efb02f0000You can also visit the Utah Department of Health, U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and World Health Organization websites for additional information.

At Egyptian, COVID-19 Upstages Performers For Now. Fate Of Follies Uncertain.

The legendary Egyptian Theatre on Main Street felt an immediate impact from the coronavirus shutdown.   It had to cancel a musical act that was set for big box office.

Looking ahead a month and a half, it’s still unclear how the emergency will affect the traditional Park City Follies.

Egyptian Theatre Manager Randy Barton said they had to cancel their schedule for the rest of March and all of April.

Last weekend, they had to cancel three sold-out shows with the musical group Moe.    Fortunately, he said, the group is willing to come back later.

Barton said patrons of the theater have generally been understanding.        

“But we fully refunded every single person that desired.    And, Leslie, you just can’t imagine how wonderful people are with—“You keep it, or you hold onto it—when they reschedule, I’ll book tickets again—sure I’ll take a gift card.”  Everybody understands I think.”

Barton said the disruption to their schedule is costly.       

“We operate at a very high level now.  We’re in the $300-400,000 a month range, and half of that we’ll never get back.  It’s just gone, lost”

Barton said just about everybody on the Egyptian staff can work at home and despite the shutdown, they have enough to keep them busy.

The annual Park City Follies was set to open April 22nd.    That won’t be possible, but the organizer for the show, Paul Tan, said it’s still unclear what happens to the second week in early May.

Tan said the show might be postponed to later in the year.   Fortunately, he said, to a great extent, it’s ready to go.        

“We start videoing, making videos for the show, right after the last show ends.  So last summer we were putting videos together.  We start writing, pretty much once a week we get together, right about October.  So we’re at the point right now where our show is pretty much ready to start to be rehearsed.  Our rehearsals would have started on April 13th.  So we have a show pretty much in the can, as they say, ready to go.  So if this thing is held off to fall, or the end of summer, we just pretty much have to add water, and we’ll have a show that we can put on.”

The Follies has been famous for changing the show to respond to current events.    Tan said the coronavirus emergency could be an opportunity but also a hazard.    

“You have to be careful of what’s funny.    If we had a some real tragedies here in Park City, obviously certain jokes aren’t going to be as funny.  They’re funny now because we haven’t necessarily seen really bad things happen.  But we almost write secondary jokes to things depending on how bad situations can be.  Even the title of the show, we’ve considered relating to coronavirus.  But if we get down a certain road, that’s not very funny anymore.”

Follies producer Paul Tan, and Egyptian Theatre Manager Randy Barton.

Known for getting all the facts right, as well as his distinctive sign-off, Rick covered Summit County meetings and issues for 35 years on KPCW. He now heads the Friday Film Review team.
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