Each of us have things in our lives that we prefer staying the same, consistent or reliable. Maybe it’s a weekly routine like taking a walk, biking with family, game night or a gym or yoga class. It’s part of you. That’s the way my family feels about the Westchester Broadway Dinner Theatre, our hometown dinner theatre. It’s part of us and our family history.
My husband and I love the theater. We love the music, costumes, singing and dancing. The theater gives us joy. This now holds true for our girls. We introduced them to the theater at early ages. The love of the theater is now part of them. I can’t tell you how good this makes my husband and I feel.
Unfortunately the COVID-19 pandemic has impacted our neighborhood theatre and changed our family dynamic in one more way. Now, along with store and restaurant closures, COVID-19 took down our beloved dinner theatre. The news headline stated, “Westchester Broadway Theatre won’t reopen, a victim of COVID shutdown.” This left us shocked and saddened.
I guess I for one, lulled myself into believing certain things won’t change. Odd, since I teach my children that everything changes and that’s okay. Anything goes. We’re flexible and while change can be uncomfortable, we can overcome the discomfort and move in other directions and on to other things.
Even with understanding this, the closing of Westchester Broadway Dinner Theatre hit a chord within me. Memories of time spent at the theatre are too close to my heart. Let me explain. After I met my husband, he opened a door and shared his love for the Westchester Broadway Dinner Theatre with me. That was twenty three years ago. Once married, my mother-in-law gave us gift certificates each year at Christmas and we augmented those with additional tickets when interested in additional shows.
While we continued to see Broadway shows in NYC, the Westchester Broadway Dinner Theatre provided a pleasant, effortless evening where we’d dress up, enjoy time conversing over a dinner and then be entertained with a show. Going to the Westchester Broadway Dinner Theatre was so easy, no traffic or chaos, just a ride over the bridge. A respite from our busy work schedules.
Once we had our girls, the Westchester Broadway Dinner Theatre trips almost came to a halt. My mother-in-law had wisdom and understood the importance of those special trips to the theatre, and once again started sending those theatre tickets.
We eased our girls into the wonderful world of theatre at tender ages. They enjoyed the Christmas shows, then progressed to shows like Annie, Oliver, My Fair Lady, Show Boat and Annie Get Your Gun. Initially, our younger daughter would fall asleep after intermission, but over time, she too was too enthralled to sleep. By this time, we were also taking their Grandma with us to the dinner theatre for Thanksgiving. That became a wonderful annual tradtion.
The Westchester Broadway Dinner Theatre has been a constant for our family. The girls found the closure of the theatre to be unfathomable. They hear the news of what’s going on in the world, but like me, they didn’t think this would be one of the casualties of the pandemic.
The girls too are saddened and questioning how we’ll spend future Thanksgivings and wondering if seeing dinner shows or any shows will ever be. It certainly won’t be like it once was. My older daughter having an interest in pursuing theater as a career option is looking at this occurrence and speculating about the future and how else the pandemic will impact our lives and her future. I understand all the questions since I, as the adult, also have questions.
The dinner theatre gave us special family time to bond. We’re grateful for all we were able to see and experience. We’ll stay strong, cherish the memories; all the evenings at the theatre, the enjoyment, each other’s company and being lost in shows.
As a family we’re going to continue to laugh over our funny mishaps like the time we were waiting to enter the theater and an eggplant fell from the second floor. According to the girl’s grandma, the eggplant almost fell on her head. Although we will not be visiting the theater this Thanksgiving, I’m sure the eggplant story will grace our table. Another time, I had to reschedule our ticket date so many times that I finally wrote down the wrong weekend. We showed up a week late for the show. After the realization hit, you can only imagine the family’s disappointment. This was not the end of the story though; those at Westchester Broadway Theatre did some checking and placed us in the producers’ box for the show. We were so happy and relieved. The theatre took care of us and for this we will always be grateful.
I’m thankful my girls enjoyed these and so many other experiences and most of all I’m grateful they gained a love for the theater. Thank you Westchester Broadway Dinner Theatre for bringing us years of joy!!
