Howard Sherman Explains How Broadway Should Respond to Characters Flooding Times Square

Howard Sherman, an arts administrator and producer, recently wrote an opinion piece for The Stage stating, "how Broadway can reclaim Broadway by taking to the streets."

Sherman explains, "They are, to many, the scourge of Times Square and the theatre district. I refer not to the prostitutes and three-card monte hustlers of 25 years ago. They've long since been exiled to the outer reaches of our tourism mecca.

Now, thanks to the pedestrian plazas created along Broadway between 47th and 42nd Streets under our former mayor Michael Bloomberg, visitors and theatregoers often must run a gauntlet of unauthorised Marvel superheroes, Sesame Street characters, and cartoons come to life in order to reach their destination. Oh, and I can't forget the desnudas, the topless women whose bodies are painted in patriotic red, white and blue."

He explains, "It is a little hard to call the situation a quality of life issue in an area largely devoid of residential property, but it can be annoyance when you're late to a meeting and have to dodge Hello Kitty beckoning with open arms in order to make it to the next crosswalk."

Sherman, however, has a proposal to put an end to this. He says, "It's not uncommon for shows to field street teams of people to pass out flyers to promote their nearby productions in the plazas as well. Some may only sport T-shirts emblazoned with logos, but some go the extra mile creatively - Chicago, for example, sends out black-clad women wearing red stockings who strike Fosse-eque poses while proffering a leaflet.

I would suggest that even shows that don't engage in this type of marketing could contribute to upgrading the character situation in Times Square by hiring people to walk the zone fully and professionally costumed as Jean Valjean, Elphaba and the Phantom, to name but three. Sans flyers and paid not by the tourists but by the shows - and perhaps also out of pooled funds from the Broadway League, the Times Square Alliance and the NYC visitors bureau - they could be compensated at an hourly rate and wear prominent badges saying "no tips accepted".

Posing for photos, never breaking character, directly competing with the more mercenary band currently at large, they would undermine the freelance players by offering a cleaner, safer, more professional alternative. This would allow Broadway to reclaim Broadway, while overwhelming Instagram and Facebook with theatrically-based tourist photos. They wouldn't even have to show up every day; just enough and irregularly enough to make the current situation unprofitable for the pushy opportunists."

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