Going Dark: The Delay of Broadway Performances and Marina Pires’ Broadway Debut
Lauren Knight, Features Writer
Niki Hatzidis, Features Editor
After finishing her early morning yoga, Marina Pires crawled back into bed and felt the overwhelming peace of a quiet morning outside of New York City. As she laid on a mattress set up on the living room floor, she watched the rays of sunlight stream through the window of the makeshift bedroom, slicing through the chill of the crisp February morning air. Instead of worrying about the result of two final callbacks for Broadway shows, Pires and her boyfriend Luke Wygodny decided to escape the city and visit Wygodny’s cousin in Frenchtown, New Jersey. It was this particular morning that she finally felt at peace with letting go of one particular role she had been seen for.
It was this morning that she got the call.
Pires felt an immediate jolt of energy as she heard the words she’d been waiting her whole life to hear: she would be making her Broadway debut. Better yet, she’d be making her Broadway debut as Princess Jasmine in Aladdin on Broadway. She immediately called her parents and cried.
***
With less than two weeks until her Broadway debut, Pires sat in the Jasmine dressing room with her predecessor, Arielle Jacobs. Between filming their rendition of a viral Tik Tok and trailing Jacobs as she ran her track in the show, Pires and Jacobs engaged in small talk about beginning and ending their time in this iconic role.
With regards to the increase in coronavirus cases in New York, Jacobs remarked that she wondered if it was only a matter of time before Broadway shows were suspended.
“It feels like any show could be my last show here,” said Jacobs.
The Broadway League issued their statement regarding the shutdown hours later, and Jacobs played her final performance in the role that day.
Pires sat in rehearsal in the New Amsterdam Theatre during the release of the statement, and it wasn’t until she checked her phone on a break that she even knew what had happened. With her debut scheduled for March 24, this shutdown meant she would not be achieving this milestone in her career on the intended date. She was set to take her press photos in costume after rehearsal, so Pires decided that she needed to hold it together until after the shoot ended. In the presence of ten people standing six feet apart during her press shoot, everyone innocently joked that they would see her soon.
Or maybe in the fall.
Or maybe just “when we see you.”
Pires smiled politely and said her goodbyes, unsure of when she would ever wear that costume and be back with this group of people again. Nevertheless, her thoughts remained positive as the door shut behind her and she walked toward the subway.
“It was still great because I went home with a full princess beat on my face and I thought ‘it’s gonna happen, one day,’” said Pires.
***
Waiting out the quarantine in the suburbs of Deerfield, Illinois has given Pires limitless time to process the emotions of everything that happened in the blink of an eye.
“This is a thing I have been that working so hard for since I was a little kid, before I even knew what it meant,” said Pires. “Knowing what it means and being able to fully breathe it in and see that it is something completely different from what it was 20 years ago when I was a little kid means so much.”
When thinking about what this period of waiting time holds for her, Pires chooses to find moments of gratitude in the ability to slow down and appreciate the moment even before it happens.
“Being so excited to finally get to do the thing and having it be deferred like this was weird, but also strangely comforting,” said Pires. “I’m currently able to really focus in on why it is that I’ve been working on this so long, and why it is that I care so much about theater and our community specifically. Or why I do what I do. Having this time to reflect on why I need this thing in my life, why I need theater in my life, is incredible.”
While Pires understands why everything needs to happen the way that it is, part of processing all of this is allowing herself to feel emotional about a major life event being delayed. While responsibly practicing social distancing, she takes time for self-reflection to acknowledge why this moment means so much to her.
“Nobody ever sees – especially in our profession because it’s so fun – all of the hard work that goes into it, and all of the no’s that I’ve heard my whole life,” said Pires. “It’s all of the stuff that we’re so good at pushing down and getting past, and so I was just really grateful that it was a yes.”
With a contract that details her three-month run in Aladdin on Broadway, Pires admits that she can only hope that she will be able to perform for three full months whenever Broadway shows resume. If the shutdown lasts more than 3 months from her intended March debut date, is her time in the show up? While everything remains up in the air, it is implied that Disney Theatrical Productions intends to extend contracts by however many days Broadway remains suspended. Pires expresses her belief that human beings are a product of what they choose to think about, and instead of dwelling on the what-ifs, she chooses to concentrate on the ways she finds happiness to spread joy at this time.
In addition to cooking, playing with the family dog, and practicing yoga, Pires uses her time to continue to find creative outlets to channel her energy into. Pires and Wygodny created their band, The Heartstrings Project, in 2018, and Pires intends to continue using music as an outlet at a time of high stress and anxiety. Since 2018, the duo released 3 singles on major music streaming platforms, with their song “Of the Sea” at nearly 8,000 streams on Spotify.
Along with continuing her singing and songwriting, Pires took up journaling with daily prompts that author Suleika Jaouad writes an uploads to social media. For Pires, having a guided journaling session each day is something she looks forward to, and after committing to the full month of journals for April, she feels a motivation to write during a time where it is easy to succumb to writers’ block.
While the journey to her Broadway debut is quite a rollercoaster, Pires can’t help but think back to the moment she got the call that changed her life. Those emotions continue to pour over into this waiting period, and the pure happiness of that moment is something that can never be taken away from her.
“I just felt so proud of myself, and it felt really good to finally be able to say that I did it,” said Pires. “And I’m sure it’s going to feel even better to actually do it, I can’t wait.”
Lauren Knight is a theater journalist and may be reached at laureneknight1@gmail.com.