Surflight Theatre to present ‘Big Top’ shows this summer

by JAY LUSTIG
Surflight 2020 big top

The Surflight Theatre in Beach Haven.

The Surflight Theatre in Beach Haven will present shows in an open-air tent that it is calling its “Big Top,” this summer. “Cabaret,” July 10-Aug. 2, will be followed by “Mamma Mia! The Musical,” Aug. 4-30.

According to producing artistic director Steve Steiner, capacity will range from around 170 to 215 per show. The rows of seats will be six feet from each other, and attendees will be seated together with other members of their party, six feet from other attendees.

“We will rearrange the seating for each performance,” he says. “For instance, there may be four people seated together, then six feet, then two people together, then six feet, then one person by himself, then six feet, then five people. The next row will be six feet behind that row. And so on throughout the entire tent.”

Also, performers and crew members will be tested for COVID-19 and monitored for high temperatures, and will live with each other, away from the general public, for the duration of each show.

The theater’s Show Place ice cream parlor, with singing waiters and waitresses, has moved outdoors (also under a tent). It is currently open at 6 p.m. daily.

The Surflight first opened in 1950. It went bankrupt in 2015 but reopened under new management in 2017.

Productions of “Gershwin’s An American in Paris,” “Legally Blonde: The Musical” and “Chess: The Musical” that had been planned for this summer have been postponed to 2021.

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