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Iconic comedy club Caroline\u2019s on Broadway will throw open its doors on Thursday after being dark for 14 months. <\/p>\n
The reopening — with an act headlined by comedian Donnell Rawlings — will make Caroline’s the first Times Square venue to resume live performances. Nearby Broadway theaters aren’t scheduled to reopen until September 2.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are adding shows every day, but it\u2019s complicated to keep up with new guidance from the state which is updated nearly every day,\u201d the club\u2019s owner, Caroline Hirsch told The Post.<\/p>\n
Indeed, some of the early humor will undoubtedly focus on the difficulties of resuming normal life as the threat of the pandemic lifts. And it’s an issue to which Hirsh can relate. <\/p>\n
She began selling tickets about six weeks ago when venues like hers were allowed to reopen. But at the time there was no option to host a performance for a vaccinated-only crowd. <\/p>\n
\u201cWe were selling tickets online, and we had no way of knowing who was vaccinated,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
As a result, the first few nights featuring Rawlings, known as a cast member on TV series “Chappelle’s Show” and the HBO drama “The Wire,” will include both vaccinated and non-vaccinated audience members.<\/p>\n
A second Rawlings show on May 30 was just added for only vaccinated attendees.<\/p>\n
For now, the shows will be at reduced capacity or about 120 seats out of 300 because of the early guidance on social distancing. And the tables will be spaced 6 feet apart, Hirsch said.<\/p>\n
But even if the 40-year-old club, which hosted acts by Jerry Seinfeld, Rosie O\u2019Donnell and Jay Leno in its original Chelsea location, could pack 300 people in again, Hirsch said she doesn\u2019t have the staff to service them.<\/p>\n
Like all hospitality businesses, Caroline\u2019s has not been able to find enough servers and kitchen staff.<\/p>\n
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She\u2019s hired about half the 48 staffers the club had before the pandemic, she said. It will therefore be open just five days a week before returning to its former seven-days-a-week schedule.<\/p>\n
The reopening comes amidst of rash of violence in the city and in particular in Midtown and Times Square, where last week a Jewish man, who was wearing a yarmulke, was beaten by a mob at W. 49th St and Broadway.<\/p>\n
Hirsch pointed to the beefed-up security in the area — some 80 additional cops were assigned to the Midtown corridor last week.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe need to have people in the streets again and bodies in the office buildings now,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
To that end, Times Square has steadily been attracting more visitors with some 206,000 visiting the tourist Mecca last Saturday, May 22, or about two thirds of the 365,000 people on average who passed through the district each day before the pandemic, the Times Square Alliance told The Post.\u00a0<\/p>\n