THE "GHOST LIGHTS" OF BROADWAY AND OTHER THEATRICAL SUPERSTITIONS©

Broadway theatres and Broadway performing companies are having a tough time right now during the COVID-19 pandemic, as are the performing arts in general.  Shows scheduled for the 2020-2021 Season have been indefinitely put on hold, and Broadway theatres recently announced that they would remain closed, or "go dark", for the rest of 2020.

But Broadway theatres never truly completely "go dark", because for over 100 years, since the late 1800s, one light has remained on inside each of the theatres -- the "Ghost Light".

Simply put, the Ghost Light is a single, unadorned light bulb on a stand placed "downstage center" on an open stage and is turned on while the theatre is empty;  however, it symbolizes so much more than being on for safety reasons to keep the actors and backstage crew from tripping in the dark and falling into the orchestra pit.

Ghost Lights have even had their own "Broadway moments", sharing the stage solo with Tony-award winner Andre de Shields in his Broadway debut in "The Wiz" back in 1974, and again sharing the stage solo with 3-time Tony-award winner Bernadette Peters in 2003 in the Broadway revival of the musical "Gypsy".

According to theatre scholar James Fisher, the exact origins of the Ghost Light is murky, although there are some popular theories. He writes in Historical Dictionary of American Theater: Beginnings that the "ghost light comes from the days of gas-lit theatres and refers to dimly lit gaslights used to relieve pressure on gas valves”.

In another of Fisher's books, The A to Z of American Theater: Modernism,  he relates a popular legend that a burglar once snuck into a Broadway theater, fell from the darkened stage, broke his leg, and then sued the theater.

However, the most pervasive belief is that the Ghost Light will either ward off ghosts or distract them -- and even some guided ghost tours of several of Broadway's historic theatres focus on that belief.

A special feature article by Lindsey Wilson in a 2008 issue of Playbill pointed out that theatrical folk historically are a superstitious lot.  Wishing actors a broken leg (don't ever tell them "good luck"), avoiding whistling backstage (it used to confuse the stagehands), and being careful not to say the word  "Mac . . . . ."  (instead, referring to it as "The Scottish Play" because they believe that it is "cursed"), are just a sampling of the multitude of long-standing theatre traditions.

Other "theatrical stage superstitions" hold that Ghost Lights provide opportunities for ghosts who are "former actors" to perform onstage, thus appeasing them and preventing them from cursing the theater or sabotaging the set or the production.  The Ghost Light is supposed to give them enough light to perform on stage -- AND it is also considered bad luck not to allow these "late thespians" to do this at least once a week -- giving rise to the "legendary" reason why theatres usually only schedule productions for the public 6 days per week.

As for the theatre ghosts themselves, there is no shortage of "ghost sightings" among the legends which accompany many of Broadway's historic theatres and give support to this superstition.  Olive Thomas, for example, a former Ziegfeld showgirl who died in 1920, is a "resident"  at The New Amsterdam Theatre where she regularly performed during her lifetime.  She is often sighted by theatre-goers, blowing kisses to them as they leave the theatre after a present-day performance.

Even if after-hours lighting weren't required for safety purposes, superstitious theatre folk would probably still insist on keeping the Ghost Light burning.   The business of mounting a theatrical stage production for Broadway is risky enough without an irritable spirit or two lurking in the wings -- not unlike one of the most famous -- or infamous -- real or fictional -- of these "spirits" whose initials are "O.G."  (Opera Ghost) -- better known as "The Phantom of the Opera".

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