When Glinda the good witch <\/span>piped the opening line of the hit Broadway musical Wicked,<\/i> in her glittering dress and iconic bubble \u2014 \u201cIt\u2019s good to see me, isn\u2019t it?\u201d \u2014 the audience erupted into a standing ovation.<\/span><\/p>\nIt was the show\u2019s first performance following Broadway\u2019s longest shutdown in history due to the pandemic. Kristen Chenoweth, the show\u2019s original Glinda, was there to welcome the audience, and Stephen Schwartz, the show\u2019s composer and lyricist, was there for the final curtain call.<\/p>\n
And Carrie Rachel Dean was in the audience, tears in her eyes.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat show was almost like being at a rock concert,\u201d Dean says. \u201cThe relief and the gratitude and the love was palpable in the house, that Broadway was back.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\nDean has played a real part in bringing, and keeping, Broadway back. She serves as director of on-site services for Mobile Health, an occupational health company partnering with many Broadway houses and shows to provide sufficient COVID-19 testing.<\/span><\/p>\nOn a typical day, testing starts at 7 a.m. and goes into the evening. Dean manages texts and calls from her staff as well as Broadway performers, stagehands and other entertainment professionals. Each test result gets loaded into Mobile Health\u2019s automated system.<\/span><\/p>\n\u201cThe result goes into a portal, and the COVID safety officer for the house or production has access to that portal to see their company\u2019s results,\u201d explains Dean, who has a background in nonprofit event planning. \u201cWe\u2019ve definitely had moments where we\u2019ll get a message from a stage manager: \u2018I\u2019m holding curtain. I need this result.\u2019\u201d<\/span><\/p>\nDean also liaisons between Mobile Health and larger Broadway organizations like the Broadway League, which works with the unions to establish policies and regulations. Her work earned her a special services Tony Award submission by the Shubert Organization earlier this year.<\/p>\n
\u201cRight now, the positivity rate among our community testing is very low because testing works,\u201d Dean says. \u201cIt\u2019s been cool to see very clearly the impact we\u2019re having because we\u2019re able to let the show go on.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\nFor Dean, the show isn\u2019t just business. It\u2019s personal.<\/p>\n
She grew up singing and acting at the Workshop Theatre in Columbia, South Carolina, which took her to the Big Apple for the first time \u2014 a trip she remembers as \u201cpretty magical.\u201d And at Clemson, Dean rekindled her love for the theater, all but double majoring in performing arts and political science. After years of singing, she\u2019s getting her acting feet wet again through The Players NYC, a private social club founded in 1888 by Shakespearean actor Edwin Booth.<\/span><\/p>\nA lifelong performer and a New Yorker for decades, Dean says it\u2019s hard to put into words what Broadway means to her and the city:<\/span><\/p>\n\u201cI\u2019m going to get choked up. It\u2019s such a vital part of what makes New York, New York. We had this dark hole right at the center of us for two years, and then the lights came back on.\u201d
\n<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div><\/section><\/div>
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