Broadway Access Review -
Real Women Have Curves

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ID: image of the Real Women Have Curves Playbill in front of the stage with the text "Access Review" on top

 

General Note

This is a review of the accessibility of the theater, of the lighting/sound/scent design of the show, and a list of content warnings as a way to prep folks with various needs before they go see it. 

This is not meant to scare anyone away from seeing the show. Most productions have about the same amount of content warnings and sensory warnings to go along with it, they’re just rarely explicitly written down. 

For some people, knowing these things ahead of time makes it easier to enjoy the show because they know what to expect. And, often, makes those people more likely to see it in the first place. I hope that it’s helpful!

I am also happy to clarify any specifics, just send me a message or an email and I will respond when I can.

Also please note that I make these while seeing a show for the first time, so I may miss some cues or be slightly off as to their placement/cue line!

Theater

(James Earl Jones Theatre)

All comments on the accessibility of lighting are in reference to seats in the left orchestra

Bathrooms: 

  • divided into the gender binary, though there is a sign saying “Please use the restroom that best fits your gender identity and expression”

  • located below the orchestra on house right. There is no accessible restroom on-site

Other theater accessibility:

  • the theater has a step-free entrance to the orchestra

  • there is no elevator 

  • the theatre offers closed captioning, assistive listening, loop receivers, and audio description devices

Click here for more information on the accessibility of this theater.

Light/Sound/Scent

General:

  • I did not need earplugs for this show

  • there is medium volume music playing pre-show and during intermission

  • there is an herbal cigarette used once but it didn’t seem to let off any smoke

  • the sensory accessibility of this show is similar to that of Suffs and The Notebook

Act I:

  • single camera flash after “how do you think you get a family?”

  • boom after “...destination faster”, followed by ~45 seconds of the sounds of an INS raid and brief flashing police lights reflected through the windows; then brief simulation of a panic attack

  • Daydream - ~7 seconds of white camera flashes after the plane sequence

Act II:

  • Siempre Mi Gente - brief haze that dissipates quickly

  • Real Women Have Curves - disco ball appears after “sipping my Corona”, along with some on/off flashing lights that lasts about ~25 seconds

  • ~3 seconds of a quick moving projection as they go to the factory at night

  • small boom after “198!” and a second one after the breaker is flipped

  • Bows - some on/offs during people’s entrances and then about ~15 seconds of light flashing at the very end that doesn’t feel particularly strobey

Content Advisory

  • fatphobia 

  • racism

  • INS raids/immigration stress

  • brief simulation of a panic attack

  • light sexual content (just discussions of doing it, not anything actually taking place)