Mayor Bloomberg takes center stage yesterday to announce that there’s going to be a lot more recycled material on Broadway over the next few months.
That’s not a commentary on the state of the theater, but a pledge made by Broadway officials to do their part to help Hizzoner cut the city’s carbon emissions by 30 percent by 2030.
More than 10,000 marquee lights have been converted to compact fluorescent bulbs, and about 30,000 more of the energy-savers are going to be installed over the next 12 months.
Playbills could be printed on recycled paper. Sets could be recycled. And costumes could be washed in cold water, not warm.
“That is going to have an impact that reverberates, we hope, far beyond Broadway,” said Bloomberg at the Eugene O’Neill Theater on West 49th Street.
The mayor seemed a bit awed to be treading the boards, surrounded by Broadway performers in full costume from “Wicked,” “Avenue Q” and “Young Frankenstein,” as well as a cast of singers who belted out a new song, “Broadway’s Going Green.”
“I never thought I’d stand up here,” a starstruck Bloomy said. “This is what it looks like?”