Print The intermission was already on shaky ground before the pandemic. The convention of the two-act play, interrupted by 15 minutes of recess, was starting to feel like a relic of the theatergoing past. After lockdown, the interval’s days seem numbered. The vaccines appear to be miraculous, but they won’t erase all our qualms about indoor public gatherings. It’s hard to imagine even the most die-hard spectators wanting to spend more time than necessary crowding into lobbies between acts for overpriced wine and snacks or waiting in bathroom lines in unsavory cramped spaces. Broadway, flying a retrograde flag, is dragging out its warhorses (“The Phantom of the Opera,” “Jersey Boys”), hoping to convince at least its former customers that nothing has changed. But this illusion will be hard to sustain as playwrights gravitate toward more compact forms and directors look to condense classics as artfully as the National Theatre’s “Romeo & Juliet” film that aired on PBS’ “Great Performances” in April.