Broadway Shows to Remain Shut Down Through May 30, 2021

[Dennis Donovan]

https://www.broadway.com/buzz/199967/broadway-shows-to-remain-shut-down-through-may-30-2021/

by Broadway.com Staff • Oct 9, 2020


(Photo by Emilio Madrid for Broadway.com)

As the COVID-19 crisis continues, the Broadway League has announced a further delay to the reopening of shows on the New York stage. All Broadway productions will now stay on hold—and will offer refunds and exchanges—through May 30, 2021. Dates for each returning and new Broadway show will be announced as individual productions determine the performance schedules for their respective shows.

“With nearly 97,000 workers who rely on Broadway for their livelihood and an annual economic impact of $14.8 billion to the city, our membership is committed to re-opening as soon as conditions permit us to do so. We are working tirelessly with multiple partners on sustaining the industry once we raise our curtains again,” said Charlotte St. Martin, President of the Broadway League.

Shows were initially set to be shut down through April 12, then through June 7, then through September 6 and then through January 3, 2021. The coronoavirus outbreak has caused the temporary closure of theaters worldwide, including in London's West End, off-Broadway and across the United States. Shows that have announced they will not return after Broadway resumes performances include Hangmen, the revival of Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? and the musicals Beetlejuice and Frozen.

Some productions previously scheduled to play during the 2019-2020 season have delayed their runs, including Flying Over Sunset, How I Learned to Drive, Caroline, or Change, Birthday Candles, Plaza Suite, The Minutes and American Buffalo. The new extension also impacts new shows that had rescheduled spring and summer opening. The Michael Jackson musical MJ, which was originally slated to begin previews on July 6, shifted its start date to March 8, 2021, and the upcoming revival of The Music Man, starring Hugh Jackman and Sutton Foster, will had reset to April 7, 2021. No new dates for those new shows have been announced yet.

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[no_hypocrisy]

1. That's going impact the Tony Awards . . . .

and the restaurants and bars in Midtown Manhattan.

[bronxiteforever]

2. Kick and recommend for visibility

[Zoonart]

3. An absolute disaster for the artists....

and every one of the ancillary supporting players in the theater community. For any one of you who has not been to the NY theater...
it is an unparalleled experience, and I say that as someone who has been personally involved and has seen theater in other parts of the world.

The American theater is unique to America and it supports hundreds of thousands of people, including the businesses in midtown Manhattan that thrive on the tourists drawn to this experience.

Lincoln Center will not be back until 2022.

This is incredibly sad for everyone involved and for the City of New York in particular.

... it did not have to be this way.

[Initech]

7. As a lover and appreciator of live arts (especially music)...

This pandemic has sucked more than anything that has ever sucked. I really hope that when this is over live arts make a comeback in a huge way.

This has been an absolute disaster and the sad thing is that we won't get out of this nightmare without real leadership. As long as Trump is running things you can forget about it. We need to show up in numbers too big to ignore to elect Joe.

[redstatebluegirl]

4. It will take years for the theater to recover from this.

[hunter]

5. One of our children took us to Hamilton a few weeks before the theaters closed.

It seems such a long time ago...

[Just_Vote_Dem]

6. This is very hard on all associated with theater but

I appreciate their putting the health and safety of all involved, including their audiences, first. We should all make an extra effort to support the arts when this nightmare is over.

[Initech]

9. I know that I will!

There was a golden age after the 1918 pandemic was finally over and a lot of industries that were lost, like restaurants and theaters, thrived. Hopefully the same happens here and I hope that Joe Biden will lead us in that direction.

[niyad]

8. As devastating as this is for all involved, I applaud the Broadway community for putting people's

health and safety first.

Is there a list of organizations and groups helping the theater community?

[Marius25]

10. Horrible news.

That is such a disaster for all the people who work in theatre.

I was pursuing musical theatre prior to Covid and most of the people I know work in the performing arts. A few of them work on Broadway. It's devastating how much this destroys the lives of the theatre community. Acting is an unstable, generally not well paying career as it is. And regional theatres aren't open either, so actors really have no way to work right now in the industry. Plus, the typical side job actors rely on like bartending, waiting, hospitality, etc. are hurt really bad which means actors don't have means to make money outside of acting.

The bigger name Broadway shows generally make $500,000 to $1 million per week. Broadway is losing tens of millions of dollars every week from Covid.