As performing arts organizations across the country announce plans to forego their fall programming, Broadway is following suit. The Broadway League has announced that all productions will remain closed until at least January 3, 2021.
Although it is now official, the decision is not a surprise. The League stated in May that while the shows would be dark until September 6, this date serves more as a determination of how late productions would offer refunds and exchanges than as a look at when the curtain will rise again.
Once that can happen, the public can expect the shows to come back continuously, rather than on a specific date. Details on this schedule and ticketing will be announced in the coming weeks.
Some productions had already made such calls before the announcement of the entire industry. The rebirth of The Music Man Starring Hugh Jackman and Sutton Foster, it moved its fall opening to May 2021 last week. Both the Lincoln Center Theater and Roundabout Theater Company announced new spring dates for their upcoming titles.
READ: Check the status of Broadway shows during Coronavirus shutdown
Broadway musicals were affected by Governor Andrew Cuomo’s massive gathering restrictions on March 12. The closure was initially scheduled for a month before being postponed until June 7 (which was once the date of the 74th annual Tony Awards) and then in September.
The president of the League, Charlotte St. Martin, is one of the figures of the Advisory Council of the Art, Culture and Tourism Sector of the Mayor of New York, Bill de Blasio. Multiple working groups and expert groups have been formed to examine the myriad factors related to the reopening of the theater district. Some of these groups are working with leaders in the fields of medicine and technology to consider detection, testing, and disinfection protocols in the theater.
“We are determined to bring back the people who depend on this industry for their livelihood, and welcome all who love this vital part of New York City as soon as it is safe to do so,” said St. Martin. in a new statement: “As many of us in the Broadway community have been saying during this time: we will return and we have many more stories to tell.”
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