Broadway shutdown due to virus extended again until May 30
NEW YORK (AP) — Fans of Broadway will have to wait a little longer for shows to resume — until at least late May.
Although an exact date for various performances to resume has yet to be determined, Broadway producers are now offering refunds and exchanges for tickets purchased for shows through May 30 2021.
"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, which represents producers.
The latest delay was endorsed by Actors' Equity Association, which represents 51,000 theater actors and stage managers.
"We are at this moment, seven months into the pandemic, our nation still lacks a coherent national strategy for masks and testing which could help bring the virus under control.”
Broadway theaters abruptly closed on March 12, knocking out all shows — including 16 that were still scheduled to open — and scrambling the Tony Award schedule, with nominations this year set for Oct. 15. Producers, citing health and city authorities, previously extended the shutdown to June 7, then again to Sept. 6 and again to Jan. 3.
The move by the Broadway League comes less than a month after the Metropolitan Opera said it will skip an entire season for the first time in its nearly 140year history and intends to return from the pandemic layoff next September.
In London, producer Cameron Mackintosh has said his company's West End productions of “Hamilton,” “The Phantom of the Opera,” “Mary Poppins” and “Les Miserables” won't reopen until 2021 due to the pandemic.
Broadway grossed $1.8 billion last season and attracted a record 15 million people.