Broadway productions have been shut down since March due to the COVID-19 pandemic and now we know that Broadway will remain closed until 2021 according to a report from Playbill.
Broadway musicals were first impacted by Governor Andrew Cuomo’s mass gathering restrictions March 12. The shutdown was initially slated for a month before being pushed until June 7 (what was at one point to be the date of the 74th annual Tony Awards) and then into September.
League President Charlotte St. Martin is among the figureheads on NYC Mayor Bill de Blasio’s Arts, Culture, and Tourism Sector Advisory Council. Multiple task forces and think tanks have formed to examine the myriad factors involved with reopening the theatre district. Some of these groups are working with leaders in the medical and tech fields to consider in-theatre screening, testing, and sanitization protocols.
“We are determined to bring back the people who rely on this industry for their livelihood, and to welcome back all those who love this vital part of New York City, as soon as it is safe to do so,” St. Martin said in a new statement. “As so many of us in the Broadway community have been saying during this time: We’ll be back, and we have so many more stories to tell.”
