Broadway theaters closed at least until the end of May 2021

Broadway theaters will remain closed at least until the end of May 2021, the Broadway League association announced on Friday, another sign that the 2020-21 season should be white for performing arts in the United States.

After early September, then early January, the professional association has again postponed the recovery, while the coronavirus pandemic is starting again in the United States, including New York.

“Our members are committed to reopening as soon as conditions permit,” Charlotte St. Martin, president of the Broadway League, said in a statement Friday.

The period of closure of Broadway will therefore reach, at least, more than 14 months, unprecedented in the history of Manhattan’s entertainment district, one of New York’s economic engines and major tourist attraction.

All theaters have been shut down since March 12.

At the time of the suspension of performances, 31 shows were playing on Broadway and eight more were preparing for their spring debuts.

“We are working tirelessly with multiple partners to ensure the sustainability of the industry once we can once again raise the curtain,” added Ms. St. Martin.

A few productions have already thrown in the towel, mainly the musical “Frozen”, but also “Beetlejuice”, as well as the plays “Hangmen” and “Who’s Afraid of Virginia Wolf? “.

According to local news channel NY1, two Broadway locomotives, the musicals “The Lion King” and “The Phantom of the Opera”, will not resume until fall 2021.

Broadway, which generated some $ 33 million in revenue per week before the pandemic, still hopes to receive emergency federal aid, but has so far not been favored by Congress.

This postponement is a new domino that falls on the performing arts landscape in the United States, two weeks after the cancellation of the season of the Metropolitan Opera in New York.

Concert halls and theaters are on a standstill across the country, which continues to record tens of thousands of new coronavirus cases daily.