Broadway closure extended at least through Labor Day

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Broadway stages will remain dark at least through Labor Day. The additional three-month closure announced by the Broadway League on Tuesday is the longest extension yet for Broadway’s 41 houses in response to the coronavirus. Broadway was initially closed on March 12, when Gov. Andrew Cuomo banned gatherings of more than 500 people, with plans …

Broadway stages will remain dark at least through Labor Day.

The additional three-month closure announced by the Broadway League on Tuesday is the longest extension yet for Broadway’s 41 houses in response to the coronavirus.

Broadway was initially closed on March 12, when Gov. Andrew Cuomo banned gatherings of more than 500 people, with plans to open a month later. That date was pushed until June 7 in early April, although many have suspected since March that the closure would last until the summer. Now the show won’t go on again until Tuesday, Sept. 8, at the earliest. But there’s no telling if the date will be pushed again.

“While all Broadway shows would love to resume performances as soon as possible, we need to ensure the health and well-being of everyone who comes to the theater — behind the curtain and in front of it — before shows can return,” Broadway League president Charlotte St. Martin said Tuesday in a statement.

The new extension to New York’s theaters’ closures follows an announcement by the Society of London Theatre last week that the UK city’s entertainment venues would remain shuttered through June 28.

Although some press reports have suggested that Gov. Cuomo snubbed Broadway by leaving the industry out of his New York Forward Re-Opening Advisory Board, the Broadway League president recently revealed that the industry is working closely with the state on how to restart.

Not all Broadway shows have been able to pause until it’s safe to reopen — Martin McDonagh’s “Hangmen” and a revival of Edward Albee’s “Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?” have both announced they will not come back with Broadway, the Hollywood Reporter writes. Some shows have announced they will wait until next season, even if others resume in September.

While they wait for theaters to safely reopen this summer, fans will at least have the “Hamilton” movie, starring the show’s original cast, which is now set to stream on Disney+ starting July 3. The film version of the hit musical wasn’t set to come out until fall 2021, but the release date was moved up more than a year in response to the pandemic.

“Today the Broadway League took a difficult but necessary action to put the safety of everyone from the audience to the actors and stage managers first,” Mary McColl, executive director of Actors’ Equity Association, said Tuesday in a statement, “Before our members can safely return to work, we will need new protocols that protect audiences and workers alike.”

The fate of this year’s Tony Awards remains unclear. Already postponed til June 7, some insiders say the awards show may be scrapped entirely.