Broadway Cancelled Until Sept 6

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Updated On: 5/12/20 at 11:39 AM

This was expected. I do think any new show planned for next season will officially be off. Outside of The Music Man & 1776, was anything actually announced for the 2020-2021 season? Whenever Broadway reopens, we may only see a dozen or so shows able to come back.

blaxx said: "Sorry but The Music Man is officially doomed."

It's not doomed, it'll just be pushed back a year, till fall 2021.  (I've been saying for weeks that under its current plan there was no plausible way it could start on schedule, despite Jackman's vague interviews to the contrary, since even if Broadway were up and running by the fall, Sutton Foster will be committed to shooting the next season of "Younger" - which was supposed to begin filming in March - before she can begin rehearsals for a stage show... and in any case everyone seems to agree TV and film production will resume before stage does.)

Similarly, for what it's worth, I'm hearing that internal discussions on Broadway are confronting the likelihood that the business will be shut down till at least January, with next March or April more likely. I'm sure everyone will say "that'll never happen", or "whoa, that's getting way ahead of things" - but that's just what I'm hearing.  As has been reported elsewhere, they don't want to risk resuming this fall if there's even a sliver of a chance there'll be a second outbreak or another shutdown - not to mention that insurance wouldn't be available and additional money couldn't be raised under those circumstances.  And then, the thinking goes, with tourism at a low anyway during the winter, and flu season at a high, why would they resume performances in January, the toughest months of the year under the best of circumstances - so might as well wait an additional 2 or 3 months at that point. BY which point, with any luck, the virus might have mutated, herd immunity could be taking effect, and regardless there's a better chance that by then there'll either be a vaccine, or at least better drug treatments.

I agree it seems inconceivable for Broadway to be shut down for an entire year - but I fear that the Guthrie announcing last week that they aren't resuming till March 2021 will prove prophetic, and that New York will go that route as well.  (The question isn't what shows survive, since many will, thanks to insurance, intrepid and committed investors, etc. - the question is how long it takes Broadway as a whole to bounce back after that, in terms of general audiences, older theatergoers and tourists.  In the meantime, all we can do is stay safe and hope these internal projections prove to be worst-case scenarios that don't come true.  And do everything we can to elect more responsible officials this fall who take things like this seriously.)

 

Updated On: 5/12/20 at 12:02 PM

^for next year or this year? They’ve already cancelled this year’s ceremony.

The Music Man will probably be pushed back a year if Scott Rudin still wants to produce it.

Updated On: 5/12/20 at 12:23 PM

everythingtaboo said: "Suspended four months out. I just can't imagine the slew of closes notices that'll be coming out by the end of this week."

Agreed.  Sad for sure.  I'd also imagine many previewing shows may officially "postpone" their dates to later in the fall or even next spring.

I agree that it's likely shows won't open until spring 2021.

Without a vaccine or effective, reliable treatment for the virus, there is no way that any public theatrical gathering will produce anything but a CORONA-19 flare-up and multiple deaths.  Any attempt to sidetrack that fact and short-track a return would be disastrous.  Science and the medical professions are going to dictate when public gatherings will be safe again and, right now, there are no definitives on when that will be.  Next year seems to me the earliest it could possibly happen.

My sister works for a government job and they take your temperature every day when going into work. Could this be a possible solution? 

RippedMan said: "My sister works for a government job and they take your temperature every day when going into work. Could this be a possible solution?"

There are better medical minds on here than mine but the short answer is, absolutely not.. (As witnessed by the increasing number of infections in the White House, where many people are not only having their temperature taken every day, but in some cases, having COVID-19 tests every day... at least one of the people who tested positive there this week had tested negative only the day before, as has happened with Nick Cordero and elsewhere.  And many people have the virus with no fever.)