The League To Announce Broadway Canceled The Rest Of The Year?

I’m hearing that an announcement will be made soon that shows will officially all be canceled for the remainder of 2020. It’s not unexpected because we’ve all known it would happen but nonetheless, it’s still sad.

Say what you will, but I really think making such an (accurate) announcement before say, August, at the soonest, is completely unreasonable. The end of this year is 6 months away. That's half an entire year. I could agree with them announcing something along the lines of "the shutdown is extended past September 6 with a return date still TBD" but that could mean October, could mean January, could mean something in between. Really, people. If everyone is serious about minimizing exposure/distancing/masks/etc (which yes I realize not everyone will be), things will significantly change in the next few months, and hopefully for the better. I get that people want to be responsible and make the safest decision, but I really think deciding now what's gonna definitely happen or not happen in 6 months, people are just wasting their time. Anything right now (for better or for worse) is still just a guess.

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https://broadwaynews.com/2020/06/22/broadway-shows-expected-to-remain-closed-through-early-january/

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HogansHero said: "@stoptheworld I am not going to revisit this already well-discussed subject but with all due respect that ship has sailed. 2020 is not a guess and hasn't been for quite a while."

Exactly. Carnegie Hall, The Metropoitan Opera, New York City Ballet, etc. have all already canceled for the rest of the year (and it’s not just New York City - the Guthrie in Minneapolis, the Joffrey in Chicago, Center Theatre Group in LA etc have all done the same). Far from being “unreasonable”, it’s called being RESPONSIBLE.

Unfortunately, the corollaries almost certain to follow mean that, in addition to Balanchine’s The Nutcracker not being presented at Lincoln Center for the first time ever, many other events are likely, if not all but certain, to be scrapped for this year... the Radio City Christmas Spectacular, Greenwich Village Halloween Parade, New York City Marathon, Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade, the Christmas Market at Bryant Park... If we’re lucky, we’ll still have a tree in Rockefeller Center. But the holidays this year may very well feel as different in their own way as the spring did. (Though I won’t miss Santa-Con, that’s for sure.). We’ll get through this by being smart, and with any luck next year will be much closer to those in the past.

I find the people that deny the reality of this situation are the ones that cannot handle being quarantined and just staying still for a few months. They also just want everything to be normal again and don't take proper precautions against a deadly virus. Scary.

There's a difference between taking proper precautions and simply throwing your hands up and waiting for a vaccine.

There's no actual guarantee of a vaccine. Traditional vaccines can take up to 15 years to safely develop. And sometimes never. So. There are lot of vaccine trials that seem hopeful and promising but accelerating the timeframe is actually quite frightening for any number of practical reasons. There might not be a guarantee of safety even with a approved vaccine... and you likely wouldn't be wise to take one until it's been on the market for several years. The administration touted a treatment they knew did very little, you don't think the first promise of a vaccine wouldn't be touted if it shows even a little promise? To be honest, those waiting solely on vaccine don't seem much less delusional than those that just want to open things up now.

All that said. There are quite a few precautions that can be taken and are backed by science. Can we open now? No. Can we open this year? Probably not? For whatever reason, the public just refuses to comply with these containment methods. However. If we could get the public to get behind universal mask wearing, sanitation, and contact tracing... the theaters could reopen with greatly mitigated risk. Additionally, new and effective treatments are being developed every day. Is it still scary? Yea. Am I still at home? Ya. But. A new treatment could come around the curve next week and put into practice next month. Greatly mitigating risk.

I guess we can wait until a vaccine. And I respect someone's decision to do so. But. It doesn't feel like any less of a fantasy than trying to contain and treat the virus with methods we've already developed. The virus might never go away and we might just have to learn to live with it.

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Sutton Ross said: "I find the people that deny the reality of this situation are the ones that cannot handle being quarantined and just staying still for a few months. They also just want everything to be normal again and don't take proper precautions against a deadly virus. Scary."

It's not that people are denying the reality of the situation. No one is saying we thought there was a good chance theatre would be running in November. We're just saying it's still five months away and a ton of things can and will change by then. That's all.

I don't at all see what September 1st has to do with anything. Businesses are reopening and people are already going back to work. Likely by end of July, we'll be to 50% capacity of most office buildings with more and more people working together in closer proximity. So a rehearsal room with 35 people in it on September 1st would in no way be unrealistic. Shows aren't going to just be completely paused as far as work being done on them until audiences can come back in. That's the last step of reopening, but months of work can be done on shows before that happens. So yes, shows could easily be back rehearsing by September 1st for a mid-November opening. Again, that mid-November opening was a super long shot, but that's not the point. The point is let's wait and see before we make concrete decisions about such a rapidly changing situation 5 months in advance.

The full cast of a musical getting into a rehearsal room and singing into each other's faces in early September is completely absurd.

Updated On: 6/22/20 at 06:42 PM

"It's not that people are denying the reality of the situation. No one is saying we thought there was a good chance theatre would be running in November. We're just saying it's still five months away and a ton of things can and will change by then."

It's definitely sad. But my positive takeaway is that that's another 6 months of money I'll save on theatre tickets, not to mention dinners out and cocktails in NYC. Hey, it's always good to find some sort of silver lining.

HogansHero said: "@Broadway61004 suffice it to say you are being painfully naive on multiple fronts.

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Actually, no. I'm just standing outside in the middle of approximately 200 people crowded on one tiny NYC block on the first night of Phase Two. If you truly believe Broadway is going to wait for a vaccine or for herd immunity, then I don't know what else to say to you. This isn't about what should be done. This is about reality.

Jordan, no offense, but I'm not the one saying that people aren't going back to work until there's a vaccine, which is what you essentially said in your earlier post. So if you believe that is the reality, more power to you--I actually hope you're right and people and organizations are far more cautious than I think they'll be.

But in any case, this is obviously a completely meaningless discussion as the League has made their decision. But that doesn't change my opinion on it, nor will you.