[ad_1]
The surge in coronavirus instances is beginning to take an actual monetary toll on Broadway, simply because the trade is making an attempt to rebound from its prolonged shutdown.
The Broadway League, a commerce affiliation, stated on Tuesday that its theaters introduced in $22.5 million final week. That’s a 26 % drop from the $30.5 million in tickets offered the earlier week; within the week earlier than Christmas in 2019, complete grosses had been $40.1 million.
The drop in grosses is a mirrored image of the truth that a number of exhibits have canceled performances when constructive coronavirus assessments pressured forged or crew members to quarantine and there weren’t sufficient understudies or substitute staff for the exhibits to proceed.
Final weekend, about one-third of all exhibits canceled some performances, and this week, a number of exhibits determined to postpone performances till after Christmas, together with “Ain’t Too Proud,” “Aladdin,” “Pricey Evan Hansen,” “Hadestown,” “Hamilton,” “Harry Potter and the Cursed Baby,” “The Lion King, “MJ” and “Skeleton Crew.” Plus, “Tina” canceled till Christmas evening; and “Jagged Little Tablet” closed solely, and “Mrs. Doubtfire” canceled Tuesday evening.
Attendance additionally dropped, given the cancellations: 184,227 individuals noticed a Broadway present final week, down from 240,602 the earlier week.
The ensuing income drop is an actual concern for an trade the place most exhibits, even earlier than the pandemic, fail financially. However the harm just isn’t evenly dispersed — some exhibits that keep open are benefiting by promoting tickets to individuals scrambling for one thing to see after their first-choice present canceled. This yr the Broadway League is releasing solely mixture weekly grosses quite than breaking them down for particular person productions, so it’s troublesome to see precisely how the monetary ramifications are unfolding.
5 different exhibits cited the pandemic shutdown in deciding to not reopen this fall — the musicals “Frozen,” “Imply Women” and “West Aspect Story” and the performs “Hangmen” and “Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?” Two exhibits cited the continuing pandemic in deciding to shut for good after beginning (or restarting) performances this fall, then pausing due to constructive coronavirus assessments of their corporations: not solely “Jagged Little Tablet,” which introduced its closing Monday evening, but in addition the play “Rooster & Biscuits,” which closed final month.
The present disaster is coming on the worst doable time for the trade, as a result of the vacation season is historically essentially the most profitable time of yr for Broadway, and lots of exhibits rely on the vacations to make up for softer intervals.
Charlotte St. Martin, the president of the Broadway League, stated she doesn’t envision the trade shutting down once more, irrespective of what number of particular person exhibits should pause. “I don’t think about a shutdown by us, except each present has individuals with Covid,” she stated. “We’re going to maintain as many individuals employed as we are able to.”
And New York Mayor Invoice de Blasio, at a information convention on Tuesday, was equally shutdown-averse. “No extra shutdowns,” he stated. “We’ve been by means of them. They had been devastating. We are able to’t undergo it once more.”
[ad_2]
Supply- nytimes