Broadway To Close as Coronavirus Grips New York’s Cultural Icons

(Bloomberg) -- The show musn’t go on.

Despite the precautions theater owners and producers had been taking to germ-proof theaters—extra cleanings, no backstage guests, curtailed stage door and autograph opportunities—the decision came down from Albany on Thursday: Broadway is going dark, effective 5 P.M. 

New York Governor Andrew Cuomo said he is banning large gatherings  to address the spread of the new coronavirus. The Metropolitan Museum, Carnegie Hall, and the Met Opera had already announced earlier in the day they’d be shutting their doors. Now, it’s mandatory that any building close with 500 or more occupancy; building with less need to reduce occupancy rates by half. Cuomo said they’ll watch the hospitalization rate and adjust numbers as needed.

The closure of the Great White Way, a $1.8 billion annual industry last year, was deemed unavoidable following earlier precautionary steps including sanitizing Broadway houses. Performances will be suspended through April 12, according to the Broadway League. 

“The loss of revenue here to the state government right now is incalculable. You have no idea,” Cuomo said. “It’s not just Broadway theaters. It’s hotel cancellations … that stock market drop alone, what that means to the state’s revenues, you cannot calculate.”

On Wednesday, an usher who worked part-time at Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? and Six became the first reported Broadway case of Covid-19 infection. The usher, who was not identified, worked at performances at the Booth Theatre, where the revival of the Edward Albee marital drama starring Laurie Metcalf is in previews, from March 3 to March 7. Prior to that she managed lines outside the Brooks Atkinson Theatre, where the new musical about the wives of Henry VIII was set to open Thursday, March 12. 

Before Cuomo’s announcement, Kevin McCollum, the producer of Six, said that plans were unchanged for the show’s official opening. He noted that in addition to outside the theater, where the usher worked, the inside was “sanitized in accordance with the CDC” due to an “abundance of caution.”

At the Longacre Theatre, where Diana, a musical about “the People’s Princess,” was in previews for a March 31 opening, they “doubled or tripled the cleaning crew,” said director Christopher Ashley said before rehearsal on March 11. “There’s Purell everywhere.” 

Business had been steady at many Broadway box offices, even though attendance at Disney’s three family-friendly musicals, The Lion King, Frozen, and Aladdin, dropped significantly, according to figures for the week that ended on March 8. But theater executives were bracing for the impact of Covid-19 on New York City tourism, the major source of revenue for the Great White Way.

“Between 60%-70% of business comes from outside the tri-state,” says Charlotte St. Martin, president of the trade group the Broadway League, referring to New York, Connecticut, and New Jersey. 

Faced with the specter of empty seats, producer Scott Rudin cut the price to $50 on all remaining seats at The Book of Mormon, The Lehman Trilogy, To Kill a Mockingbird, West Side Story, and Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? from March 1 -29. Other bargains, including two-for-one specials, were being discussed at other shows.

The question that remains within the theater world is what now? With Broadway houses forced to shutter, as some cultural institutions and sporting venues have in other countries, could simulcasting or digital streaming, the technology used for BroadwayHD, be a viable option for reaching audiences? 

Theater owners declined to respond to a request for comment, deferring to St. Martin. “We have not really discussed that as an alternative,” she says. “Our union contracts are so prohibitive. I’d never rule out any possibility. But it would require a lot of negotiations with the unions for actors and musicians. And union discussions aren’t quick.”

“The coronavirus is a big thing,” says St. Martin, who recalls when Broadway theaters briefly went dark after Sept. 11 and Hurricane Sandy. “But we’ve endured and survived every big thing.”

Still, union hurdles and high costs are only one obstacle, she says. “Many of our seasoned producers have concerns about livestreaming because they believe that part of the magic of theater is seeing it in a theater.”

Six’s McCollum, who also produced such hits as Rent and In the Heights, and additionally has Mrs. Doubtfire in previews, says livestreaming “is never a substitute, even when there’s no virus. I talk only for my shows. It’s not an alternative; it’s an additive.” 

Sue Frost, producer of Come From Away, concurs. “I don’t look at streaming as an alternative,” she says. “That’s not what Broadway is.”

She calls Cuomo’s announcement “the wisest decision.”

“There is a great deal of concern about assembling in large groups. It’s the responsible thing to do, and Broadway is being responsible,” says continues. Asked about financial toll, Frost was cautiously optimistic. “We’re a longer-running show with a brand and an advance and that will help ride it out,” she said. “Each show has its own situation.”

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Justin Ocean at jocean1@bloomberg.net, Chris Rovzar

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