NEW YORK, NY.- The Broadway production of “Hamilton” canceled all performances until after Christmas as a spike in coronavirus cases batters the performing arts throughout North America as well as in London.
The cancellations, prompted by positive coronavirus tests among cast or crew members, come at the worst possible time for many productions, because the holiday season is typically the most lucrative time of year.
On Saturday and Sunday, about one-third of Broadway shows canceled their performances. And there were multiple COVID-prompted cancellations off-Broadway, as well as in Chicago, Houston, Denver, Los Angeles and other cities.
“Hamilton,” a sold-out juggernaut that had been the top-grossing show on Broadway, cited breakthrough COVID-19 cases in its company as the reason for the cancellation. The show has been dark since Dec. 15 — the matinee went on as scheduled that day, but the evening performance was scrapped — and the first possible next performance is Dec. 27.
The show is the second major Broadway musical to cancel this entire week, following “MJ,” a new musical about Michael Jackson, still in previews, that Friday canceled all performances until Dec. 27, citing “multiple positive COVID tests within the company.” Following the “Hamilton” cancellation, a third musical, “Aladdin,” announced that it would be closed through Christmas, and would seek to resume performances Sunday.
Sporadic cancellations are now widespread, on Broadway and beyond. In most cases, producers say, the positive coronavirus tests are associated with mild or asymptomatic cases, but the performances are being canceled because there are not enough understudies or replacement workers to substitute for those who must miss the show. In recent days, most of the Broadway cancellations have been at large-cast productions, for reasons that are not entirely clear.
The past few days have been filled with grim news for those hoping the performing arts had finally moved past the devastatingly long pandemic shutdown.
The timing was particularly terrible for the Rockettes, who last week canceled all remaining performances of their annual Christmas Spectacular, a holiday staple for many tourists. Other holiday shows were affected, too: A production of “A Christmas Carol” at the Center Theater Group in Los Angeles canceled all performances until after Christmas, while in Houston two performances of the Alley Theater’s production of the Christmas staple were canceled as well. In Ontario, the Shaw Festival Theater canceled all remaining performances of “Holiday Inn” and cut capacity for its “A Christmas Carol” in half.
Britain has been dealing with a raft of cancellations — so much so that the National Theater in London simply shut down until January.
Concerns about the omicron variant are also starting to take a toll on future productions: The first North American production of Tom Stoppard’s acclaimed new play, “Leopoldstadt,” was canceled entirely; it had been scheduled to begin a seven-week run in Toronto on Jan. 22. And in Ottawa, Ontario, “Hamilton” postponed a scheduled run by six months.
The pandemic is once again hitting touring Broadway shows: “The Lion King” canceled its Sunday night performance in Denver. “Pretty Woman” canceled its final several performances in Chicago.
In the dance world, Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater canceled performances at New York City Center, while Mark Morris canceled performances over the weekend at Zellerbach Hall at the University of California, Berkeley.
In sports, the NBA and NHL announced a round of game postponements, and the NFL adjusted its testing policies, to address a surge in cases.
The film world offered evidence that audiences are still willing to gather. The industry had a great weekend, thanks to Spider-Man. But not all theaters were joining the party: Metrograph, citing the pandemic, said it would close its Lower East Side theater until Christmas, and Spectacle Theater, in Brooklyn, closed until Jan. 4.
On Broadway, after a rocky weekend, the cancellations seemed sure to continue. On Monday, the Manhattan Theater Club announced that it was delaying its Broadway production of “Skeleton Crew,” a new play by Dominique Morisseau; previews, which had been scheduled to start Tuesday, would instead start Dec. 27, “due to company members having tested positive for COVID-19.”
Off-Broadway, there were multiple shows down over the past week, often canceling at the very last minute. “Trevor,” a new musical at Stage42, canceled its Sunday matinee and then Monday said it would shut down, canceling the remaining two weeks of performances. And among those that canceled at least one performance were “The Alchemist” at Red Bull Theater, “Cheek to Cheek” at York Theater Company, “Emmet Otter’s Jug-Band Christmas!” at New Victory Theater, “Hear/Now:LIVE!” at Keen Company, “Kimberly Akimbo” at Atlantic Theater Company, “Morning Sun” at Manhattan Theater Club and “While You Were Partying” at Soho Rep.
Although the cancellations have been prompted by the testing of arts workers, there are indications that safety protocols for audiences are likely to shift: The Metropolitan Opera announced last week that it would require COVID booster shots for patrons, as well as employees, starting in mid-January. The Public Theater said it would require not only proof of vaccination, but also a negative COVID-19 test, for entry; in the short-term that new policy will affect audiences only at Joe’s Pub, which is the only part of the Public with performances scheduled over the next few weeks.
And, in a flashback to earlier pandemic practices, some organizations are rethinking live audiences. “Saturday Night Live” last weekend performed without a live audience. Play-PerView, a streaming platform born in the first weeks of the pandemic, canceled a live reading in Los Angeles on Monday, opting to stream only, while a New York cabaret space, the Green Room 42, said Monday that it would begin livestreaming all of its shows, while still continuing to welcome in-person patrons, “until this wave passes.”
This article originally appeared in
The New York Times.
