The dancing and singing that make up 41st to 54th street in New York City has been dampened with the pandemic. With everything closed due to COVID-19 one of the many things New York is famous for has been forced to halt. Broadway has been closed for a little more than a year now and despite the need to close, it doesn’t make it any less painful for those who love theater. At least with quarantine, streaming services like Disney+ have begun to post more movies or musicals like Hamilton. This streaming allowed for these spectacular shows to reach a wider audience, and it only increased the anticipation for Broadway’s return. Fans were satisfied with this momentary change and prepared to wait for businesses to open once again. However, once businesses did start opening, Broadway sadly remained closed to the public with no opening in sight.
This was difficult as Broadway is a major part of the heart of New York and one of the many reasons why the city is so special. It provides a safe environment where it’s possible to relax and watch someone sing and dance for two hours without worrying about anything. Actors have lost their main passion and source of income with their dreams being put on hold along with patrons’ desires to see a show. Yet the Broadway we all know and love may be on it’s way back bigger and better than ever with new life and hopefulness.
Broadway is on its way back!
Although those videos of Hamilton actors and the ladies of Six the Musical are fantastic, it’s definitely a completely different experience seeing them in person, an experience we will hopefully be able to experience again. With the rise of vaccinated people, Mayor Bill de Blasio has promised to work towards having Broadway reopen by September to the public with plans to create a designated vaccination site for those who work in the theater industry. Also, the are plans to create pop-up coronavirus testing sites near theaters, and there are developing plans to manage crowds safely for times before and after shows. The stages and theaters we love so much might be opening once again, and we look forward to nothing more.
Although Broadway is coming back, some of the shows we love most are leaving Broadway. Shows like Mean Girls are going off-Broadway (although it will have a national tour) in the wake of the pandemic, as well as Frozen, Martin McDonagh’s Hangmen, and a revival of Edward’s Albee’s Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?. These shows, although fantastic, are going off-Broadway and will surely be missed. Mean Girls was rumored to be amazing, and it’s not the only great show going off-Broadway, which is heartbreaking to those who haven’t had a chance to see them yet. Beetlejuice the Musical is going off-Broadway to open in South Korea, which is sure to be fantastic, albeit a little harder to go see than if it was in New York. As of July 2020, shows like Music Man, Diana (which shows the story of Princess Diana), Caroline, or Change, and Sing Street will be coming to Broadway, although a lot of the specifics are unclear such as what theater they will be in and who will be in the casts.
Nevertheless, the opening of Broadway is sure to be incredible and we highly look forward to recommending catching a show come September!