New York’s theater district is once again cancelling Broadway’s biggest shows over the coronavirus. The latest Broadway shows to shut down include Tina, Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, and Ain’t Too Proud.
It’s 2020 all over again for many major Broadway’s shows as a fear of breakthrough infections and the rise of the Omicron variant are shutting down a growing number of productions.
The latest show to hit the cancel button join several that have already announced that they are shutting down. The stage treatment for Mrs. Doubtfire and Freestyle Love Supreme have also canceled a series of performances.
Tina – The Tina Turner Musical, for one, announced it was cancelling performances “due to a limited number of positive covid test results within the Broadway company.” The production is targeting next week to reboot performances.
Several of the productions told audiences that the cancellations are being made out of “an abundance of caution” over recent positive tests of cast and crew members, not to mention the rising rate of coronavirus Omicron cases in New York City.
(Charles Sykes/Invision/AP)
According to the CDC, New York and New Jersey are tracking infections of Omicron at a rate four times higher than the U.S. average, according to NBC New York.
Outgoing New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio recently tried to push a controversial mandate that all employees in the private sector must be vaccinated by December 27. Early in December, the mayor proudly claimed that he would be the “first in the nation” to force private companies to vax all employees or face restrictions.
For its part, Broadway announced in July that all theatergoers would have to be vaccinated to attend shows in the Big Apple.
The theater district also shut down through most of 2020, and stayed shuttered until September on this year.
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