After COVID-19 began to spread from Asia to North America, concerns of the virus going into the United States grew for Americans. Not too long after this growing concern, a lockdown was enforced on the U.S. in March 2020. Everything in the country shut down, including restaurants, theatres, certain stores, churches, and tourist attractions.

One of the most popular tourist attractions in the United States is Broadway. Located in New York City, Broadway is a huge part of New York’s economy and the culture of New York in general. Producing many ground-breaking musicals and shows like Lion King, Hamilton, The Phantom of the Opera, Dear Evan Hansen, and Cats, Broadway has always been a greatly popular place for musicians, producers, actors, singers, and dancers to all display their abilities to a live audience. As someone who has personally seen shows on Broadway, it’s an amazing experience. There are so many different things put into the musicals produced, either leaving you in tears or laughing through every performance.

Since its initial making, Broadway has expanded greatly. There are hundreds of shows on Broadway, including some of the most long-running musicals. One of these is The Phantom of the Opera, which has been running for about 46 years. Shows falling behind The Phantom of the Opera include Chicago (1975), The Lion King (1997), Cats (1982), Wicked (2003), Les Miserables (1987), and A Chorus Line (1975). 

It was around March 12th, 2020 when Broadway officially closed all theaters in New York. Due to the concerns of COVID-19 spreading in the capacity that a theatre holds, Broadway stayed unavailable for audiences and performers. Many of these performers (or sound technicians and production designers) had to move back to their hometowns due to rent or their lack of initial income. Though New York does have many other ways to produce the same amount of money they made in 2019, the lockdown made it much more difficult for the state to produce the same products they did that year before. This same issue occurred in most states in the U.S. 

Luckily, however, Broadway is looking to reopen. Though COVID-19 cases are still popping up in New York, the numbers have gone down compared to what they were like in May 2020. On September 14th, 2021, Broadway plans to reopen. As New York is doing for many of their attractions this summer, Broadway is primarily being held off due to the plans to hold New York at full capacity. Luckily, though, this means that businesses in New York should be falling back into the waves of normalcy.

Image Sources:

Image One, Featured Image: EntertainmentWeekly.com

Image Two: Fortune.com

Image Three: BLOCKED; Out of Context

Image Four: TownAndCountryMagazine.com