People pass by posters for Broadway shows in New York City in March of 2021.
Broadway won't be shutting down despite at least two closed productions and a string of Covid-related cancellation, a theater group said Tuesday.
Charlotte St. Martin, president of the Broadway League, said there are no plans to close Broadway.
The Lion King, Dear Evan Hansen, Ain't Too Proud, and Hadestown were among the shows that were postponed on Tuesday. St. Martin said that there are 21 other performances on Tuesday night.
She said that they have the strongest protocols in theater today. The posting of shows on a daily basis shows that the protocols work. If the tests are positive, the show doesn't go on and the cast and crew are protected from further contact.
St. Martin said that the group's epidemiologists are looking at protocols to see if they need to be changed.
Broadway has taken precautions to make sure that workers and audience members are up to date on their immunizations. In many cases, the company members and workers who have tested positive have not shown any symptoms. They can't return to Broadway until they're no longer contagious.
Even if a cast member tests positive for Covid-19, productions can continue with understudies or swing players taking their place.
The musical "Jagged Little Pill" is the only one that has said it will stop production. The comedy play "Chicken & Biscuits" closed at the end of November due to concerns about the coronaviruses.
The number of new coronaviruses cases in the U.S. has risen to its highest levels in months because of the omicron variant. Over the past two weeks, the number of new infections in New York has increased by more than 80%.
