You can currently buy tickets for dates in April to shows that were on Broadway when Governor Andrew Cuomo shut down all the theaters on March 12th for at least a month.
On Telecharge and Ticketmaster, there are statements explaining the shutdown, but the tickets are still for sale for performances starting April 13th, from “Ain’t Too Proud” (which shouldn’t be) to “Wicked” (which seems almost an apt description of the practice.) “Tickets are selling fast. Get yours now before they’re gone,” Telecharge says.
As I point out in my post, Broadway and the Coronavirus: Updated Questions and Answers: The idea that the theaters will reopen on April 13th is being dismissed as unrealistic. The governor has said his stay-at-home order could last for months. The Tony Awards announced on March 25th that they were postponing the ceremony indefinitely; waiting to reschedule until Broadway reopens. The Tonys had been scheduled for June 7th.
Broadway may be among the last sectors of society to get permission to reopen, according to Broadway League President Charlotte St. Martin, writing to members and staff of the trade association on March 26: “We have to remember that the Governor didn’t give us a return date and we have to have that to come back…Our intel in Albany does indicate that they think the mass gatherings may be the last area of business to come back.”
As Michael Riedel noted in the New York Post on March 19th: “As Broadway grapples with the coronavirus crisis, producers have concluded that the Great White Way will not reopen in April, as they’d hoped. The best-case scenario right now is the summer, and that means many new shows aren’t going to survive. ‘This is worse than 9/11,’ says a top producer. ‘We lost a few shows then — we’re going to lose a lot more now.'”
I’m as big a Broadway booster as anybody, but is it…responsible…or consumer-friendly…for these shows to be selling tickets to performances in mid-April? Does anybody truly believe Broadway will reopen by then?
— New York Theater (@NewYorkTheater) April 4, 2020
No.
— Theresa Rebeck (@TheresaRebeck) April 4, 2020
On the remote chance that they sell a ticket, they can capture the purchaser’s information. They can be refunded or, better yet, moved to another performance as soon as shows go back up.
— Spin Cycle NYC (@spincyclenyc) April 5, 2020
