More Closures On Broadway: 'The Music Man' Goes Dark Through End Of December; Star Hugh Jackman Tests Positive For COVID-19
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) -- "The Music Man" has canceled all performances through the end of the year due to COVID-19. It's one of many forced to close either temporarily or for good.
Alison Proudfoot was getting her money back for "The Music Man" on Tuesday.
"We planned our whole trip around this," she said.
She and her partner came all the way from Canada to see it.
"We were like, OK, we'll make a trip of it at New Year's, and then we found out today that it was canceled, and it's coming back the day we leave," Proudfoot said.
Star Hugh Jackman posted a video to fans Tuesday afternoon after he tested positive for COVID-19.
"My symptoms are like a cold. I have a scratchy throat and a bit of a runny nose, but I'm fine and I'm just gonna do everything I can to get better ASAP, and as soon as I'm cleared I'll be back on stage heading to River City," Jackman said.
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This is supposed to be one of Broadway's busiest seasons, but of the 30 shows currently in production, at least seven were closed on Tuesday, CBS2's Ali Bauman reported.
In addition to "The Music Man" announcing its performances are canceled through Jan. 1, "The Lion King" also canceled Tuesday's performance and Wednesday's matinee, with the show planning to resume Wednesday evening.
The production of "Ain't Too Proud" welcomed back an audience Tuesday night after cancelations, but the show also announced it is closing permanently after Jan. 16.
"It made me feel like it's March 13, 2020, all over again, you know, with all of these stop-and-go's," said Jawan Jackson, one of the show's lead actors.
Jackson plays Melvin Franklin and has been with the show since the beginning.
"We don't know what our community and what our industry is gonna look like tomorrow," he said.
All the sudden cancelations these last couple of weeks have been discouraging some theater-goers from buying Broadway tickets, due to the unpredictability.
David Byrne's "American Utopia" returned Tuesday night after it had to cancel performances last week. Byrne said he has made creative changes in the production for this week only in order put the show on.
"You ticketholders who already have tickets and you're wondering, 'Am I gonna get to see this show or not?' Well, you can cash in your ticket or you can have what's behind this curtain," Byrne said in a video posted on YouTube.
"We don't have a mechanism to shut down a show for a period of time and go into hibernation at a lower cost and wait out a storm," said Kevin McCollum, the lead producer of the new musical "Mrs. Doubtfire."
He says the show lost more than $1 million when it recently had to close for 10 days.
"So many people were diagnosed with COVID at a similar time that we couldn't even have understudy rehearsals," McCollum said.
Now, "Mrs. Doubtfire" is back on, but McCollum's other show, "Six," has to close until Jan. 2.
"It's the industry's responsibility to come together and find a solution for times like this so that new shows are not economically crushed before they even begin," he said.
While some shows are closed temporarily, McCollum says Broadway is open and plans to stay open.
With the frequency of these COVID cancelations increasing, the Broadway League has set up the website BwayToday.com to help theatergoers find up-to-date info on performance schedules, including cancellations.
