Schools, travel and now Broadway

Something happened on Thursday as I anticipated going to “The Lehman Trilogy” at the Nederlander Theatre. Broadway shut down all performances due to the coronavirus outbreak, and it hit a nerve.

As a former theater critic and lifelong theatergoer, I’m of the show-must-go-on tradition. Sure, folks are getting sick and the World Health Organization categorized the coronavirus outbreak a pandemic. But as long as Broadway was open for business, I didn’t worry.

This is not the first time Broadway has closed shop, of course. Theaters stayed open during the 1918 flu pandemic, but there have been shutdowns more recently during extreme weather, like Hurricane Sandy in 2012. There were two dark days after 9/11. The longest theaters were shut was for the 2007 stagehand strike (19 days) and the musicians strike in 1975 (25 days).

This closing is supposed to last at least through April 12. The fallout? Probably losses in the millions of dollars, and many shows that will never reopen. The cutoff for eligibility for this year’s Tony Awards is April 23. Sixteen openings had been scheduled between now and then. Look for the possibility of the eligibility date and even the awards being changed. Broadway is central to New York, and it’s also big business: Last season brought in $1.8 billion. That number was fueled by the millions of visitors who aren’t traveling so much these days.

New York seems to be stopping. The Metropolitan Opera and Metropolitan Museum of Art, Carnegie Hall and a host of organizations also have announced closings.

Do I agree with Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo’s order banning gatherings of 500 people or more? The news that an usher in one of the theaters was diagnosed with the coronavirus, the understanding that production insurance policies would only kick in if closings are mandated by the government, and the exposure to theatergoers, meant he had to act.

I’m holding tickets for shows at several of Broadway’s 41 theaters in the next few weeks. So far, it’s unclear how theatergoers will be made whole. Still, impact to individual ticket holders will be negligible next to the cascading monetary hit the productions will take along with restaurant owners, garage operators, and Uber and taxi drivers who depend on theatergoers for their survival.

And, of course, nothing can compensate those who will suffer from the coronavirus.

For now, my heart is breaking.

Leida Snow is a journalist, author and critic.