3 Of The Biggest Broadway Shows Reopen With COVID Rules

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Friends Adam Schaefer and Isabella Phillips of Philadelphia went to see Wicked, one of the top Broadway shows to reopen on Tuesday with pandemic protocols.





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The Coronavirus Crisis
Curtains Up! Broadway Musicals Return, But COVID Concerns Are Center Stage


Curtains Up! Broadway Musicals Return, But COVID Concerns Are Center Stage





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But the return of the three musicals — the spiritual anchors of modern Broadway’s success — as well as the long-running «Chicago and the reopening of the iconic TKTS booth both on Tuesday are important signals that Broadway’s most valuable shows are back, despite pressure and uncertainty from the spread of the delta variant.

«We go to a theater for catharsis. Literally that’s what we go for: to be in communion with each other, hear a story told in the dark and experience catharsis, said «Hamilton creator Lin-Manuel Miranda. «For a while, it wasn’t safe to do that. And it’s safe to come back now with the protocols we have in place.





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People wait outside the Richard Rodgers Theatre for a chance to purchase cancel tickets for Hamilton on Tuesday.





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Eric (left) and Woon Lee, of Queens, pose with their tickets to Tuesday’s performance of The Lion King.





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Reporters interview the first people in line to buy discounted Broadway show tickets at TKTS in New York’s Times Square on Tuesday.





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Reporters interview the first people in line to buy discounted Broadway show tickets at TKTS in New York’s Times Square on Tuesday.


Mary Altaffer/AP

Bailey says Broadway’s return will be less like a flick of a light switch and more like a dimmer, with a slow build to regular attendance. «We’ll know so much more in two or three weeks, but you can’t swim unless you can start by dog-paddling.

For Miranda, getting his visionary show back in front of a live audience after 18 months will help the actors and crew but also businesses all over Times Square that rely on the theaters, like his favorite pizza shop. There’s nothing like live, he said.

«It’s one thing to see something on the screen. And I’m thrilled ‘Hamilton’ was was available on a screen in a time when we couldn’t go to a theater. But I’m even more thrilled that now it can be experienced the way it was meant to, live in front of an audience, the final collaborator every night.