After the return of the matches of the NBA at Madison Square Garden, then the reopening of some cinemas, this Friday, March 5, New York is also preparing to celebrate the resumption of the performing arts. The governor of New York State announced on Wednesday that theaters could reopen April 2, with capacity still limited. The rooms of the American cultural capital, closed since March 12, will be able to reopen at 33% of capacity or 100 people at most, with the wearing of the mask and compulsory distancing, announced Andrew Cuomo to the press.
Outdoors, shows can accommodate up to 200 people and the thresholds will be raised for venues capable of testing their spectators beforehand, to 150 people indoors or 500 outdoors. With such thresholds, large productions of Broadway, like “Frozen” and “The Lion King in particular”, “will not be able to leave again”, indicated to Agence France Presse Martine Sainvil, spokesperson for Broadway, without giving a new date.
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“But we are happy that certain artistic venues, including some theaters in the Broadway district, can reopen their doors and give the public a taste of what we have been missing so much in these dark months,” added Martine Sainvil.
Health situation improves in New York State
Some prestigious venues, like the Apollo Theater in Harlem, or the massive Park Avenue Armory lobby on the Upper East Side, are among the venues that could be allowed to reopen in early April. The announcement of this conditional green light comes as the number of cases and hospitalizations due to the coronavirus are decreasing, in New York State as in other American states, against the backdrop of the acceleration of the vaccination campaign and the arrival of a third vaccine, that of Johnson & Johnson.
While some states have started to lift a series of restrictions, such as Texas which announced the end of mandatory masks on Tuesday, the governor of new york called for remaining vigilant, in particular because of uncertainties related to new variants of the coronavirus. “In my opinion, some states are going too far, too fast,” he said. “You’re loosening the restrictions too quickly, and you’re going to see the beast arise again,” Cuomo said.
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