Following the return of NBA games to Madison Square Garden and the reopening of some theaters on Friday, New York will soon be able to celebrate the resumption of the performing arts following the announcement on Wednesday that theaters will be able to reopen on April 2, although with limited capacity.
The rooms in New York, closed from March 12, 2020, will be able to reopen with a capacity of 33% or a maximum of 100 people, all with a mask and respecting a mandatory distance, announced Governor Andrew Cuomo at a press conference.
Outdoor shows may have a maximum of 200 spectators.
The capacity will rise to 150 people in those rooms that can test the spectators in advance, and to 500 in the case of open-air shows.
With these numbers, Broadway’s major productions, such as “Frozen” or “The Lion King” among others, “will not be able to resume,” Broadway spokeswoman Martine Sainvil told AFP, without giving a new date.
“But we are happy that some places, including some theaters on Broadway, can reopen their doors and give back to the public a taste of what we have missed so much in these dark months,” he added.
This conditional green light comes as the vaccination campaign in the United States is advancing and cases and hospitalizations are reduced both in New York and in other states of the country.
Although some states have begun to lift restrictions, such as Texas that announced on Tuesday the end of the mandatory use of the chinstrap, Cuomo called to remain vigilant, in particular due to the uncertainty generated by new variants of the coronavirus.
“In my opinion, some states are going too far, too fast,” he said. “You release the restraints too quickly and you’ll see the beast rise again.”
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