by Delaney Wilson
It is not news to anyone that we have been experiencing a global pandemic over the past year and a half.
Covid has impacted everyone’s lives in multiple different ways and it has also impacted the arts. Specifically, Covid completely shutdown Broadway and live performances. On March 12, 2020, Broadway went dark until further notice, leaving arts lovers and arts makers alike crushed by the fact that another one of their joys had been taken away by this nasty virus. Over the past year and a half many many artists have been out of work and some, struggling to find a way to continue living comfortably. Not only did it impact the artists lives, businesses in Times Square surrounding the iconic area were also affected. For Hamilton’s writer and composer Lin Manuel Miranda, it was his favorite pizza shop that was affected, as told by NPR.
The good news is... Broadway has come back to life!
On September 17th, 2021, Broadway reopened with the musicals Hamilton, Wicked, and The Lion King, arguably Broadway’s 3 most popular shows over the past number of years. These shows opened staggered throughout the evening by 30 minute increments and with full capacity. There is nothing like live and arts supporters and performers everywhere are overjoyed that theatre can “be experienced the way it was meant to, live in front of an audience, the final collaborator every night” (Miranda, as cited in ‘3 of the Biggest Broadway Shows Reopen with COVID rules’ by NPR). Along with the reopening of these beloved shows, comes a list of new rules to follow as well.
If you wish to attend one of these performances, you are required to:
● Be vaccinated and show proof of this vaccination
● Remain masked throughout the whole performance
It is also required of the performers, crew, and theatre staff to be fully vaccinated as well. For now, there will be no revisions to these rules. However, there are high hopes that the world and daily life will continue to revert back to normalcy, or what is considered normalcy after this crazy time, and bring forward a decrease in Covid protocols and eventually none at all.
Delaney Wilson is a sophomore Theatre and Arts Management co-major. She loves all things stage performance and supporting the arts through personal experiences such as attending performances. After college, she hopes to pursue a career in performance or potential arts marketing for a non-profit!