[ti:Broadway Closure Continues Until End of May]
[by:www.21voa.com]
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[00:01.08]Theater lovers will have to wait a little longer
[00:04.72]for New York City's Broadway shows to restart.
[00:09.76]Broadway theaters will be closed until at least late May.
[00:16.04]An exact date for their reopening has yet to be decided.
[00:22.44]But Broadway producers are now offering to return money
[00:27.24]for tickets purchased for shows through May 30.
[00:31.64]Or theatergoers can exchange their tickets for a show after that date.
[00:39.68]Charlotte Saint Martin is president of the Broadway League,
[00:44.24]an organization that represents the producers.
[00:48.76]She said they are working "tirelessly" with many partners
[00:54.04]to keep the industry alive when theaters reopen.
[00:59.56]Actors' Equity Association supports the latest delay.
[01:05.60]The group represents 51,000 theater performers and stage managers.
[01:13.96]The Broadway League made the difficult decision of putting their workers
[01:18.96]and theatergoers first, the group said.
[01:22.80]"This is a deeply painful time" for people who need the arts
[01:28.08]to make a living, said Mary McColl.
[01:32.04]She serves as executive director for Actors' Equity Association.
[01:38.28]McColl blamed Broadway's ongoing closure on the federal government's
[01:44.96]lack of a national plan to fight the coronavirus pandemic.
[01:51.32]She added that a plan for face coverings
[01:54.72]and testing could bring the virus under control.
[02:00.04]Because of COVID-19, Broadway theaters closed on March 12,
[02:05.84]ending all productions.
[02:08.68]The closure of theaters has also caused a delay in the Tony Awards,
[02:14.32]the yearly awards ceremony for live Broadway theater.
[02:19.96]The new end-of-May date could affect several shows
[02:24.76]that had planned to open earlier this year.
[02:28.36]They include "The Music Man," "Flying Over Sunset," "Caroline, or Change,"
[02:36.56]"Plaza Suite," "American Buffalo" and "The Minutes."
[02:42.44]Within hours of the announcement last week,
[02:45.64]the musical based on the life of singer Michael Jackson, called "MJ,"
[02:51.88]pushed back its performances to September of 2021.
[02:58.44]The decision by the Broadway League comes less than a month
[03:03.08]after New York's Metropolitan Opera canceled its performances for the year.
[03:09.96]This will be the first time the opera company
[03:13.92]has canceled an entire season of shows in its nearly 140-year history.
[03:23.12]It plans to re-open in September of next year.
[03:28.88]In London, producer Cameron Mackintosh
[03:32.76]said his company's productions of "Hamilton," "The Phantom of the Opera,"
[03:38.48]"Mary Poppins" and "Les Miserables" will not reopen until 2021.
[03:46.76]The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, D.C.,
[03:52.16]has canceled many performances and events through the end of 2020.
[03:59.36]In Boston, Huntington Theatre Company has done the same.
[04:05.20]Broadway theaters earned $1.8 billion last season.
[04:10.72]A record 15 million people attended the shows.
[04:16.32]Producers and labor unions are discussing ways
[04:20.88]that theaters can reopen safely.
[04:24.44]I'm Alice Bryant.
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