‘Hadestown’ jumps ahead of pack to welcome Broadway patrons – The Independent

Hadestown, the brooding musical about the underworld, has set its Broadway reopening date on Sept. 2, jumping ahead of such megahits as Hamilton and Wicked to position itself as the first show to welcome audiences on Broadway since the pandemic.

Producers announced Monday that tickets will go on sale June 11 for the eight-time Tony Award winning musical and that the production will resume playing the Walter Kerr Theatre weeks before its rivals. The first Broadway show to welcome a live audience is likely to get a lot of attention.

New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo had said Broadway theaters could reopen Sept. 14 but producers may make their own economic decision as to when they reopen. They also will be allowed to decide their own entry requirements, like whether people must prove theyve been vaccinated to attend a show.

Soon thereafter, Hamilton Wicked" and The Lion King announced they would restart their shows Sept. 14. Others have followed, staking out spots further into fall and winter, including Six and David Byrnes American Utopia for Sept. 17 and Dear Evan Hansen in December. Some off-Broadway shows have already restarted with social distancing guidelines.

The Broadway that reopens will look different. The big budget Disney musical Frozen decided not to reopen when Broadway theaters restart and producers of the musical Mean Girls also decided not to return.

But there will be new shows, including Antoinette Chinonye Nwandus Pass Over that is slated to reopen the August Wilson Theatre, the same venue Mean Girls has vacated. And a Shubert theater has been promised for playwright Keenan Scott IIs play Thoughts of a Colored Man.

All city theaters abruptly closed on March 12, 2020, knocking out all shows, including 16 that were still scheduled to open.

Some scheduled spring 2020 shows like a musical about Michael Jackson and a revival of Neil Simons Plaza Suite starring Matthew Broderick and Sarah Jessica Parker pushed their productions to 2021. But others abandoned their plans, including Hangmen and a revival of Edward Albees Whos Afraid of Virginia Woolf?

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Mark Kennedy is at http://twitter.com/KennedyTwits

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'Hadestown' jumps ahead of pack to welcome Broadway patrons - The Independent