Broadway Cancels Second Blizzard Night
A major blizzard forced Broadway to cancel performances for a second consecutive evening, disrupting the city's theater calendar and disappointing audiences. The rare shutdown underscores the vulnerability of live arts to extreme weather, with snow causing a "Snow Day on the Great White Way".
- The decision to cancel performances was made by the Broadway League, the national trade association for the Broadway theatre industry, due to a blizzard that was expected to bring up to two feet of snow and create hazardous travel conditions. - This marks the first time in a decade that the Broadway League has mandated a full shutdown of all shows due to snow. The last such instance was on January 23, 2016. - While evening performances were canceled on Sunday, February 22nd, and all performances on Monday, February 23rd, Sunday matinees proceeded as scheduled. - Among the productions impacted were popular shows like *Wicked*, *Chicago*, and *The Book of Mormon*. The shutdown also affected the final performance of the original Broadway cast of *Operation Mincemeat*. - In response to the cancellations, some productions have already made schedule adjustments; for instance, *Chicago* added a performance on March 5th. - While a league-wide shutdown is rare, individual Broadway shows have occasionally canceled performances due to weather. Historically, Broadway has also faced closures due to events like Hurricane Sandy in 2012 and labor strikes. - The economic impact of Broadway is significant, with the industry contributing nearly $15 billion to New York City's economy and supporting almost 100,000 jobs in the 2018-2019 season. Closures result in substantial financial losses for productions and surrounding businesses. - Ticket holders for the canceled shows were advised to contact their point of purchase for refunds or exchanges.
