Paige Finn DohertyFounding Partner, Behind Genius · Founding Partner at Behind Genius Ventures

The Day Broadway Shut Down

26 Mar 2025 · 1 min

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1:21

In this first-person account, the speaker recounts the abrupt shutdown of their Broadway show on March 12, 2020, when an usher fell ill during a Thursday matinee. The stage manager announced the cancellation, marking the first Broadway closure due to COVID-19. That same night, the musical "Six" missed its opening night, and its producers contracted the virus. The speaker describes how COVID quickly swept the Broadway community, forcing the shutdown of all shows with 500 or more seats, while smaller Off‑Broadway venues remained open. Initially, they expected a three‑week hiatus, but the reality stretched to an 18‑month hiatus, profoundly affecting revenue, momentum, and the theatrical ecosystem.

Chapters

And then in March of 2020, we were actually the first show to shut down because we had some unusual programming. We had a Thursday matinee for the show, and our audience was sitting in their seats, and it was 1 o'clock on Thursday, March 12th, and an usher didn't feel well. And so the stage manager made the unenviable announcement We are sorry. We have to cancel the show. Please go home. We'll find another way to get you into the theater. And that night on Broadway, Six, the musical Six, was supposed to open. Really? It did not open. They had their opening night party with just a few producers there. Every one of those producers got COVID. COVID swept our community immediately. From that night on, we shut down every Broadway show. We shut down 500 seats or more. You couldn't do your show. Everybody on Broadway went to go see a Broadway— an Off-Broadway show that night, Paige, because the Off-Broadway shows under 500 seats, they were still open. And we thought, oh, we'll close for 3 weeks. Oh my gosh, 3 weeks. We will lose so much revenue. We'll lose so much momentum. Yeah. They won't come back. 18 months later, Broadway—