The plays, concerts and other performances may resume in New York starting next month – but with drastically reduced capacity limits – Governor Andrew M. Cuomo said on Wednesday.
Mr. Cuomo, speaking at a news conference in Albany, said that the arts, entertainment and events venues could reopen on April 2 with 33 percent capacity, with a limit of up to 100 indoors or 200 outdoors. outdoors, and the requirement that all participants wear masks and be socially aloof. These limits would increase – to 150 people indoors or 500 people outdoors – if the venues could test all participants.
Several venues immediately said they would start performing live, which, with a handful of limited exceptions, has not been in New York since Broadway closed on March 12.
Producers Scott Rudin and Jane Rosenthal said they expected some of the first performances to take place with pop-up programs inside Broadway theaters, as well as with non-profit venues that have flexible spaces, including the Apollo Theater, the Park Avenue Armory , St. Ann’s Warehouse, the Shed, Harlem Stage, La MaMa and the National Black Theater.
“This communion of audience and artist, which we look forward to for a year, we can finally achieve,” said Alex Poots, Shed’s artistic director and chief executive, who, according to him, is planning to start presentations indoors for a limited capacity of hearings from the beginning of April.
The new rules will not affect Broadway commercials and musical productions, which are likely to debut after Labor Day, according to Charlotte St. Martin, president of the Broadway League.
“For a traditional Broadway show, the financial model just doesn’t work,” she said. “How do we know this? Because programs that come close to this type of service. “
Cuomo announced his plan to ease the restrictions, as New York, along with New Jersey, has been adding new cases of coronavirus at the highest rates in the country last week: both reported 38 new cases per 100,000 people. (The country as a whole has an average of 20 per 100,000 inhabitants.) And New York City is adding cases at a per capita rate almost three times that of Los Angeles County.
Two prestigious New York nonprofits – Lincoln Center and Glimmerglass Festival – have said they hope to perform outdoors this year, and the new rules will allow them to do so in front of a substantial audience.
“We welcome the new guidelines and want to serve as many people on our campus as are safe,” said Isabel Sinistore, a spokesman for the Lincoln Center, which plans to open 10 spaces for open air presentations and rehearsals on April 7.
For many music venues in New York, operating at 33% capacity may still not be sufficient to make the reopening economically viable, considering the operating costs of the venues and the payment of the artists.
“It makes no financial sense for Blue Note to open with just 66 seats,” said Steven Bensusan, president of the Blue Note Entertainment Group, whose main jazz club is in Greenwich Village.
Blue Note, along with a few other jazz venues serving food, reopened last fall for dinner performances, allowing them to do some shows without conflicting with state regulations that banned everything except “incidental” music.
In August, a federal lawsuit filed by a musician in Buffalo defied the state rule, and in November a judge issued an injunction that prevented the state from enforcing its ban on advertised and ticket shows. But the postponement was brief: in December, the state closed its internal restaurants once again. (It was resumed on February 14)
Several promoters and site operators have said they hope to reopen at 100 percent capacity, which many expect to happen this summer.
Michael Swier, the owner of the Bowery Ballroom and Mercury Lounge, two of New York’s best-known rock clubs, said the state’s order that locations require social distance and wearing masks means that real capacity in many spaces can be much smaller.
“Given that social distance is still part of the metric, it brings us back to a capacity of approximately 20%, which is unsustainable,” said Swier.
“Even 50 percent would be difficult for us,” he added.
But some small non-profit organizations immediately expressed an interest. At Tank, an art space in Midtown Manhattan that features theater, music, dance, puppetry and more, Meghan Finn, her artistic director, said that within hours of the governor’s announcement, she began to hear comments from comedians eager to resume performances indoors. She said that Tank will continue broadcasting and still plans to present outdoor work this summer, but that it will now also seek to program indoors, where it has a 98-seat theater that can accommodate 32 customers under the new rules.
“Having the ability to use our space is not something we will miss,” said Finn.
Ben Sisario and Matt Stevens contributed to the report.