Some public officials are concerned about the revival of the arts and entertainment next week and are calling for more caution. On Wednesday, Jumaane Williams, the city’s public defender, asked Cuomo at a news conference to postpone planned reopenings – which will include theaters, concert halls and comedy clubs – citing his concern about the spread of virus variants . New York and New Jersey currently have the highest per capita rates of Covid-19 cases in the country, averaging 39 and 47 new cases per 100,000 people in the last week, respectively.
“We need to reduce the rush to reopen,” said Williams. “One of the side effects of hastening reopening is that people feel safe to start doing things again.”
Mr. de Blasio was accompanied at the virtual press conference by two Broadway artists, André De Shields, a Tony winner for “Hadestown”, and Telly Leung, whose roles included starring in “Aladdin”. Both received support from the mayor.
“We are ready, we remain in shape, our voices are strong,” said De Shields. “All we need is a stage.”
Leung said the reopening would require security measures for artists and members of the public.
“This pandemic has hit our industry particularly hard,” he said. “We all have a long way to go as a community, but I really think that today is a good first step in our healing.”
The Broadway League, which represents theater owners and producers, and Actors’ Equity, the union representing 51,000 actors and stage managers across the country, welcomed the mayor’s announcement. The union, which banned its members from working on almost all productions before live audiences over the past year, is eager to see its members vaccinated to make returning to the stage safer.
Mary McColl, the union’s executive director, said in a statement that the mayor understood that theater workers could not distance themselves socially, making testing and vaccine availability “essential to maintaining a safe workplace”.