As smoke from Canadian wildfires blanketed New York City and poured into theaters, alarming both ticket holders and performers, performances of the Broadway productions of “Hamilton” and “Camelot” and a Free Shakespeare in the Park production of “Hamlet” were canceled. cancelled .
Hamilton announced at 6:45 p.m. that Wednesday night’s 8 p.m. performance would be canceled due to so many cast members calling in sick.
“Hamilton’s performance tonight will not go ahead as planned,” Shane Marshall Brown, a spokesman for the production, said in a statement. “The unsafe air quality in New York City has made it impossible for some of our artists to perform tonight.”
Around the same time the Lincoln Center Theater announced that the Broadway revival of “Camelot” also canceled a Wednesday night performance; Spokeswoman Juliana Hannett referred to “the impact of air quality on our artists”.
‘Shucked,’ a new musical, was planning a concert performance of its show with composer Brandy Clark after several actors called in sick for reasons some of which were unrelated to air quality, a spokesman said.
The Public Theater canceled Wednesday night’s final dress rehearsal for “Hamlet,” saying the loss of rehearsal time and ongoing concerns about air quality had prompted it to cancel the play’s first two scheduled previews on Thursday and Friday nights.
Broadway theater owners and producers held an emergency meeting Wednesday afternoon to discuss the impact of falling air quality. However, as many visitors and performers were already on site for the evening’s shows, they decided to allow any shows that were able to continue their performances that evening. Originally, 31 performances were scheduled for Wednesday nights in Broadway theaters; Due to upgrades in response to the coronavirus pandemic, theaters have air filtration systems that can reduce pollutants.
“Broadway remains open tonight and most shows will be happening,” Broadway League President Charlotte St. Martin said in a statement.
The decision came as New York air quality hit record unhealthy levels and many organizations, including the New York Yankees, canceled events — initially mostly outdoors, but then as the haze persisted, indoors as well.
The smoke has been affecting live performances in New York for more than 24 hours. On Tuesday night, the Public Theater canceled a technical rehearsal of “Hamlet” citing air quality concerns, and on Wednesday morning, Little Island, a small park on the Hudson River, suspended its artistic activities.
Broadway felt its first big impact just after 2 p.m. when actress Jodie Comer pulled out of her acclaimed (and physically demanding) one-woman show, Prima Facie, just 10 minutes into the show, claiming she was having trouble breathing. The show restarted with her understudy and Comer returned for Wednesday night’s performance.
There were several other gigs that were canceled as government officials spoke louder about the health risks of going out. Vineyard Theater canceled a performance his new play This Land Was Made. New York Live Arts has canceled a Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Company dance performance in Times Square. And BRIC, a Brooklyn-based arts organization, canceled the opening night of its Celebrate Brooklyn festival, which was set to include a concert with the Taj Mahal and Corinne Bailey Rae.