Broadway is cancelling most evening performances on Feb. 22 as New York City is set to experience a blizzard and receive between 16 and 24 inches of snow.
Productions with matinees that begin at 3 p.m. ET Sunday or earlier, however, will proceed as scheduled. The cancellation is expected to impact productions such as Oh, Mary!, Stranger Things: The First Shadow, Chicago, The Book of Mormon, Wicked, & Juliet and All Out: Comedy About Ambition.
Operation Mincemeat was initially expecting to go forward with its 7:30 p.m. ET performance, but canceled it midday Sunday. The show was set to be the final performances of original cast members David Cumming, Claire-Marie Hall, Natasha Hodgson, Jak Malone and Zoë Roberts. The cast has opted to livestream a concert of all the musical numbers from the show starting at 5:30 p.m. ET.
The cancellation comes after New York State Gov. Kathy Hochul declared a state of emergency in New York City and surrounding areas. The National Weather Service has issued a Blizzard Warning beginning 1 p.m. ET Sunday through 6 p.m. ET Monday, as the city is expected to experience snowfall rates of up to two inches per hour, powerful wind gusts and whiteout conditions.Some nearby counties have issued travel bans for the evening, and New York City has issued a ban on non-essential vehicles after 9 p.m. ET, which would also impact Broadway attendance.
The cancellation of Broadway shows on Sunday came via the Broadway League, the industry’s trade association of producers and theater owners, though the decision was made by the individual shows. Broadway faced a large amount of uproar from cast and crew members about a month ago, when New York City was under a similar state of emergency due to snow, but there was no industrywide cancellation of shows. This meant cast and crew had to commute in amid the snowstorm. The move to cancel across the industry is rare, as it can lead to hundreds of thousands of dollars in lost revenue for each show.
Some shows are making the most of the inclement weather. Bug, a play starring Carrie Coon and Namir Smallwood, is selling $45 tickets for all remaining seats of the 2 p.m. matinee.