Broadway’s lights are coming back on.
Theaters will reopen at 100 percent capacity Tuesday evening for marquee Broadway shows like “Hamilton,” “Wicked,” “The Lion King,” and “Chicago,” Mayor Bill de Blasio said Tuesday.
“When Broadway is up and running, it says so much about New York City,” de Blasio said at his daily press briefing, held remotely from City Hall. “Tonight, some of the biggest shows in Broadway come back.”
“You can feel the life of the city coming back all the time,” the mayor added. “That’s going to be great for the life and energy of the city, great for the jobs.”
In the coming weeks, several other productions will come back, including “Six” on Oct. 3, “Come From Away” on Sept. 21 and “Moulin Rouge” on Sept. 24. Next month, “Jagged Little Pill” is slated to return on Oct. 21 and “The Phantom of the Opera” on Oct. 22.
“At least 30 shows are reopening between now and the end of the year,” said Anne del Castillo, commissioner of the New York City Mayor’s Office of Media and Entertainment.
“Broadway is back, [and] coming back more every single week,” said de Blasio.
As he encouraged New Yorkers to attend Broadway performances, the mayor said he is “very much looking forward to attending a show soon.”
Sara Bareilles, a Tony Award-winning composer of “Waitress,” called Tuesday a “magic day.”
“This is a magic day for the entire theater community,” said the “Love Song” singer during the press conference. “To describe the feeling in the room as electric does not even do it close to justice.”
Big Apple theaters opening their doors for full crowds comes months after then-Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced in May that Broadway shows would be permitted to return on Sept. 14.
“This goes back months of preparation to get to this point,” said Councilman Paul Vallone (D-Queens). “To show the world again is what makes us so amazing.”
In June, Bruce Springsteen ended Broadway’s shutdown by performing a limited engagement of his solo show.
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