Musical theatre fans will have to wait a little longer for shows to resume, with Broadway closed now until at least late May.
Although an exact date for various performances to resume has yet to be determined, Broadway producers are now offering refunds and exchanges for tickets purchased for shows through May 30.
Broadway theaters abruptly closed in March, knocking out all shows, including 16 that were still scheduled to open, and scrambling the Tony Award schedule.
Producers, citing health and city authorities, previously extended the shutdown to June , then again to September and again to January.
The new timeframe may complicate a clutch of show that had planned to open in the spring, including The Music Man, Flying Over Sunset, American Buffalo and The Minutes.
Actors' Equity Association, the national union that represents actors and stage managers, has urged lawmakers to include arts funding and loans to help those who work in the live performing arts.
The move by the Broadway League comes less than a month after the Metropolitan Opera said it will skip an entire season for the first time in its nearly 140-year history and intends to return from the pandemic layoff next September.
In London, producer Cameron Mackintosh has said his company's West End productions of Hamilton, The Phantom of the Opera, Mary Poppins and Les Miserables won't reopen until 2021 due to the pandemic.
The John F Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington DC, has canceled most previously announced performances and events through the end of 2020, as has the Huntington Theatre Company in Boston.
Broadway grossed $2.7 billion NZD last season and attracted a record 15 million people. Producers and labor unions are discussing ways theaters can reopen safely.
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