Its a brutal economic decision, but the virus doesnt care about anyones income.
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Brass explosions covered coughs, and fevered singing distracted from the news of fevers on the outside.
Now its a sign that were not taking this threat seriously enough.
Its time to close.
Going out for the evening often means jamming bodies together at rush-hour levels of intimacy.
(And dont even think about the bathrooms.)
A visiting Martian might conclude that the whole point of live entertainment was group physical contact.
As a critic, I make my living as a consumer of cultural events.
Even so, its easy for me to call for a shutdown.
Im not the one wholl be hemorrhaging millions every night or facing months of unemployment.
Nobody should underestimate the trauma that even a relatively brief period of darkness will inflict.
Productions years in the making may never reopen.
Careers can derail and opportunities vaporize.
Entertainment is woven into the citys economy.
Broadway showssold nearly 15 million tickets last season, bringing in $1.8 billion.
As always, misery hits hardest among those least able to withstand it.
Thats precisely why the decision to stifle it is so agonizing to contemplate.
So far, decisions about social distancing have been left up to individuals.
If youre sick, stay home.
If youre feeling fine, knock yourself out.
But each of us has a different attitude toward risk and civic responsibility, or what sick even means.
I shouldnt have to trust that my seatmates cough is the result of seasonal allergies.
If they shut down preemptively, they have to take the hit.
The show-must-go-on principle is a powerful one.
Juilliard alone among campus constituents has canceled performances.
The rest are furiously monitoring the situation.
New Yorks blitheness in the face of a pandemic is all the more striking because of other cities decisiveness.
Milan has gone silent.
Berlin shuttered state-run cultural institutions and pleaded with private theaters to do the same.
Diluting the enforced intimacy of entertainment is one option.
But that strategy only adds to the inconsistency and murk, and who knows if it works?
Officials in various cities have made different economic calculations and have different powers.
Conferences and conventions and festivals are being scrapped all over the country.
Its not clear to me why going to Madison Square Garden or Carnegie Hall is really any different.
The ubiquitous hygiene advice can only go so far.
Few public agencies have been willing to take the necessary steps.
The CDC exhorts event planners to, well,plan.
The president insists the virus willmiraculously melt away.
Reduce large gatherings, Governor Andrew Cuomo said in a press conference today.
Why would you risk bringing thousands of people together?
Broadway and our other cultural institutions are open for business, declared the mayors deputy press secretary Jane Meyer.
A shutdown that comes later would be longer, harder to enforce, and possibly too late.
