Will Broadway Be Back in Early 2021? Charlotte St. Martin is 'Cautiously Optimistic'

As the Broadway League continues to work with city and state officials as well as leaders in science, technology, and medicine to formulate the best plan to restart Broadway, many continue to question whether the shows will go on in early 2021.

"I would consider myself to be cautiously optimistic at this stage," said Broadway League President Charlotte St. Martin in a recent interview with MetroFocus. "The conversations are going that in the first quarter of the year we plan to be back unless we get some kind of bad news."

How long might it take for tourism in NYC to be back to normal? "The economists who we are listening to are telling us that tourism for New York City and travel is going to slowly ramp up. We might be back [to where it was] by the first quarter of 2024. That's a frightening thing to think about, because the margins are slim on Broadway. But we'll be back."

As BroadwayWorld reported last month, Broadway performances in New York City will be suspended through the remainder of 2020. Returning productions are currently projected to resume performances over a series of rolling dates in early 2021.

Broadway performances were suspended on March 12, 2020. At that time, 31 productions were running, including 8 new shows in previews. Additionally, 8 productions were in rehearsals preparing to open in the spring.