The Show Must (Not) Go On: The Effects of COVID-19 on New York’s Broadway Professionals

Live events have been drastically impacted during the coronavirus pandemic, especially Broadway. The purpose of this paper is to shed light on the struggles being faced by Broadway professionals as a result of Covid-19 and Broadway shutting down. As for the methodology, it was decided to interview various Broadway professionals about their experience working in the industry during a worldwide pandemic. The main areas of focus were financial and psychological repercussions. The analysis section discusses the negative financial impact of the shut down, the impact of not having the 2020 Tony awards, as well as the psychological impact on unemployment. The results of the discussion showed that Broadway professionals are struggling with their finances as well as their mental health because Broadway is now a temporarily lifeless industry. For further research, it is recommended to compare the impact of Broadway and live theatre on New York’s economy to how little government funding the arts have received during the pandemic. Additionally, it would be interesting to compare Broadway’s impact on News York’s economy before and after the shutdown