2ND UPDATE, 1:45 PM: There will be a winter’s ball on Hollywood Boulevard after all. Performances of Hamilton at the Pantages Theatre will resume on February 9 after being dark since Christmas, but Broadway in Hollywood said today that the show’s vexed run must end March 20.
Hamilton performances originally were set to begin in March 2020, just as the pandemic was beginning. As a result, the production was put on hold until August 2021. Read more details below.
“For all of us, the road to getting performances of Hamilton up and running for our audiences was a true demonstration of that timeless adage: the show must go on,” Broadway in Hollywood GM Jeff Loeb said in a statement. “The combination of hard work, a commitment to health and safety, clear communication, and positive thinking were the key elements that helped
all of us execute a successful reopening of our theater, and this glorious production. We commend our community of theatergoers, actors, stagehands, and ushers who helped us raise that curtain — and who will help keep that curtain up in Los Angeles as new Broadway entertainment continues to grace our stage.”
UPDATED, 2 p.m.: The L.A. room where is happens is going to be dark for the next three-plus weeks. The producers of Hamilton said today that its performances at the Pantages Theatre in Hollywood have been canceled through January 23 because of breakthrough Covid cases.
Shows will resume on Wednesday, January 26.
“With COVID-19 cases still rising in Los Angeles each day, the Omicron variant has yet to peak, and we expect many refunds and suppressed sales for the next several weeks,” says Producer Jeffrey Seller. “In consultation with our epidemiologist, we are proactively and immediately cancelling performances thru January 23. We look forward to resuming performances at the Hollywood Pantages Theatre with a complete and healthy company in 2022.”
On Christmas Day, the L.A. production said that it would cancel performances through the holiday weekend because of Covid n the company. Read details below.
PREVIOUSLY, December 25: The Los Angeles tour production of Hamilton now playing at the Pantages Theater in Hollywood had to shut down its performances Friday and through the Christmas weekend because of breakthrough Covid-19 cases among the cast, a blow to those who might have gotten tickets in their stockings this morning.
The news impacted Friday’s Christmas Eve show, where the audience had already been seated for a 2 p.m. performance before the postponement was announced. Sunday’s scheduled 1 p.m. and 6:30 p.m. performances have also been postponed.
hamilton show at pantages theatre just got cancelled because of covid cases backstage. wear your masks, get vaccinated, be safe.
— cassie 🐄 (@kiwicassie_) December 24, 2021
“As a result of rigorous health and safety testing protocols, we have been advised that there are COVID-19 breakthrough cases backstage,” reads a statement on the Pantages’ Instagram account posted Saturday. “The health and safety of our cast, crew, and audience are our top priority.”
It added that all ticketholders would be automatically refunded and would receive an email from Broadway in Hollywood, the organizers of the Tony-winning Broadway musical’s L.A. tour.
Both December 26 shows are listed as “Performance Cancelled” on the Broadway in Hollywood website where tickets are sold. The next performance in which tickets can be purchased is Tuesday, December 28 for the 8 p.m. show.
The stoppage mirrors what many Broadway productions are currently dealing with amid the current Omicron surge from postponements, cancellations to even outright shutdowns. The disruptions coincidentally include the Broadway production of Hamilton, which had to postpone shows earlier this week.
On Friday, the Hugh Jackman-Sutton Foster musical The Music Man canceled its Christmas Eve and Christmas Day performances after Foster tested positive Thursday. The show had just begun previews Monday at the Winter Garden Theater.
Erik Pedersen contributed to this report.