CLEVELAND — After being placed on pause due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Broadway is expected to return to Playhouse Square next year.
Playhouse Square’s KeyBank Broadway Series is expected to return in Fall 2021, with the expectation of an upcoming vaccine.
“Based on what we know today about the state of the virus, the hopeful news regarding a vaccine and the status of the touring industry, we anticipate that Broadway will return to our stages in the fall of 2021. It will take time for tours to get back up and running when mass gatherings become safe again,” explained Playhouse Square President & CEO Gina Vernaci. “They will have to rehearse for a period of time. Routes and logistics have to be planned out all over the country. It will not happen overnight.”
Since the state’s ban on mass gathering was issued in March, Playhouse Square has canceled or postponed 680 performances and its resident companies have either shifted to virtual programming or are exploring other ways to perform.
Playhouse Square said without the one million guests that visit each year, it knows business will be affected and the organization’s leaders have been meeting with restaurateurs and other service providers to ensure the theater comes back strong.
“We see ourselves as stewards of our neighborhood, and that means doing what we can to ensure the Playhouse Square District emerges from the pandemic as even more inviting and exciting than it was before,” Vernaci said. “The opening of The Lumen, our largest area development project to date, boldly moves us forward.”
