Tonight's performance of ALADDIN cancelled due to breakthrough COVID cases

[MattieIce2018]

Posted: 9/29/21 at 6:50pm

https://www.instagram.com/p/CUbD0VKLjbi/?utm_medium=copy_link

Is this the first Broadway show that's had to cancel a performance since things started to reopen?

[BrodyFosse123]

Posted: 9/29/21 at 6:57pm

They literally started performances less than 24 hours ago. Geez, Louise!

[Jordan Catalano]

Posted: 9/29/21 at 6:58pm

This is the first show. It was bound to happen and will happen again (it’s just part of reopening safely). Hopefully everyone takes rapid tests and gets negative results so performances will be able to resume tomorrow.

[BCfitasafiddle]

Posted: 9/29/21 at 6:59pm

BrodyFosse123 said: "They literally started performances less than 24 hours ago. Geez, Louise!

"

Ugh. Hoping those affected are well. 

[ACL2006]

Posted: 9/29/21 at 6:59pm

Didn't they have a matinee today? 

 

It was mentioned in their reopening night that numerous swings and understudies we're on.

Updated On: 9/29/21 at 06:59 PM

[BrodyFosse123]

Posted: 9/29/21 at 7:02pm

Jordan Catalano said: "This is the first show. It was bound to happen and will happen again (it’s just part of reopening safely). Hopefully everyone takes rapid tests and gets negative results so performances will be able to resume tomorrow.”

Yeah, because if they take those proper meds they’ll kill the COVID bug overnight.  If they tested positive today it could be weeks before they are fully recovered.  Once you test positive you don’t just test negative the next day.  

[BdwyFan]

Posted: 9/29/21 at 7:03pm

What does this cost a production every time
This happens? What expenses still occur? Anyone know?

[FosseTharp]

Posted: 9/29/21 at 7:08pm

BrodyFosse123 said: "Jordan Catalano said: "This is the first show. It was bound to happen and will happen again (it’s just part of reopening safely). Hopefully everyone takes rapid tests and gets negative results so performances will be able to resume tomorrow.”

Yeah, because if they take those proper meds they’ll kill the COVID bug overnight. If they tested positive today it could be weeks before they are fully recovered. Once you test positive you don’t just test negative the next day. "
 

I’m pretty sure Jordan means they are false positives and all subsequent testing comes back negative. Which is happening a ton, like with Sunny and Anna on The View….

 

[Fosse76]

Posted: 9/29/21 at 8:04pm

BrodyFosse123 said: "Jordan Catalano said: "This is the first show. It was bound to happen and will happen again (it’s just part of reopening safely). Hopefully everyone takes rapid tests and gets negative results so performances will be able to resume tomorrow.”

Yeah, because if they take those proper meds they’ll kill the COVID bug overnight. If they tested positive today it could be weeks before they are fully recovered. Once you test positive you don’t just test negative the next day. "

The rapid tests have had a rather high false positive yield, so much so that Come from Away's producers have asked that the production and house staff take the PCR test twice per week and not the rapid test. Merch, bar, and headset staff still only take the rapid test. 

That said, the protocol is that once there is a confirmed case, everyone is re-tested. 

Updated On: 9/29/21 at 08:04 PM

[EDSOSLO858]

Posted: 9/29/21 at 8:45pm

Hairspray closed tonight in the West End... a couple months ago, they too dealt with several positive COVID cases within their company. They were detected on July 4th and the show did not resume performances until July 20th. 

Just giving you a sense of how many performances could possibly be cancelled, since no other B'way show has anything to compare this to just yet. 

[BroadwayGuy12]

Posted: 9/29/21 at 9:11pm

Jordan Levinson said: "Hairspray closed tonight in the West End... a couple months ago, they too dealt with several positive COVID cases within their company. They were detected on July 4th and the show did not resume performances until July 20th.

Just giving you a sense of how many performances could possibly be cancelled, since no other B'way show has anything to compare this to just yet."

This doesn't give us a sense of anything. Those performances of Hairspray were cancelled when the UK had much stricter isolation guidelines (the same guidelines that Andrew Lloyd Webber was protesting when he announced the cancellation of Cinderella's original opening). That guidance was lifted in mid-August. While some shows have continued to need to cancel shows (such as Back to the Future this month), they're not cancelling weeks at a time the way Hairspray and other shows needed to earlier in the summer.

[everythingtaboo]

Posted: 9/29/21 at 9:33pm

Not for anything, but was that performance at The View this morning live? Because I'm just saying they were all right at the table with the co-hosts, right behind them. Hopefully cast members there didn't expose to the co-hosts, or the other actors from Lion King and Frozen.

[phan24]

Posted: 9/29/21 at 9:42pm

From a source, there were 6 positive cases today in the Aladdin cast. Surprisingly high IMO.

[Miles2Go2]

Posted: 9/29/21 at 10:00pm

The reality is that with this pandemic, it has been next to impossible to predict what one will think in relation to it in 6 months to a year. It’s likely not what you think now.

Hell, I flew out on what would turn out to be my last work trip to date the second week of March 2020 relatively unconcerned & unmasked. By the time the pandemic shut down my work and sent me home a day early on March 13(!), I was starting to enter panic mode.

But I thought we’d be somewhat back to normal in a couple to few months. Then I have kept moving that goalpost routinely throughout the pandemic.

Based on events and science, my perceptions, behaviors, and predictions (often inaccurate because I don’t have a crystal ball) have changed. That pertains to things like wearing masks, wiping down my curbside pickup groceries obsessively, and washing my hands til they hurt.

I think that’s true of any of us that have taken the pandemic seriously. What we thought last year or even a few months ago is likely to not reflect what we think now.

I don’t see the point in calling each other out over what one thought previously. I’d hope the pandemic has taught us that kindness is sometimes more important than proving a point or score some imaginary burn points.

I certainly didn’t predict I’d be ready to return to live theater this year. But yet I’m seeing the touring production of My Fair Lady this Saturday evening. That’s largely because I’m vaccinated and because of the safety guidelines put in place by the venue. (Not gonna lie; stories like the reason for the thread give me some pause).

[Highland Guy]

Posted: 9/29/21 at 10:10pm

Here in San Diego, we were looking forward to a new production of "Hair" at the Old Globe Theatre two weeks ago.  But a few hours before, we were notified that the performance had been cancelled that evening due, in part, to positive Covid testing.  We were offered two seats for a different performance, which we accepted, but then we gave those tickets to friends, instead.   

Best thoughts to those associated with "Aladdin".

Oh, and also.....  THANK  YOU  BLAXX  !!

Updated On: 9/29/21 at 10:10 PM

[EDSOSLO858]

Posted: 9/29/21 at 10:25pm

phan24 said: "From a source, there were 6 positive cases today in the Aladdin cast. Surprisingly high IMO."

I found a social media post with last night's principal cast list... I see Zach Bencal (Babkak), Brad Weinstock (Omar), and Olivia Donalson (Fortune Teller) were all out. Could those have been three of the positives?

Updated On: 9/29/21 at 10:25 PM

[RWPrincess]

Posted: 9/29/21 at 11:08pm

I hope the 3 actors who were on The View this morning weren't 3 of the positives. They were all posting on social media all day long and then stopped. 

I have a ticket to tomorrow's show so it will be interesting to see what happens. I don't live in the city so I hope whatever decision they make is made earlier in the day.

[HogansHero]

Posted: 9/30/21 at 1:05am

blaxx said: "Humiliating you wasn't my goal. Just wanted to put out, this situation will have many variables moving forward. Statements of what we think will or will not happen don't help the conversation much moving forward."

I did not think it was. you made your point and heard it. I would say that, in the context in which I think of it (the business of making theatre), what we think will/will not happen is actually pretty important. Producing decisions are always made based on an assessment of whether people will pay money to come see shows, and they have to be made based on the best available information. We are still grappling with that question, and as someone else said, the information is a moving target. I also think it is important to make sure that the information being dispensed where science has given us direction is consistent with that information. That does not tell us how people will act and heaven knows a lot of people have proven themselves to be awfully irrational over the last year and a half. I was genuinely surprised to learn that at the end of last year I thought people would not wear masks to the theatre, mostly because I certainly don't think that now. There are, obviously, some people who will not go to the theatre so long as they have to wear a mask. We can't quantify that yet, and we also know that there are people who will not go to the theatre without regard to masks or anything else because they do not feel safe, etc. It's no secret that I am not as convinced as some that there is a demand for the supply of shows on the boards now and in the next several months. But I do not know, and I hope I am wrong (as I have said many times). But I don't think the answer is to not discuss these things because we don't know the answers. I saw a scientist on TV a while back who observed that one outgrowth of covid is that it has taught a lot of people the definition of science, something that we never fully appreciated. He defined it as the orderly arrangement of the known facts in our environment gained by observation and experimentation. Scientists don't think in terms of definitive answers; they traffic in hypotheses. Einstein's theory of relativity was disproven by string theory. Einstein expected that would happen. 

[Dolly80]

Posted: 9/30/21 at 1:20am

6 people out is a lot. I suspect this may lead to a longer cancellation , particularly if any more test positive today.

Hopefully not though of course.

As someone said- this sadly will be the reality for a while.

[binau]

Posted: 9/30/21 at 2:55am

I want to understand if this is related to a government policy, show policy or other policy etc. if I recall in London people no longer have to self isolate or even get tested if they come into contact with a positive covid case when they are double vaxxed. This is why west end shows aren’t closing every 2 days anymore. I was hoping we were at a stage where we can ‘keep calm and carry on’ but this suggests it’s not the case yet.

[binau]

Posted: 9/30/21 at 3:00am

Actually just reading the NYT article on this answers this. Shows can and will remain open with COVID cases if they can practically have enough understudies, the right testing approach etc. (I.e. they don’t HAVE to close).

[bway0]

Posted: 9/30/21 at 5:36am

RWPrincess said: "I hope the 3 actors who were on The View this morning weren't 3 of the positives. They were all posting on social media all day long and then stopped.

I have a ticket to tomorrow's show so it will be interesting to see what happens. I don't live in the city so I hope whatever decision they make is made earlier in the day."


I also have the same concern as you. I live 2+ hrs away so if the show I have tickets for cancels I would hope it’s announced a reasonable time before so people have a chance to find an alternative show either through box office or stubhub. 

Updated On: 9/30/21 at 05:36 AM

[ACL2006]

Posted: 9/30/21 at 6:01am

hopefully it's just a bunch of false positives. let's see if they have a performance tonight.

[Tag]

Posted: 9/30/21 at 11:30am

You're all assuming that the positive cases are amongst the cast.

[Sutton Ross]

Posted: 9/30/21 at 11:56am

I read company I think cast, but you could be right on that one. 

Updated On: 9/30/21 at 11:56 AM