More than 20 Broadway shows were cancelled Saturday night after a power outage hit the west side of Manhattan.
Among the confirmed show closures: “Hadestown,” “Ain’t Too Proud,” “Oklahoma!” “Hamilton,” “To Kill a Mockingbird,” “Harry Potter and the Cursed Child,” “Chicago,” “Waitress,” “What the Constitution Means to Me,” “Aladdin,” “Frozen,” “The Lion King,” “The Cher Show,” “Hamilton,” “King Kong,” “Mean Girls,” “Frankie and Johnny in the Clair de Lune,” “Pretty Woman,” “The Prom,” “Wicked,” “Dear Evan Hansen” “The Book of Mormon,” and Dave Chapelle, who is playing the Lunt-Fontanne Theatre.
All of the cancelled shows came from theaters on the west side of Broadway. “Be More Chill,” “Beautiful,” and “Burn This” and “Beetlejuice,” all located east of Broadway, went on as scheduled.
The Broadway League said Sunday that all shows with matinees and evening performances that day would go on as scheduled.
Con Edison said Saturday night that 42,000 customers were affected by the outage, primarily on the west side of the Manhattan. The company estimated that power would be restored by midnight.
Nicole Messina, a graduate student in New York City, arrived at “Pretty Woman” Saturday night to see long, stalled lines feeding into the theater from both sides of 41st Street. After waiting in line until about 8:15 p.m., Messina said theatergoers were told the show was cancelled. She and her family plan to try again Sunday.
“I’m hoping that I can see it tomorrow,” Messina said.
Many of the cancelled shows were directing ticket buyers, via social media, to their original point of purchase for ticket refunds or exchanges.
As other theatergoers waited outside the theaters, some of the casts came out to entertain them.
Angela Pinsky, who resides in Brooklyn, planned to see “Hadestown” Saturday night with her husband as part of an anniversary celebration. When they arrived, they saw long lines outside the Walter Kerr Theatre and darkened theaters surrounding it.
Before returning home, however, Pinsky said she was heartened to see the “Hadestown” cast singing about the blackout, a move that she said helped mitigate some of the disappointment felt by audience members.
“It was very high energy,” Pinsky said. “They were very, very sweet to do it.”
Very nice. Cast of @hadestown singing to the disappointed audience about the #blackout. pic.twitter.com/zIHuozHIGu
— angela pinsky (@AngelaPinsky) July 13, 2019
Impromptu performance #broadwayblackout @wecomefromaway pic.twitter.com/PfHYZeFJ6v
— Chad Kimball (@chadkimball1) July 14, 2019
The cast of @WaitressMusical entertaining stalled theatergoers outside during the NYC blackout. (via @meganrgaffney) #Blackout #NYCBlackout pic.twitter.com/vLLnAcKV8D
— Dave Quinn (@NineDaves) July 14, 2019
