Before the lights went out on Broadway
Broadway theaters were shuttered on March 12th, 2020 in the midst of the corona virus outbreak. As of October 20th, the Broadway League, which represents theater producers, has pushed the opening date to the end of May 2021.
Broadway shutdown due to virus extended again until May 30
Until then, theater fans can scroll through 90 years of AP’s Broadway images.
Actress and playwright Mae West appears in her Broadway show "Diamond Lil" at the Royale Theatre in New York City in 1928. The actor in center, who plays a singing waiter, is Frank Wallace. (AP Photo)
Stage and screen actress Lynn Fontanne poses in character in "Idiot's Delight" playing on Broadway at the Shubert Theatre in New York City, May 4, 1936. (AP Photo)
Performer Josephine Baker strikes a pose during her Ziegfeld Follies performance of "The Conga" on the Winter Garden Theater stage in New York, Feb. 11, 1936. Her appearance in Broadway's "Going to Town" is the first since she left the United States ten years ago. (AP Photo)
The theater district is bustling with taxi cabs going past the Booth Theater on 45th Street where "Claudia" is playing, Nov. 8, 1941. Other theaters visible in the background include the Plymouth, and the Royale. (AP Photo/Tom Fitzsimmons)
Dancer and choreographer Katherine Dunham, left, is roped by Roger Ohardieno, in the role of a fisherman on a Brazlilian wharf, in a scene from "Tropical Revue" playing at the Martin Beck Theatre in New York City, Nov. 6, 1943. The Broadway show is is directed and choreographed by Dunham. (AP Photo/P.A. Dearborn)
Mark M. Barron (1905-1960) joined the AP in 1931. He was one of AP’s earliest theater writers. In his 29 years with the AP Barron was a drama critic, World War II correspondent, feature writer and New York city editor.
"Be Careful, It's My Heart," is the song Irving Berlin, right, sings to Mark Barron, Associated Press and Wide World drama editor during an interview in Berlin's New York office, July 16, 1942. (AP Photo/Murray Becker)
Singer Paul Robeson is shown as Othello and Uta Hagen as Desdemona at the Shubert Theater in New York, Oct. 13, 1943. (AP Photo)
Ethel Merman is Annie Oakley, famed lady sharpshooter, in the premiere of the Broadway musical comedy "Annie Get Your Gun," at the Imperial Theater in New York City, on May 16, 1946. Others, as Annie's brothers and sisters, are from left : Bobby Hookey, Marlene Cameron, Camilla De Witt and Nancy Raab. (AP photo)
In this scene from the Broadway musical "Carousel" Jan Clayton as Julie Jordan, sits over co-star John Raitt, as the dying Billy Bigelow, in previews in New York City, April 11, 1945. The show officially opens April 19. (AP Photo)
Mary Martin, left, and Ezio Pinza perform in the Broadway musical "South Pacific" at the Majestic Theater in New York City in 1950. (AP Photo)
Yul Brynner poses in his dressing room at the St. James Theater in New York City on April 6, 1951. Brynner is playing the role of King Mongkut in the Broadway production of Rodgers and Hammerstein's musical "The King and I." (AP Photo)
British actress Julie Andrews is seen as Eliza in the Broadway musical "My Fair Lady," in 1958 in New York City. (AP Photo)
Broadway newcomer, Gena Rowlands, puts on make-up in her dressing room for her role as leading lady in "Middle of the Night", in New York, Nov. 21, 1956. (AP Photo/Hans von Nolde)
Stage actress Julie Harris applies makeup in her dressing room at the Empire Theatre in New York ‘Jan. 1952. Harris is playing the part of Sally Bowles in the Broadway play "I Am A Camera." (AP Photo/Robert Wands)
This is a photo of Chita Rivera, who was the original cast member in the Broadway musical production of "West Side Story," in November 1957. (AP Photo)
Carol Lawrence, right, as Maria, and Chita Rivera, as Anita, are shown in the Broadway musical "West Side Story" at the Winter Garden Theatre in New York City on Dec. 26, 1957. (AP Photo)
Diana Sands and Alan Alda, who comprise the entire cast of new comedy "The Owl and the Pussycat", shown backstage at New York's ANTA Theater following the play's Broadway premiere on Nov. 18, 1964. (AP Photo/Matty Zimmerman)
Actor Zero Mostel, center, who portrays Tevye in the musical "Fiddler on the Roof," poses backstage with cast members after the play's opening performance at the Imperial Theatre in New York City on Sept. 22, 1964. Maria Karnilova, who plays Tevye's wife, Golde, is at far left. Playing Tevye's daughters, from left, are, Tanya Everett, as Chava; Julia Migenes, as Hodel; and Joanna Merlin, as Tzeitel. (AP Photo)
American entertainer Joel Grey is seen in his role as the Master of Ceremonies in the Broadway musical production "Cabaret," on April 18, 1967 in New York. (AP Photo)
James Earl Jones tells off a former paramour, Marlene Warfield, in the play, "The Great White Hope" on Oct. 10, 1968. Location is unknown. (AP Photo)
Heavyweight boxer Muhammad Ali studies the script of "Big Time Buck White" on the stage of Broadway's George Abbott Theater in New York, Oct. 29, 1969. Musical director Merl Saunders, left, and director Oscar Brown, Jr., right, will prepare him for the title role in the play which opens on December 2. (AP Photo/Marty Lederhandler)
Pearl Bailey, right, former star of the hit musical "Hello, Dolly" gets together the night of Oct.31, 1969 with comedienne Phyllis Diller, who will take over the stage of the St. James Theater as a new "Dolly" in late December 1969. The two "Dollies" met at the St. James Theater where the musical is now in its sixth year of performances. (AP Photo)
Carol Channing, star of the original "Hello, Dolly," is back on Broadway again in a revival of the show. The musical had its first preview performance, March 2, 1978. (AP Photo/Ira Schwarz)
Tim Curry on stage for the curtain call at the Broadway premiere of Spamalot, New York, March 17, 2005. (AP Photo/Stuart Ramson)
Actor Nathan Lane, left, star of Broadway's "A Funny Thing Happened on the way to the Forum," introduces Whoopi Goldberg, right, after a matinee performance Wednesday, Oct. 9, 1996. Goldberg will replace Lane in the lead role of Pseudolus after Lane’s last performance on Feb. 9, 1997. Goldberg’s first performance will be on Feb. 11 and is scheduled to be with the show for five months. (AP Photo/Bebeto Matthews)
Nathan Lane, left, and Matthew Broderick take a final bow after their last performance in "The Producers" at the St. James Theatre in New York Sunday, March 17, 2002. After nearly a year's run Lane and Broderick leave "The Producers," turning over their staring roles to English actor Henry Goodman and television star Steven Weber. (AP Photo/Chad Rachman)
Cast members of the Broadway musical "Bombay Dreams" acknowledge audience applause during the opening night curtain call Thursday, April 29, 2004, in New York. Manu Narayan, second from right, Anisha Nagarajan, center, and Ayesha Dharker, right, are leads in the production. Far left is Madhur Jaffrey. (AP Photo/Tina Fineberg)
Actor Harvey Fierstein is prepped in his dressing room before a rehearsal of the musical "Hairspray," where he reprise his Tony Award-winning role as Edna Turnblad at the Neil Simon Theatre Friday, Nov. 7, 2008 in New York. (AP Photo/Jason DeCrow)
The Palace Theatre marquee and billboards advertising Broadway shows are seen in Times Square, in New York, Thursday, Jan. 19, 2012. (AP Photo/Charles Sykes)
In this Thursday, Aug. 6, 2015, file photo, Leslie Odom Jr., from left, Phillipa Soo, Lin-Manuel Miranda and Christopher Jackson appear at the curtain call following the opening night performance of "Hamilton" at the Richard Rodgers Theatre in New York. (Photo by Charles Sykes/Invision/AP)
Singer Tina Turner, left, speaks on stage with actress Adrienne Warren on the opening night of "Tina – The Tina Turner Musical" at the Lunt-Fontanne Theatre on Thursday, Nov. 7, 2019, in New York. (Photo by Evan Agostini/Invision/AP)
In this May 13, 2020, file photo, "Hamilton: An American Musical" at the Richard Rodgers Theatre is closed during Covid-19 lockdown, in New York. (Photo by Evan Agostini/Invision/AP)
With theaters shuttered, broadway star Brian Stokes Mitchell serenaded his fellow New Yorkers from his apartment window.
“To follow that star. No matter how hopeless, no matter how far ...”
Stage star Brian Stokes Mitchell sings "The Impossible Dream" from his apartment window, Monday, April 27, 2020, in New York. Weeks after recovering from the coronavirus, the admired actor and singer opens his window overlooking Broadway each evening to serenade a crowd with his signature song from "Man of La Mancha." (AP Photo/Mark Lennihan)