Radio City Rockettes Cancel Remainder Of Season Thanks To COVID Breakthroughs

Photo by James Devaney/GC Images – Radio City Rockettes
perform at the 89th Annual Rockefeller Center Christmas Tree Lighting Pre-Tape at Rockefeller Center on November 30, 2021 in New York City.

Shortly after announcing the cancellation of four shows Dec. 17 because of uncertainty surrounding the spread of the coronavirus Omicron variant, “The Christmas Spectacular Starring the Radio City Rockettes”  ended the remainder of its 2021 season.

“We regret that we are unable to continue the Christmas Spectacular this season due to increasing challenges from the pandemic. We had hoped we could make it through the season and are honored to have hosted hundreds of thousands of fans at more than 100 shows over the last seven weeks. We have loved bringing back this cherished tradition that helps usher in the holiday season in New York City and look forward to welcoming fans back to Radio City Music Hall in 2022.”

 All tickets for impacted shows will be fully refunded at the point of purchase.

The Rockets had canceled four of their shows on Dec. 17 due to breakthrough COVID-19 cases in the production. The shows that had been scheduled for 11 a.m., 2 p.m., 5 p.m., and 8 p.m. on Dec. 17 have all been canceled with plans for future shows currently being assessed.

“We regret to announce that the four shows scheduled for today, Friday, December 17 have been canceled due to breakthrough COVID-19 cases in the production,” the show said in a statement. “We apologize for the inconvenience, and will make announcements about future shows as soon as possible.” 

Pollstar‘s Boxoffice reporting shows an overall gross that totals more than $1.9 billion over 7,600 performances reported at Radio City Music Hall. 

According to The New York Times, 17,520 new COVID cases were reported in the state of New York on Dec. 16. Broadway has also begun to shut down due to breakthrough cases in New York City, with Moulin Rouge! The Musical cancelling their performance  on Dec. 16 after the audience had already been seated, as well as cancelling their Dec. 17 show. Hamilton has also canceled its performances through Dec. 21, according to Ticketmaster. 

The UK industry body LIVE conducted a “snap industry survey,” with 100% of those surveyed, including 40 music venues and “main ticketing agencies” seeing a drop in ticket sales, and 95% of those surveyed said that the Omicron variant had impacted their business negatively. According to EuroNews, records for COVID cases in Denmark and the UK have been broken as the Omicron variant continues to surge.