The air quality crisis in New York City is casting a shadow over the entertainment world.
Several high-profile performances in the Big Apple have been disrupted due to the aftereffects of wildfire smoke in Canada drifting down into the U.S. on Wednesday. It has caused extremely poor air quality across much of the eastern area of the country. With air quality alerts in effect from New England to the Southeast, more than 100 million Americans have been impacted, the Environmental Protection Agency said.
New York City’s air quality was the worst among the world’s major cities for a time Tuesday morning, according to IQAir, an air quality monitoring website. As of Wednesday night, multiple Broadway productions have had to temporarily shutter from the pollution in the city, which was ranked fourth-worst in the world by IQAir.
These are the Broadway shows and concerts that have been forced to cancel or postpone.
Jodie Comer pulls out of ‘Prima Facie’ performance due to breathing difficulties
Emmy-winning actress Jodie Comer, star of the Broadway play “Prima Facie” was forced to bow out of a matinee performance Wednesday because her breathing was compromised by the air quality in New York.
“Today’s matinee of ‘Prima Facie’ was halted approximately 10 minutes into the performance after Jodie Comer had difficulty breathing due to the poor air quality in New York City because of smoke from the Canadian wildfires,” said Jim Byk, a representative for the play, in a statement.
Comer’s understudy Dani Arlington filled in for the actress in her absence.
‘Hamilton,’ more theater productions cancel shows amid air quality crisis
A Wednesday night performance of the Broadway musical “Hamilton” was canceled because of the poor air quality conditions sweeping the NYC area.
“The hazardous air quality in New York City has made it impossible for a number of our artists to perform this evening,” said Shane Marshall Brown, a representative for the show, in a statement. “Shows will resume as scheduled tomorrow.”
Also canceled were Wednesday’s dress rehearsal and Thursday and Friday performances of The Public Theater’s Shakespeare in the Park production of “Hamlet.”
“Unfortunately, we have made the decision to cancel the first two performances of the Free Shakespeare in the Park production of ‘Hamlet’ on 6/8 and 6/9 due to the ongoing issues of air quality and the added effect it is having on finalizing the production at The Delacorte (in Central Park),” the theater said on Twitter.
A Lincoln Center Theater performance of “Camelot,” scheduled for Wednesday night, was similarly canceled. Spokeswoman Juliana Hannett cited “the impact of the air quality on our artists” in a statement to The New York Times.
USA TODAY has reached out to the Lincoln Center Theater for comment.
Canada wildfire smoke updates:At least 100 million Americans affected by air quality alerts
Chris Stapleton postpones New York concert due to ‘ongoing air conditions‘
Country singer Chris Stapleton, who is currently on his All American Road Show tour, announced Wednesday that his Thursday concert in Syracuse would be postponed because of the air quality crisis.
“Due to the ongoing air conditions in the greater Syracuse area, tomorrow night’s show at St. Joseph’s Health Amphitheater at Lakeview will be rescheduled to a later date,” the singer said in a statement posted to Instagram. “We expect to have an update by mid-day Friday, June 9th.”
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Contributing: Doyle Rice, USA TODAY
