Disney announced that “Frozen” on Broadway will not reopen, making it the first Broadway musical to be canceled amid the coronavirus pandemic, the New York Times reported on Thursday.
“Frozen,” based on the popular animated film, opened on Broadway in 2018 but never reached the same popularity as the musical adaptations of “The Lion King” or “Aladdin,” which is part of the reason that the show was closed, according to the Times.
“This difficult decision was made for several reasons but primarily because we believe that three Disney productions will be one too many titles to run successfully in Broadway’s new landscape,” said Thomas Schumacher, the president of Disney Theatrical Productions, according to the Times.
Broadway shows were halted on March 12 after New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo put a ban on gatherings of 500 or more people, according to ABC News.
Broadway is expected to remain closed through at least Sept. 6, according to ABC.
Disney is planning to bring back the national tour of “Frozen” (which was originally scheduled to appear at the Eccles Theater in Salt Lake City in April and has been rescheduled for October 2021), and is pushing back international productions of the musical until next year, according to Playbill.