COVID Closes Down Broadway’s ‘Aladdin’ and ‘Frozen’ Again

For the fourth time, the Aladdin musical on Broadway has unfortunately been closed down by COVID-19–and Broadway’s Frozen musical has just been closed down for the second time. Earlier this week, it had been announced that Aladdin had more positive COVID cases and would be canceling its December 19 shows at The New Amsterdam Theatre. It wasn’t long before an additional announcement came, saying that the show’s performances through December 21 to December 24 would also be canceled because “additional breakthrough COVID-19 cases have been detected within the company of Aladdin at The New Amsterdam Theatre”. The show’s next future performance is expected to be on the day after Christmas Day, although we will see if that date holds.

Last night, Broadway’s Frozen (which was written by Oscar-winner Jennifer Lee and is currently on the Chicago leg of its North American tour) announced that the evening December 21 Broadway performance was canceled because “breakthrough COVID-19 cases have been detected within the company of Disney’s Frozen at the Cadillac Palace Theatre”. For now, the show’s December 22 performances “are performing as scheduled” as it continues its run through North America.

Both the Aladdin post from Sunday and the Frozen post from Tuesday mention multiple company members recovering, which suggests that several people have tested positive for COVID-19 and the virus is spreading through each show’s company.

Shoba Narayan (who plays Princess Jasmine in the show opposite Michael Maliakel as Aladdin and Michael James Scott as the Genie) mentioned the contagiousness of the Omicron variant in her Instagram stories, implying that the positive cases within the show’s cast are Omicron cases.

Caroline Bowman, who plays Elsa in the Frozen Broadway production, said the following on her Instagram account: “so sorry to our audiences who bought tickets for tonight, my heart is broken to not perform for you. Stay safe”. Shoba and Caroline have also both encouraged people to wear masks properly and consistently, to get vaccinated, and to try to stay safe.

The repeated cancellations of these Disney Broadway shows due to COVID-19 are particularly disheartening since Broadway performers and audiences were very emotional and enthusiastic about the return of Broadway shows a few months ago. The lead cast members from the Broadway Disney shows The Lion King, Aladdin, and Frozen even united to perform on The View in celebration of the return–less than two days before Aladdin was closed again due to COVID.

Are you a fan of these Broadway shows? And have you heard about Hugh Jackman and his new role on Broadway?