of course we require vaccinations before you can even walk in the door. so we believe that those things, plus the things that we re doing inside the theater is what s working. but of course people are out and about and being exposed, and that s why we ve had a few breakthrough cases, because all of our cast and crew are also vaccinated, and they wear masks if they re not performing onstage. well, you know, when we were here in new york and we got that double whammy, the nba and then broadway, we were like, oh, my gosh. now we hear shows are shutting down, it felt like deja vu. broadway was closed for 18 months during this pandemic, and we don t know how long these performances will ultimately be suspended now. how costly are these cancellations, charlotte? they re very costly. we have the best theatrical employees in the world, but they re the most expensive.
so it isn t healthy for the economics of a show. but broadway is symbolic of new york and vice versa. so we absolutely need to keep broadway open as long as we can keep it open safely. i don t think a show can be closed for a month without changes, but we re not having those kinds of discussions at this point. charlotte st. martin, thank you so much. i appreciate your time. thank you. so what can we do to protect ourselves and our loved ones as the omicron variant spreads? cnn s chief medical correspondent dr. sanjay gupta is here to weigh in. don, i know people have heard this over and over again, but getting vaccinated, getting boosted is going to be one of the most important tools right now. let me just show you, don, when we talk about hospitalizations overall with covid patients, we know they re going up. but look at what was already happening, even up until october
tonight, 7 shows are not. but every day the number is different. for example, yesterday we had several shows that missed one performance and are back up today. so we think that things will continue to change daily, but we believe that enough shows a lot of shows that are tony award-winning shows are playing. and so broadway is open, and we plan to keep it open. listen, i think everyone wants broadway to be open, right? we love our broadway here and people love it around the world. but what s going to be the breaking point, charlotte? do you think broadway could shut down again? i really don t unless there s something we don t know, and i don t have a crystal ball. and we certainly have three epidemiologists that we work with that are giving us information on a daily or every other day basis if things
paying attention to you. thank you, sir. have a good night, don. as kyung lah mentioned at the top of the show, the christmas spectacular starring the radio city rockettes canceled for the rest of the season. multiple broadway theaters also shutting down as new york state reports more than 21,000 covid cases in just the past 24 hours. sadly, that is a new pandemic record. joining me now, charlotte st. martin, the president of the broadway league, which represents all of broadway and commercial theater in the u.s. and around the world. that is a pretty big job. i m so glad you re here to talk about this, charlotte. thank you so much. we want to put up a list on the screen that shows who has canceled this week, including hamilton and moulin rouge. some shows are still on, but realistically, do you expect to see more closures ahead during these key holiday weeks? well, we still have 25 shows that are performing, and as