“Hamilton” creator Lin-Manuel Miranda accompanied New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio on Monday to the grand opening of a vaccination center in Times Square against COVID-19 that seeks to revive the entertainment industry in the city.
“We want to get together again and we want to tell stories in the dark,” said Miranda, author and star of the hit musical about Alexander Hamilton. “We can’t do that if they don’t feel safe. So the first step in this process is to get their vaccines, and so the next steps will come.”
Broadway theaters have been closed since the start of the coronavirus pandemic in March last year. De Blasio has said he hopes the dedicated vaccination sites will help the industry reopen in September.
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The new vaccination site in Times Square will be open to theater, television and film workers, said the mayor, who stressed the importance of the entertainment industry for life in the city.
“Yes, it’s part of our economy. Much more importantly, it’s part of our identity,” de Blasio said. “It’s part of who we are and part of our hearts. What that means in this city, theater, music, dance, film and television is our expression of all that is New York City. It’s “our creativity, our heart and our soul. We do something here that doesn’t exist anywhere else in the world in the same way.”
The vaccination site, housed in a former NFL Experience store, will be run by Susan Sampliner, who has long been the management company for the musical “Wicked.” Miranda said “if anyone knows how to get the show on time they’re the Broadway production managers. So they’ll be in good hands.”