New York City theatergoers aren't getting stubbed — er, snubbed — after this weekend's blackout.
On Saturday, the lights literally went out on Broadway, with a power outage causing several New York City theaters to cancel their nightly performances. That cost ticket seller StubHub more $500,000 under their policy that guarantees refunds for canceled shows, Billboard reports via a StubHub press release.
A solid 30 blocks of Manhattan's west side lost power at 6:47 p.m. Saturday, and some areas didn't have it restored until midnight. Yet even as restaurants, subways, and theaters emptied out, some performers took their songs to the streets, putting on impromptu show for anyone near Broadway.
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StubHub's user policy says that it'll refund any ticket costs and fees if a show is canceled, and will let customers know if their show is rescheduled. That's the case for Jennifer Lopez's Madison Square Garden show that was rebooked for Monday, and Dave Chapelle's solo Broadway show rescheduled for this coming Sunday.
That $500,000 total doesn't even count event tickets sold by other companies, or losses of revenue for businesses that couldn't operate without power. Saturday's blackout came exactly 42 years after a blackout crippled the city for 25 hours, sparking a surge of looting and arson at a cost of $1.2 billion in 2017 dollars. There's no official estimate for losses sustained Saturday, though it looks like customers who saw a Broadway show taken to the streets got their entertainment for free.
