Radio City Music Hall to reopen at 100% capacity, without masks, in June

Judy Moreno

Radio City Music Hall will reopen at 100% capacity on June 19, Governor Andrew Cuomo announced on Monday (5/17). Speaking from a news conference held inside the venue, he said that Tribeca Film Festival's closing night would be held there on that date, and that attendees wouldn't be required to wear masks, New York Times reports.

"This beautiful hall will be filled once again," Cuomo said. "Having Radio City back at 100 percent, without masks, with people enjoying New York, and the New York arts, is going to be not only symbolic and metaphoric; but I think it’s going to go a long way toward bringing back this state."

Executive chairman and chief executive of the Madison Square Garden Company (who own RCMH) James L. Dolan said that the venue would remain open after June 19, but only to vaccinated people. When he was asked how that would be enforced, he said, "That’s a really good question, I have no idea. We will be working with the state, and we will figure out a way for it to happen."

Dolan also said he anticipated a "blockbuster summer" of events at the venue, saying, "We didn’t think this was going to happen. We were really planning on a blockbuster fall."

Cuomo, meanwhile, bemoaned the slackening pace of vaccinations, saying, "Here's another incentive, nothing to do with government: Private venues, I encourage them to have a high percentage available for vaccinated people. Radio City is going to be 100%, I encourage that, because that's an incentive for people to get vaccinated... In some ways, I think the private sector can offer more effective incentives than government can."

"If you're unvaccinated, that's your choice," he went on, "but you can't go into the Radio City Music Hall with vaccinated people."