New York | The Metropolitan Opera announced on Wednesday (Thursday AEST) that the still-untamed coronavirus pandemic has forced it to cancel its entire 2020-21 season, prolonging one of the gravest crises in its 137-year history and keeping it dark until next September.

The decision is likely to send ripples of concern through New York and the rest of the country as Broadway theatres, symphony halls, rock venues, comedy clubs, dance spaces and other live arts institutions grapple with the question of when it will be safe again to perform indoors.