Capitol doesn’t escape coronavirus closings

One location after another has closed and one event after another has been cancelled this week. So it’s no surprise that Port Chester’s Capitol Theatre has cancelled its Phil Lesh 80^th Birthday concerts this weekend.

“Due to concerns regarding the coronavirus, we're postponing the shows this weekend,” said Stefanie May, marketing director for The Capitol Theatre and Garcia’s, in an email at 8:08 p.m. Wednesday night.

Sold-out Phil Lesh shows were scheduled for Friday, Saturday and Sunday nights.

“The Capitol Theatre and Phil Lesh have been closely monitoring the escalation of the coronavirus outbreak,” reads a statement on The Capitol Theatre website. “And as much as we would like to celebrate Phil's birthday with three shows this weekend, our first priority is the health and safety of the artists, our patrons, our staff, and the community. Given the spread of confirmed cases of COVID-19 in New Rochelle, which is part of The Cap's Westchester County community, both The Cap and Phil have determined that the best course of action is to postpone these shows to the summer.”

The statement continues that The Capitol is currently formulating a plan for next steps for ticketholders. “We will follow up with all ticketholders with a specific course of action in the next day or two,” it states. “We feel this is the right thing to do and we hope you understand our decision.”

May did not respond when asked if any other concerts at the theatre will be postponed going forward.

--Jananne Abel

UPDATE: Stefanie May responded early Thursday morning that "we are hopeful that shows will begin again the weekend of Mar. 26 for the Disco Biscuits three-night run." However, since then those shows have been removed from The Capitol Theatre website. The next concert listed is The Beach Boys on Apr. 4.